The Dadès Gorge is the dramatic spine of the valley, a 50-kilometre cleft cutting north into the High Atlas behind Boumalne. The lower section near town is a wide farming valley with date palms, almond groves, and Berber villages of pink mud-brick clinging to the canyon walls. Twenty kilometres in, the road begins its famous switchbacks — a series of tight hairpins climbing a sheer cliff face, much-photographed and signposted on every map of southern Morocco.
Beyond the switchbacks the gorge narrows dramatically into red-rock canyons where the river runs only a few metres wide and the walls rise sheer for hundreds of metres. The road continues to Msemrir, where it crosses a pass and drops into the parallel Todra valley — a long, rough day's drive that requires 4WD on the unpaved section.
Most visitors hire a grand taxi or a private driver from Boumalne for a half-day round trip as far as Aït Oudinar (about 30 km in), which captures the most spectacular scenery without committing to the rough mountain crossing.