Getty Images
Nomad crossings, rose valleys and two-tone kasbahs: even on paper, the Dadès Valley stretches the imagination. From the daunting High Atlas to the north to the rugged Jebel Saghro range south, the valley is dotted with oases and mudbrick palaces that give the region its fairy-tale nickname – Valley of a Thousand Kasbahs. Some of the best views are only glimpsed when travelling on foot, along hidden livestock tracks between the Dadès and Todra Gorges and nomad routes across the Saghro.
Paved roads from Tinerhir to Imilchil and the intersection of the N8 between Beni Mellal and Khenifra, and from Errachidia north up the N13 to Meknes, allow travellers to connect easily with Middle Atlas itineraries.
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Dadès Valley.
Museum
This indoor/outdoor private museum is the passion project of Tinejdad native Zaid Abbou, built around the fizzing, magnesium-rich springs of Lalla Mimouna. Artefacts collected over 40 years – including ceramics, agricultural tools, jewellery and illuminated books – give an insight into oasis life, housed in a series of unfolding spaces across a garden dotted with literary quotations about valuing nature, particularly water.
Museum
Inside the Ksar El Khorbat, this award-winning museum traces tribal migrations through 22 rooms of carefully curated artefacts of seminomadic life: saddles worn shiny, contracts inscribed on wooden tablets in Arabic and Hebrew, ceramic urns for water and preserved butter, heavy silver jewellery and inlaid muskets and handcuffs to protect it all from would-be thieves.
Historic Building
One of Morocco’s grandest kasbahs, this 17th-century marvel once appeared on the Dh50 note. Signposted just a few hundred metres from the main road, this living museum showcases traditional kasbah life over the centuries, with hand-carved door locks, an olive oil press, still-functioning bread ovens and stalls where animals were once kept. The kasbah has been split into two, each with its own entrance – the part on the right has retained a more authentic feel and has the higher terrace.
Area
Skoura’s beautiful Unesco-protected palmeraie (palm grove) has been dubbed ‘Oasis of 1000 Palms’. Under the green canopy, a 15-mile patchwork of plots are watered by an ingenious, centuries-old khettara (underground irrigation system) of canals, levers and locks. More than 100 bird species flourish here, as well as more than 20 date varieties. Overnight in a pisé (rammed-earth) guesthouse and explore the palmeraie on foot or bicycle. A guide will help make the most of your explorations, and stop you getting lost.
Village
This spectacular example of a mid-19th-century fortified village was crumbling to dust when it underwent a major restoration using traditional techniques and materials, as well as adding a few contemporary comforts. Today, around half of the dwellings are still inhabited, while others have been turned into a 22-room museum, a guesthouse, a restaurant and a women’s craft workshop. The aim is to preserve the history and culture of the ksar (fortified village) through sustainable tourism while benefiting the whole community.
Natural Feature
Eighteen kilometres from Boumalne you'll find these extraordinary red rock formations that look like wax, melting right into the green carpet of the palmeraie (palm grove) below Aït Arbi. They’re known locally as Les Doigts de Singes (Monkey’s Fingers) given their bizarre wind-worn shapes. A little further on is the more colourfully named ‘Valley of Human Bodies’, where famished travellers are said to have died of hunger and been turned to stone.
Museum
This kasbah-turned-museum showcases the history and traditions of Southern Morocco's Imazighen (Berbers). Anthropologist Abdelmoula El Moudahab will explain the exhibits, including a marriage document written in saffron, an assortment of primitive but effective door locks and drawings revealing how a kasbah is put together, as well as sharing the region's fascinating folklore. It doubles as a performance space, so check for events.
Historic Building
Those art-deco tourism posters you’ll see all over Morocco showing a red-and-white kasbah in a rocky oasis aren’t exaggerating: just 6.5km into the gorge, the old Glaoui kasbah of Aït Youl is set against a lush backdrop of almond and fig trees. A local kid will offer to show you around for a small tip (Dh20). A couple of kilometres past Aït Youl, the road crosses a river valley that offers a sneaky back way to Kalaat M'Gouna on foot.
Area
Take a bike (hire one for Dh80) and tour the Ferkla palmeraie (palm grove) with a local guide (Dh200) from El Khorbat. You'll explore the Ksar Asrir, once the economic hub of the oasis, with a substantial mellah (Jewish quarter) and a mosque dating back to the Almoravids. You'll stop off at a Sufi shrine with an unusual earthen minaret and learn about the khetteras, underground water channels that fed the oasis.