A Guide to Todra Gorge

How to Get to Todra Gorge

Todra Gorge is about six hours' drive from Marrakech, which made it the perfect stop between there and the Sahara Desert, on the border with Algeria. On the way, we stopped at Ksar El Khorbat, an exceptionally well-preserved Berber complex from 1860 which is still lived in today. It was built entirely of earth, which serves well to keep it cool against in the intense Moroccan sun. We had one of the best lunches of our whole trip here, and you can also stay here for an authentic Berber experience.

Rock Climbing in Todra Gorge

Probably one of my favourite moments of my entire tour around Morocco was when we got to go rock climbing in Todra Gorge. Todra Gorge is actually one of the world's greatest places for rock climbing and avid climbers come from around the world to scale its walls. Todra Gorge is situated on the southwestern edge of the High Atlas Mountains, providing a perfect natural playground to explore.

There are many tour operators based out of Todra Gorge - ours was pre-arranged through Much Better Adventures. If you're visiting Morocco on your own, make sure you do good research and pick a reputable company who will keep you safe up on the rock walls.

It was my first time rock climbing in this way - I've only ever tried those rock climbing walls with the colorful pre-built rocks on them. I called it "wild climbing" and was proud to complete all three of the routes (easy, medium, hard), breaking only one nail in the process 😉

All these epic photos were taken by Ismail, our driver.

Hiking in Todra Gorge

Another highlight from my trip to Morocco was this hike. I guess I really enjoyed Todra Gorge! We started hiking from our kasbah high up along the gorge walls before scrambling back down, ending up very close to where we had rock climbed the night before. I wouldn't do this hike without a guide as there isn't really a trail. Our guide was arranged through our kasbah and he was excellent. We also had two doggos join us on the trail which naturally made the hike infinitely better.

TODRA GORGE HIKE DETAILS

When: you can visit Todra Gorge and hike parts of it year-round but the higher bit we scrambled can only be done in shoulder seasons; it's too hot in summer and snow-covered in winter

Where: Todra Gorge, and we began hiking right from our kasbah

Difficulty: difficult

Length: according to my Strava tracked activity, which included walking back along the road in the valley of Todra Gorge to our lunch spot, we hiked just over 10km which took us about two and a half hours

Directions: as mentioned above, I wouldn't do this hike without a guide as there isn't really a trail. Our guide was arranged through our kasbah and he was excellent. We trekked straight from our kasbah; check out my Strava activity for our exact route.

Bathrooms: yes, at our kasbah

Public Transit: no