Dadès & Todra Gorges travel guide

Where is Dadès & Todra Gorges?

Pre-Sahara · Kasbah road. 320 km from Marrakech by road, about 6 h without stops.

by road from Marrakech, 320 km

6 h

private tours come here

5

About Dadès & Todra Gorges

The Dadès and Todra gorges are two of Morocco's most spectacular canyons, but they sit roughly halfway between Marrakech and Merzouga on the kasbah road — too far for a day trip and best seen as part of a 3-day-or-longer Sahara loop. The Todra Gorge narrows to a 300-metre-high slot barely 10 metres wide, beloved of rock climbers; the Dadès twists through rose-coloured rock past the surreal 'monkey-finger' formations and the famous hairpin switchbacks. In between lie palm oases, mudbrick kasbahs and the roses of the Valley of Roses around Kelaat M'Gouna. Build them in as proper overnight stops on the way to the dunes, not as a quick photo break.

Drive from Marrakech with normal stops

6:45 with pass and lunch stops

How long to stay

1–2 nights en route to the Sahara

Nearest airport

Ouarzazate (OZZ) or Errachidia (ERH)

Getting there

About 2–3h east of Ouarzazate on the kasbah road

Best combined with

Aït Ben Haddou, Ouarzazate and the Merzouga dunes

Highlights of Dadès & Todra Gorges

• Todra Gorge

  A vertiginous canyon where sheer 300m walls close to a narrow river passage — walk the floor at dawn from a Tinghir overnight, before the day buses arrive.

• Dadès switchbacks

  The photogenic hairpin road climbing out of the gorge, with a café terrace perfectly placed for the view — a classic stop on the desert drive.

• Valley of Roses

  Kelaat M'Gouna's damask-rose fields, harvested each May for rosewater — a fragrant spring detour on the route east.

• Skoura palmery & kasbahs

  An oasis of date palms studded with earthen kasbahs, including the beautifully restored Amerhidil — a natural lunch stop before the gorges.