Every executive assistant planning a retreat at Umnya Desert Camp asks the same first question: how do we actually get there. The honest answer is that there are two ways, they cost differently, they take very different amounts of time, and for a leadership retreat specifically, the choice is not purely logistical. It sets the tone before the retreat has even started.
Option 1: Private Helicopter, 1 Hour 40 Minutes
A private helicopter lifts from Marrakech and lands directly at Umnya Desert Camp in Erg Chegaga in approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes, crossing the High Atlas summits and the Drâa basin. For a group flying in from the US on a tight window, or a CEO who has one week away from the company and cannot lose a full day to a road transfer, this is usually the deciding factor.
It is also, guests consistently report, part of the experience itself. The transition from Marrakech’s rooftops to the ochre immensity of the Sahara happens in real time, through a window, over less than two hours. Executives who arrive by helicopter describe a genuine before-and-after moment mid-flight, a visible, physical marker of leaving the working world behind.
Best for: CEO and founder retreats (The Clearing), tight schedules, groups who want the arrival itself to signal a shift in register.
Option 2: Private 4x4 Convoy, Approximately 8 Hours
The road route runs south from Marrakech over the Tizi n’Tichka pass, through Ouarzazate and the Drâa Valley’s three million palm trees, to M’Hamid El Ghizlane, then off-road into the dunes. It is a full day, but it is not a wasted one. Many groups build a stop at the UNESCO kasbah of Aït Ben Haddou into the drive, and the valley itself, palm groves against bare rock, is among the most striking landscapes in Morocco.
For teams who have the time, the drive functions as a slow decompression, arriving at camp with the mind already several hundred kilometers from the office, rather than an hour and forty minutes from it.
Best for: Team offsites with a full week, groups who want the journey itself as a shared experience, retreats built around Morocco more broadly rather than the desert alone.
What We Recommend
For a five-day executive retreat, we typically suggest helicopter in, and 4x4 out, or vice versa. It maximizes time at camp without sacrificing the overland experience entirely, and it means no one in the group repeats the same transfer twice. For The Clearing specifically, most cohorts choose helicopter both ways, prioritizing time in the desert over time on the road.
Both options are coordinated entirely by our team as part of your retreat, from the moment you land in Marrakech.
See The Clearing, our CEO and founder retreat or plan a corporate offsite for your team.
