Tips from our visit to Todra Gorge in Morocco

Todra is also known as Togha, which is the more correct Berber name. But since Todra is better known internationally, that’s what we use in this article.

How to get there

Todra Gorge is a 6.5-hour drive from Marrakesh, about 380 kilometers on the so-called Route of a Thousand Kasbahs, and about 3 hours from Ouarzazate.

Todra is located near the city of Tinghir, which is also the transport hub for reaching the gorge.

Getting to the gorge by public transport is possible by a 7.5-hour bus from Marrakesh or a 3-hour bus from Ouarzazate to Tinghir, followed by a taxi for the last 30 minutes.

However, the most popular way to visit Todra if you’re not driving or taking public transport around the country is the desert tour from Fes to Marrakesh. It has a well-optimized itinerary and also stops here.

The road to Todra Gorge is of great quality, and the only reason it takes so long is the low speed limit and the twisty roads, especially when crossing the Atlas Mountains over the Tizi N Tichka mountain pass.

This location was a two-night stop on our big Morocco road trip. After renting a car in Marrakesh, we visited Ait Benhaddou and the Dades Gorge just before getting here. Todra was our last stop before getting to the desert in Merzouga.

What makes Todra Gorge special?

The Todra Gorge is famous for its towering cliffs carved by the river flowing through it. Since a road leads right through the gorge, it’s pretty straightforward to visit, as you just park up and walk along the riverside.

Inside the Todra Gorge, you get to walk next to the river flowing through the gorge with these super-high cliffs on each side. Some go over 150 meters!

The road, which is also the walking path through the gorge, is mostly wide, but because it’s a very popular spot, it’s very busy and crowded during peak times.

The walk through the gorge takes about 20 minutes, and that’s really the only thing you can do inside the gorge itself.

At the end of the trail, the Todra Gorge is only about 10 meters wide. Which really is quite narrow!

Hiking in Todra Gorge

When planning our Morocco itinerary, we first weren’t sure if we wanted to hike in Dades Gorge (Monkey Fingers) or in Todra Gorge, as we only really had time to do one.

In the end, we decided that Todra is where we’ll go hiking, as it’s a longer, more scenic hike.

We’re sad we didn’t hike the Monkey Fingers canyon in Dades, but we’re super happy we did hike in Todra, as it was a cool addition to our trip, as we only had a few hiking opportunities.

The loop trail in Todra Gorge is about 10km long, and about 620 meters of elevation gain according to what we tracked. With stops, the hike takes between 4.5 and 5 hours. It took us 4 hours and 50 minutes at the hottest part of the day, while taking lots of photos.

You can do this hike on your own, as we did. But we did meet a group led by a local guide, which is probably a great idea if you don’t want to navigate unknown trails or want to more info about the area, nomads, and similar.

We recommend checking out the local hiking tours, where you can choose a half-day or full-day hike and even spend the night in one of the nomadic Berber camps.

How the hike looked like

We started the hike from our hotel right at the entrance to the gorge (that’s why we booked it!). We walked through the Todra Gorge, snapped a few photos and then it was time to start the uphill journey.

From the narrowest point in the gorge, you simply exit it, walk up the stairs carved into the hillside on the left, and that’s the nomad trail you follow the rest of the hike.

The first part wasn’t too steep, and soon we were met with some great panoramic views of the other part of Todra Gorge and one smaller canyon we didn’t see before.

After seeing a bunch of goats, it was time for the zigzag, steep part of the hike that got us to the highest point of the hike (if our phone was right, 1871 meters).

There is another short detour you can do to Jbel Asstef summit at 2061m, but we realized it wouldn’t give us much of a view, and since it was already mid-afternoon, we decided to skip it.

After a short descent, we reached a nomadic Berber camp. We really didn’t expect it to be a proper camp where people live, and as we were about to lose sight of it, a sweet grandma there waved and shouted for us to come back.

She offered us some tea and Berber bread, and we sat down and chatted in the little broken French Matej knew (barely any). From what we understood, she had lived on the mountain since she was less than 10 years old. We found this really fascinating.

We were completely unprepared for this and only had a big banknote in case we needed it later. But we didn’t expect to have tea in a nomadic camp on top of a mountain! So we gave her what little change we had to thank her for inviting us into her home and making us tea, and went on our way.

By the way, the lady also owns a white horse, which is a famous landmark on the hike (it even has a pin on a hiking app).

From the nomadic camp, it’s then all downhill back to the valley with views of the valley and the town.

Once we got down to the river, we took the trail through the lush gardens. This was such a surprise and not something we expected to see there at all. We loved it! They have all these beautiful plots of farmland right by the river, and it’s a completely different world compared to the dry landscape all around.

Rock climbing in Todra Gorge

Before coming to Todra Gorge, we didn’t quite understand how great a place it is for rock climbing. The incredibly high cliffs are perfect for climbing high up and getting INCREDIBLE views.

We only had time to go hiking while in Todra Gorge, and wished we had added another night here so we could go rock climbing on that huge vertical rock wall across from our hotel.

From what we’ve seen, there are supposedly hundreds of climbing routes on the cliffs at Todra Gorge, not just at the 240-meter-high cliff you see near the gorge entrance.

If you’re not coming to Todra Gorge with rock-climbing gear, but would still like to give it a try, you can book the half-day rock climbing tour. It’s done right there at the entrance to the gorge, the exact spot we saw from our hotel room!

Another thing we didn’t know is that there’s even a Via Ferrata in Todra! And you can even book it online.

How much time we recommend spending here

Just walking the main Todra Gorge takes about 1 hour, as it’s only a 20 minute easy walk to the other end.

For hiking and any other activity in Todra Gorge, you should at least spend one night, and if you’re rock climbing, probably two.

We spent two nights in Todra, since we arrived very late in the evening on the day we left Ait Benhaddou, and we also visited Kasbah Amridil in the Skoura Oasis and the Dades Gorge on the way.

Since we were super tired, we slept in the first morning, hiked in the afternoon, and then took a short walk around the gorge again the next morning before leaving for the desert.

Our hotel right at the gorge

We originally booked a hotel about a 5-minute drive from the gorge, but at the last minute found Etoile des Gorges, a hotel just meters from the entrance to the gorge.

It’s a more traditional hotel with basic rooms, but comfortable enough. The highlight for sure was the friendly staff, good breakfast included with the stay, and the absolutely unmatched location.

We can’t believe we got a room with a view of the gorge entrance and the rock climbing cliff just across the river. How cool is that!?

The hotel’s location allowed us to simply park our car for the whole stay and walk everywhere. We loved it!

All in all, this hotel was the perfect place for us, and if you’re not looking for something fancy, we highly recommend it!

Where to eat good food

We saved a few restaurants in our Google Maps list before coming to Todra, but we ended up eating at our hotel.

One of them was Happy Nomad restaurant, which serves traditional food beyond just Couscous and Tagine (very important after more than a week in Morocco!). If you go there to eat, order Zaalouk, a traditional aubergine salad. It’s so, so good, and sadly we couldn’t find it on many menus in Morocco.