Quad bike or dune buggy: which one?

A quad bike is a single rider on four wheels, automatic, with the rider's weight doing the steering. It is the cheaper option, needs no experience, and gives the most direct feeling of the dunes. Riders sixteen and over can drive on a track; open-dune rides are for adults.

A dune buggy is a small off-road car with a roll cage, seat belts and a 1,000 cc engine. It is faster, safer on steep slopes because you cannot fall off, and it takes a passenger, so a parent and child or a couple ride together. It costs roughly twice a quad per machine, but per person the difference is small.

Choose a quad if you are riding alone, want the cheapest option or are adding thirty minutes to an evening safari. Choose a buggy if you are two or more, want to go further into the open dunes, or have someone in the group who would rather not drive.

Whichever you pick, the ride starts with a fifteen-minute briefing. Sand is not tarmac: you keep momentum on a climb, you never brake hard on a slope, and you follow the lead rider's line.