Todra Gorge and Dades Gorge: what to see, the best walks and which one to choose
Todra or Dades? The narrows and the plateau loop, the Monkey Fingers and the Tissadrine hairpins, climbing, the oases, where to sleep and flood safety.
By Ismail8 min read
The Todra Gorge is a narrow canyon about 15 km north of Tinghir, where the road and a small river run between sheer red walls only about 10 m apart: you can walk through the narrows in under an hour, or spend half a day on the plateau above. The Dades Gorge, some 50 km further west, is a long valley of kasbahs, rounded red rock and a famous hairpin road. On the way to the Sahara, the classic plan is to sleep in the Dades and walk in the Todra the next morning.
The short answer
- Todra is the canyon. You get out of the car and walk between the walls. How high they are depends on the source: about 160 m in the narrows and up to 400 m in places according to Wikipedia, "up to 300 metres" on our own trip pages and in the French Routard guide.
- Dades is the valley. About 60 km of road climb from Boumalne Dades to Msemrir, past ksour and earthen kasbahs, the rock formations known as the Monkey Fingers and the Tissadrine hairpins.
- On our tours: the 3-day Merzouga desert tour spends its first night in a hotel in the Dades Gorges, then visits the Todra Gorges and the Tinghir palm grove the next morning on the way to Merzouga.
- Two nights if you want the plateau loop above the Todra, the full Monkey Fingers walk or a day of climbing.
The stages before and after the gorges are in Marrakech to Merzouga: the route explained.
Dades or Todra?
| Dades Gorge | Todra Gorge | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | a 60 km valley from Boumalne Dades to Msemrir | a short, deep canyon 15 km north of Tinghir |
| Must-see | the Monkey Fingers and the Tissadrine hairpins | the narrows, about 10 m wide |
| Walking | the Monkey Fingers, 2.5 to 4 hours | the narrows (under an hour), the plateau loop (4 to 5 hours) |
| Time needed | half a day by car, a day with a walk | an hour for the narrows, a day for the loop |
| Where to sleep | hotels and guesthouses all along the valley | on the road from Tinghir, a few at the gorge entrance |
| Crowds | spread along the valley | the narrows fill with tour groups from late morning |
Between Ouarzazate and Merzouga you pass both anyway, so most travellers don't have to choose. If only one fits, take the Todra for the walk and the Dades for the drive.
The Dades gorge
From Boumalne Dades, a town at about 1,560 m on the N10, the R704 heads north up the valley. It is paved as far as Msemrir, about 60 km away; beyond that, the track towards Agoudal is generally for 4x4s only.
Kasbahs and ksour. The lower valley is farmland: irrigated plots of wheat, figs, almonds and olives below earthen kasbahs and fortified villages (ksour) such as Aït Youl and Aït Arbi. If the difference puzzles you, read kasbah, ksar, riad or dar.
The Monkey Fingers. Less than 20 km from Boumalne, around Aït Arbi and Tamellalt, the hillside folds into rounded red knuckles of rock that locals call the Monkey Fingers (in French, doigts de singe). A path leads into the narrow side canyon between them and back over the ridge, with views of the valley: about 8.5 km in all, 3 to 4 hours with stops, or about 2.5 hours if you return the way you came. It isn't difficult, but some side trails lead nowhere; your hotel can arrange a local guide.
The Tissadrine hairpins. About 26 km from Boumalne, the road crosses the river and climbs out of the gorge in a stack of tight bends, usually named after the nearby village of Tissadrine. The best-known view is from the hotel-café at the top. The road is narrow and slippery after rain: take it slowly.
Further up. Above the bends the valley closes into deeper gorges, with walls of 200 to 500 m according to Wikipedia, and runs on to Msemrir and its Saturday market. For half a day away from the road, the Miguirne gorge, 14 km from Boumalne, has springs, rock pools and more red formations.
The Todra gorge
The R703 leaves Tinghir northwards through the palm grove and reaches the gorge after about 15 km, a 25-minute drive. The famous part, the narrows, is short: for roughly 600 m the walls close in to about 10 m apart, with the road on one side and the riverbed on the other. In the dry months the river is little more than a stream you can step over; after heavy rain it can cover the whole floor.
Parking costs a small fee. Come early, or after about 5 pm: from late morning, tour groups and coaches fill the narrows.
Short walks. Easy walks of one or two hours follow the floor of the gorge upstream, or the paths of the palm grove below it.
