Tangier, Tetouan and the northwest

Tangier

The Caves of Hercules

East of Tangier

Asilah

The Tetouan coast: Fnideq to Oued Laou

Chefchaouen

Ouezzane

At first glance, it would appear that Morocco’s northwest corner has everything a traveller could want. Bordered on one side by sweeping expanses of near-deserted coastline washed by both Atlantic and Mediterranean waters, and on the other by the wild, rugged Rif mountain range that defines the physical boundary between Europe and Africa, this part of the country is home to a number of ancient, walled Medinas that remain mainly non-touristy and begging to be explored. As idyllic as it may sound, in reality the region has often been the country’s ugly duckling and, especially in the latter half of the twentieth century, was virtually ignored by both king and state.

The reasons for this cold shoulder were historical and twofold – Tangier’s reputation for European-influenced vice and extravagance, and two assassination attempts on the king (Hassan II, the current king’s late father) that were widely believed to have emanated from within the largely lawless interior of the Rif mountains. This is all firmly in the past now, however. As a young prince, King Mohammed VI enjoyed many a summer holiday here jetskiing and hiking, and since the death of his father in 1999 he has steadily opened the country’s (and foreign investors’) eyes to the northwest’s obvious charm and attraction, both in its natural beauty and close proximity to Europe.

Nowhere is this progress more visible than in Tangier. Once seedy from its days as a centre of international espionage and haven for gay Europeans and dodgy banks, the city has reinvented itself over the past 15 years as a vibrant, accessible and modern Mediterranean beach resort. South of Tangier along the Atlantic coast are the seaside resorts of Asilah and Larache, both of which offer wonderful, aimless meanderings within their compact whitewashed Medinas. Asilah is a relaxed and low-key town, well known for its international arts festival, while Larache is similarly attractive, and close to the ancient Carthaginian-Roman site of Lixus. A more distinctively Moroccan resort is Moulay Bousselham, south of Larache, with its windswept Atlantic beach and abundance of birdlife.

The Spanish enclave of Ceuta was a possession too valuable for the Spanish to hand back to Morocco upon the latter’s independence in 1956, and makes a pleasant change of pace when coming from the relatively haphazard and chaotic Moroccan side of the border. In the shadow of the Rif mountains, Tetouan has a proud Andalusian-Moroccan heritage and offers up yet another fascinating, authentic Medina while its nearby beaches are popular with both locals and visitors. South of Tetouan is the mountain town of Chefchaouen – a small-scale and enjoyably laidback place with perhaps the most photographed Medina of them all.

Northern Morocco has an especially quirky colonial history, having been divided into three separate zones. Tetouan was the administrative capital of the Spanish zone; the French zone began at Souk el Arba du Gharb, the edge of rich agricultural plains sprawling southward; while Tangier experienced International Rule under a group of foreign legations. Subsequently, although French is the official second language (after Arabic) throughout Morocco, older people in much of the northwest are equally, or more, fluent in Spanish – a basic knowledge of which can prove useful.

ANCIENT LIXUS

Highlights

1 Tangier’s café squares Sit with the ghosts of French spies and British secret agents as you while away the hours over a mint tea or espresso.

2 The Caves of Hercules Look out to sea from this grotto in the cliffs, through a cave window shaped like Africa.

3 Asilah A laidback beach resort with an intimate pastel-washed Medina, an international arts festival, and the palace of an old bandit chief.

4 Ancient Lixus Extensive Roman ruins in a fine setting, which you’ll have pretty much to yourself to explore.

5 Moulay Bousselham Wander the expansive windswept Atlantic beach and take a boat ride on the nearby lagoon, home to diverse birdlife and pink flamingos.

6 Ceuta A Spanish enclave with a couple of forts and no less than three army museums – not to mention good beer, tapas and shops full of duty-free booze.

7 Chefchaouen One of the prettiest and friendliest towns in Morocco, up in the Rif mountains, with a Medina full of pastel-blue houses.

Highlights are marked on the Tangier, Tetouan and the northwest map.

< Back to Tangier, Tetouan and the northwest

Tangier

At the meeting point of two seas as well as two continents, TANGIER’s strategic location has made it a highly sought-after locale since ancient times. Founded by Mediterranean trading nations, ruled by empirical Romans, and squabbled over by European powers before finally returning to the Moroccan nation in 1956, it’s perhaps no surprise that the city defies comparison with any other in Morocco.

