What is the Todra Gorge and is it worth seeing?

The Todra Gorge is one of those places where nature does something so theatrical you laugh out loud. You drive up a green valley of palms near the town of Tinghir, the walls close in, and suddenly you are at the bottom of a slot where two limestone cliffs soar up to around 300 metres on either side, almost close enough to touch across the road. A clear, icy stream — fed by springs in the High Atlas — runs along the canyon floor, and the temperature drops noticeably as you step into the shade between the walls.

It is, I should be honest, a fairly short showstopper. The truly dramatic narrows are only a few hundred metres long, and a paved road and a couple of hotels run right through them, so it is not untouched wilderness. But that accessibility is also why it is such a good stop — you can stand in the most jaw-dropping part within a two-minute walk of the car, paddle in the stream, watch rock climbers inching up the famous vertical faces (Todra is one of Morocco's premier climbing spots), and feel the scale of the place without any effort or hiking.

For the more adventurous, the gorge is a gateway, not just a photo. You can walk up beyond the narrows into quieter country, and there are wonderful longer hikes and a back-road circuit linking Todra over the mountains toward the Dades — a rough, beautiful piste for those with time and a capable vehicle. The palm groves and Berber villages around Tinghir, with their old kasbahs and irrigation channels, are lovely to explore on foot too.

Most people meet Todra as one bead on the classic southern necklace: desert dunes at Merzouga, then west through Tinghir and the Todra Gorge, on to the Dades Valley, and toward Ouarzazate. Go in the morning for the best light reaching down into the canyon, bring a layer because the shade is genuinely cool, and consider staying a night locally if you want the gorge to yourself before the day-trippers arrive.