The plateau loop. The best half-day walk leaves the gorge just after the narrows, zigzags up a steep ravine to a saddle with wide views, passes a camp of nomadic herders (tents and caves), then drops through a side valley to a village and the palm grove before returning along the road. Walkers who tracked it give about 10 km and 600 to 700 m of ascent, 4 to 5 hours with stops. There is no shade, loose gravel on the descents and no water on the way: take 2 to 3 litres each, a hat and good shoes, and start early. Some people go alone with an offline map, but the paths braid on the plateau, and a local guide makes both the route-finding and the encounters on the way simpler.
For longer walks, the Dades and the Todra are linked by mule tracks over the mountains, two to three days on foot; our guide to hiking in Morocco covers the treks of the region by season and level.
Rock climbing in the Todra
The Todra is one of Morocco's best-known climbing areas. Its compact limestone carries hundreds of bolted routes for every level, single-pitch and longer (Mountain Project lists more than 450). The main seasons are September to November and March to May, but there is always a wall in the sun in winter or in the shade in summer.
- Climbing guides and equipment hire are available in the gorge. Unless you are an experienced lead climber, climb with a guide.
- A short via ferrata at the northern end of the gorge, built in 2008, takes 45 minutes to 1.5 hours depending on the source and is of moderate difficulty. The gear can be hired in the gorge.
The oases on the way: Skoura and Tinghir
Skoura. About 40 km east of Ouarzazate on the N10, Skoura is an oasis of palm groves where several rivers from the High Atlas meet, scattered with earthen kasbahs. The best known, Kasbah Amridil, grew out of a 17th-century ksar; the tall kasbah itself dates from the late 19th century. The Nasiri family, who built it, still own it and live in one part, while the rest is a museum with an olive press, a bread oven and old tools. Its towers may look familiar: they were on an older 50-dirham note. Our 5-day Marrakech to Merzouga tour follows the Road of a Thousand Kasbahs through the palm groves of Skoura; for Ouarzazate and Ait Ben Haddou themselves, see our Ouarzazate page.
The Valley of Roses. Between Skoura and Boumalne, the road passes Kelaat M'Gouna, where damask roses bloom from late April to mid-May; the Rose Festival has its own guide. If you would rather walk among the roses, our 6-day Rose Valley trek starts there.
Tinghir. Below the town, the Todgha river waters a palm grove about 30 km long and 500 to 1,500 m wide: date palms over olive, fig and pomegranate trees, fed by old irrigation channels. Paths between the plots make an easy walk of an hour or two. These are family gardens, so stay on the paths and ask before photographing people.
Where to stay and how long
One night in the Dades is the usual pattern on the way to the desert. Our 3-day tour sleeps in a hotel in the Dades Gorges; on the 5-day tour you choose a 3-star (Standard) or 4-star (Superior) hotel in the Dades Valley, and the next day includes a walk through the Todra canyon.
Two nights make sense if you want to walk: the Monkey Fingers one afternoon, the Todra loop the next morning, or a day of climbing. Our itineraries can be adapted for that, so ask us.
In the Dades, hotels, auberges and kasbah guesthouses line the valley all the way to Msemrir: pick one near the Monkey Fingers or the hairpins if you want to walk at first light. For the Todra, most places are on the road between Tinghir and the gorge, with a few right at its entrance; Tinghir itself, a town of about 44,000 people, has more choice and services.
Travelling the other way? The 3-day desert tour from Fes to Marrakech visits the Todra Gorges after the night in the desert, then sleeps in the Dades Valley.
When to go and staying safe
Spring (April to June) and autumn (September to early November) are the best seasons, mild enough to walk at any hour. In summer, middays are hot (in July, Ouarzazate averages about 39 °C, or 102 °F, in the afternoon): walk at dawn. In winter, days are often sunny but nights are cold. Ouarzazate, at 1,150 m, averages about 2 °C (36 °F) on January nights, and the gorges lie higher, so pack warm layers. The high roads that link the two gorges across the mountains via Agoudal can be blocked by snow: the R703 crosses a pass at 2,675 m, and the track beyond Msemrir needs a 4x4 in any season.
Flash floods are the real risk. A storm upstream can send a torrent down a dry riverbed under a blue sky, and the road through the Todra narrows is itself prone to flooding. On 12 October 2026, floods cut roads in Tinghir province and the N10 between Tinejdad and Goulmima, east of Tinghir; we explain the pattern in floods in the Sahara. When storms are around, stay out of the narrows and the side canyons, never cross a flooded oued on foot or by car, and watch for falling rock after rain.
From Tinghir, Merzouga is about three hours' drive away, and our list of things to do in Merzouga covers the next stop. For both gorges and the dunes in one go, the 3-day tour is the quickest way, and the 5-day tour adds a full day around the dunes.