Religious & festival
The Rose Festival at Kelaat Mgouna
In the Dades valley on the southern side of the High Atlas, hedges of damask roses grow between the fields and kasbahs, and each May, when they bloom, the town of Kelaat Mgouna holds Morocco's famous rose festival. For a few fragrant days the Valley of Roses celebrates a harvest that is as much for scent as for food — rosewater and rose products — but that also perfumes the region's sweets and hospitality.
- Read
- 7 min
- Season
- Religious & festival
- Updated
- 19 July 2026
At a glance
- Kelaat Mgouna, in the Valley of Roses, celebrates the damask rose harvest each May.
- The roses are distilled into rosewater and rose oil, prized far beyond food.
- Rosewater scents Moroccan sweets, drinks and hospitality rituals.
- The festival is one of Morocco's most colourful and fragrant.
The Valley of Roses
Along the Dades valley, the pink damask rose has been grown for generations in hedges dividing the smallholdings, thriving in the dry mountain air. The harvest is brief and labour-intensive, the blooms picked by hand in the cool of early morning before the sun draws off their scent, then rushed to be distilled. It takes a great quantity of petals to make a little rosewater or the precious rose oil, which is part of why they are so valued.
The rose here is chiefly a crop for fragrance and cosmetics, but its products flow straight into the kitchen and the tea tray too.
The rose festival
The Moussem of Roses, held each May at the peak of the bloom, is a highlight of the southern festival calendar.
- Rose harvest and distillation: petals gathered and turned into rosewater and oil.
- Processions and the rose queen: parades, music and folk dancing through the town.
- Rose products: rosewater, dried buds, soaps and cosmetics on every stall.
- Rose-scented sweets: pastries and treats perfumed with the harvest.
Rose in the Moroccan kitchen
Rosewater is a quiet but real presence in Moroccan food and hospitality. A few drops perfume pastries and puddings, scent the sugar for special dishes, and go into the fragrant waters offered to guests to rinse their hands before and after a feast. Dried rosebuds are even ground into some versions of the ras el hanout spice blend. In the Valley of Roses itself, the harvest naturally flavours the local sweets and the welcome extended to visitors during the festival.
For the spice blend that sometimes includes rosebuds see warming spices for Moroccan winter, and for the festival tradition, harvest festivals and moussem food.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Kelaat Mgouna rose festival?
It is the Moussem of Roses, held each May in the town of Kelaat Mgouna in Morocco's Valley of Roses, to celebrate the damask rose harvest. The colourful festival features processions, music, folk dancing, the crowning of a rose queen, and stalls of rosewater, dried buds and rose-scented products.
Where is the Valley of Roses?
The Valley of Roses lies along the Dades valley on the southern side of the High Atlas in Morocco, around the town of Kelaat Mgouna. Damask roses have long been grown there in hedges between the fields and kasbahs, thriving in the dry mountain air and harvested each spring.
How is rosewater used in Moroccan food?
Rosewater perfumes pastries and puddings, scents the sugar in special dishes, and flavours some sweets and drinks. It is also part of hospitality: fragrant rosewater is offered to guests to rinse their hands around a feast. Dried rosebuds are even ground into some versions of the ras el hanout spice blend.
When is the rose harvest in Morocco?
The damask rose harvest comes in May, when the blooms open in the Valley of Roses. The petals are picked by hand in the cool early morning, before the sun draws off their scent, and quickly distilled into rosewater and precious rose oil, a brief and labour-intensive season celebrated by the festival.