Decent camel treks

If you just want a standard 1 night trip there is no need to organise it in advance. Any small hotel/guesthouse in the area can arrange this when you arrive- you could phone in advance if you want to be sure, some places may even pick you up from Erfoud or Rissani. Note that many guesthouses have a semi-permanant camp in the dunes where they take people. I think the one we went to was called Atlas du Sable - Rough Guide and Lonely Planet also have plenty of recommendations. Expect to pay around 250 Dh for an overnight trip.

Be wary of recommendations you get on here - check that the user is not a tout (by looking at their previous posts) as there are a lot of people touting desert trips on this forum.

TRRK gave good advice.

I think something to mention, Merzouga was not at all what I imagined. It is not a town which you can really stoll around negatioting prices. You must think of it as a strip. Or a strip mall. All of the hotels are lined up side by side on a lateral line in respect to the dunes. i did a lot of research before we arrived there, but was suprised by the layout. If you are thinking you will just show up an negotiate, prepare for A LOT OF WALKING. For some reason in my mind, I had invisioned a town, with some sort of center around a town square which I've been to before in Europe. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. Think a straight line of hotels, side by side, backed up against the Sahara Desert. By the time we arrived, we were too tired to even imagine going from hotel to hotel to negotiate a camel journey into the desert. For sanity's sake, you may want to consider arranging something prior to arrival, otherwise, imagine a 3 mile strip mall of hotels and nothing else around for miles and miles.