Morocco
Gorges du Dadès
The road loops back on itself where a river folded red rock into knuckles.
The R704 gains height in a handful of tight turns, then lays its whole zigzag against tilted rock. Farther down-valley, rounded red ribs crowd together above the Dadès like clenched stone knuckles, their gravel-sized pebbles visible inside the rock.
Give the gorges a full daylight day from Boumalne, stopping first around Tamlalt for the Monkey Fingers where water exploited joints in Upper Eocene sandstone and conglomerate to leave parallel rounded forms. A verified 11.3-kilometre circuit climbs 217 metres above them and returns through the Dadès corridor. Continue north to the Tissadrine viewpoint, parking fully away from the carriageway before looking back across the switchbacks and folded Jurassic marl and limestone. Beyond the bends, the river road enters tighter gorge reaches cut as High Atlas uplift drove incision through resistant bedrock. Heavy rain or snow can close river-level walking and upper-road sections, so the gorge always keeps the final say.
Friends
Choose one designated driver, agree every stop before the bends and park only where the vehicle clears the road. Monkey Fingers, the river gardens and Tissadrine give the group three distinct stages without racing the upper gorge.
Couple
Start with the formation walk in cool morning light, share a lamb-tagine lunch and reach Tissadrine while there is still generous daylight. Reserve a gorge guesthouse and finish the upper drive before the bends disappear into dusk.
- The Dadès road follows a cultivated river corridor before narrowing into several distinct gorge reaches.
- Monkey Fingers expose weathered conglomerate whose rounded blocks create the formation's knuckled outline.
- From the valley floor, a brief path reaches Monkey Fingers, river gardens and close views of the rock.
- The upper drive pairs deep gorge walls with the R704's photographed sequence of hairpin bends.
Family-cooked Moroccan lamb tagine, the named speciality at Dar Ahlam Dadès.
Homemade msemmen with hot mint tea at the same valley guesthouse breakfast.
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