Morocco
Gorges du Dadès
Hairpin bends carved into rose-red canyon walls where the road becomes the adventure.
The road through the gorge is the destination — hairpin bends so tight they have been photographed into icon status, each turn revealing another wall of rose-red canyon, another vertiginous drop, another reason to simultaneously grip the steering wheel and reach for the camera. The 'monkey fingers' rock formations stand sentinel at the gorge entrance, eroded basalt columns that earned their name through uncanny resemblance. Beyond the switchbacks, the canyon opens into a valley of kasbahs and walnut groves.
The Gorges du Dadès is a canyon system running north from Boumalne Dadès into the High Atlas, carved by the Dadès River through rose-red sandstone and limestone. The gorge is most famous for its switchback road — a series of hairpin bends that have become one of Morocco's most recognisable driving landmarks. The 'monkey fingers' rock formations near the gorge entrance are pillars of eroded basalt resembling clustered digits. Beyond the switchbacks, the canyon broadens into the upper Dadès Valley, with hiking routes connecting to Aït Bouguemez and the central High Atlas. Vultures and eagles frequent the thermals above the gorge walls. Several auberges along the gorge road offer accommodation with canyon views.
Friends
Driving the switchbacks together — the shared adrenaline of hairpin bends above a canyon, with stops for the monkey fingers, the views, and the canyon-floor tagine.
Couple
An auberge perched on the canyon wall, dinner with a gorge view, and the sound of the river far below. The Dadès Gorge turns a road trip into romance.
- The road through the gorge includes hairpin bends so tight they've become a landmark in their own right.
- Rose-red canyon walls tower above the narrow valley floor on both sides.
- Auberges and guesthouses wedge into the canyon at intervals, each with its own river-view terrace.
- The geological formations include 'monkey fingers' — eroded pillars that resemble petrified hands.
Canyon-floor tagine with almonds and apricots in auberges wedged between cliff walls.
Mountain tea with wild sage gathered from the gorge's upper reaches.
Pedra de Lume
Cape Verde
Float in a salt lake inside an extinct volcano, crater walls rising on every side.
Vale do Paúl
Cape Verde
Sugarcane terraces spill down a volcanic crater into the greenest valley in the archipelago.
Monastery of St. Anthony
Egypt
Earth's oldest inhabited monastery, wedged into a Red Sea mountain canyon since the fourth century.
Hoang Su Phi
Vietnam
Rice terraces so vertiginous they look like topographical maps carved directly into the sky.
Chefchaouen
Morocco
Blue-washed walls dripping with bougainvillea in a mountain medina where cats outnumber cars.
Fes el-Bali
Morocco
Nine thousand alleys where the smell of cedar, leather, and centuries of spice never fades.
Essaouira
Morocco
Atlantic gales rattle shutters on a fortified port where Hendrix once jammed with Gnawa musicians.
Erg Chebbi
Morocco
Saharan dunes taller than apartment blocks turning from gold to crimson as the sun drops.