For the first half of the twentieth century, Tangier was an international city with its own laws and administration, plus an eclectic community of exiles, expatriates and refugees. It was home, at various times, to Spanish and Central European refugees, Moroccan nationalists and – drawn by loose tax laws and free-port status – to over seventy banks and four thousand companies, many of them dealing in currency transactions forbidden in their own countries. Writers were also attracted to the city, including the American novelist Paul Bowles who called it his “dream city” and lived here for 52 years, and William Burroughs who spent most of the 1950s here. Tangier was also the world’s first and most famous gay resort, favoured by the likes of Tennessee Williams, Joe Orton and Kenneth Williams. In the words of the English academic Andrew Hussey, Tangier was a “utopia of dangerous, unknown pleasures”.

Rooted in an enduring eccentricity, Tangier’s charm is undeniable. Until fairly recently, the city’s tourism future didn’t look too rosy, having, over the years, gained a reputation as somewhere to avoid due to continuing reports of a large population of hustlers and unsavoury characters known to prey on foreign arrivals. King Mohammed VI, however, has provided much of the impetus for Tangier to re-invent itself under a flurry of renovation and building projects that will culminate in 2017 with the expected completion of a remodelled port and marina that aims to compete with better-known holiday ports along the Mediterranean.

zoom left

zoom right

Brief history

Tangier was known in ancient times as Tingis, which is Amazigh (Berber) for a marsh and reveals the site’s Berber origins. It was colonized around the seventh century BC by the Phoenicians, a seafaring people from what is now Lebanon, and in 42 AD, the Romans made Tingis the capital of their newly created province of Mauretania Tingitania (roughly the north of modern Morocco). In 429 AD, with the collapse of the Roman Empire’s western half, Tangier was taken by the Vandals, after which point things become a bit hazy. It seems to have been regained a century or so later by the Roman Empire’s resurgent eastern half in the form of the Byzantines, before falling to Spain’s rulers, the Visigoths, in the early seventh century.

Andalusian and European Influence

In 707, Tangier was taken by the Arabs, who used it as a base for their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula four years later. However, with the Christian reconquest of Spain and Portugal from the eleventh to fifteenth centuries, Tangier was itself vulnerable to attack from across the Straits, and eventually fell to the Portuguese in 1471. In 1661, they gave it to the British (along with Bombay) as part of Princess Catherine of Braganza’s dowry on her wedding to Charles II. Tangier’s Portuguese residents, accusing British troops of looting and rape, abandoned the town, but new settlers arrived, many of them Jewish refugees from Spain, and Britain granted the city a charter guaranteeing freedom of religion, trade and immigration. The British also introduced tea, now Morocco’s national drink. Under virtually constant siege, however, they found Tangier an expensive and unrewarding possession. Moulay Ismail laid siege to the city in 1678, and in 1680, England’s parliament refused any further funding to defend it. Four years later, unable to withstand the siege any longer, the British abandoned Tangier. The city then remained in Moroccan hands until the twentieth century, growing in importance as a port – one of its exports, mandarins, even took their name from the city, being known in Europe as tangerines.

Tangier’s strategic position made it a coveted prize for all the colonial powers at the end of the nineteenth century. European representatives started insinuating themselves into the administration of the city, taking control of vital parts of the infrastructure, and when France and Spain decided to carve up Morocco between them, Britain insisted that Tangier should become an International Zone, with all Western powers having an equal measure of control. This was agreed as early as 1905, and finalized by treaty in 1923. An area of 380 square kilometres, with some 150,000 inhabitants, the International Zone was governed by a Legislative Assembly headed by a representative of the sultan called the Mendoub. While legislative power rested with the assembly – consisting of 27 members of whom 18 were European – the real power was held by a French governor.

Morocco takes control

At the International Zone’s peak in the early 1950s, Tangier’s foreign communities numbered sixty thousand – then nearly half the population. As for the other half, pro-independence demonstrations in 1952 and 1953 made it abundantly clear that most Tanjawis (natives of Tangier) wanted to be part of a united, independent Morocco. When they gained their wish in 1956, Tangier lost its special status, and almost overnight, the finance and banking businesses shifted their operations to Spain and Switzerland. The expatriate communities dwindled too as the new national government imposed bureaucratic controls and instituted a “clean-up” of the city. Brothels – previously numbering almost a hundred – were banned, and in the early 1960s “The Great Scandal” erupted, sparked by a number of paedophile convictions and escalating into a wholesale closure of the once outrageous gay bars.

Tangier today

After a period of significant decline, the early 2000s saw Tangier reborn as one of the country’s premier beach holiday resorts as both the Moroccan government and foreign investors directed more interest (and more funds) towards the city and its future. Marketed mainly towards the domestic market as well as day-tripping Spaniards, Tangier’s regeneration shows no sign of fading. Ongoing construction works continues on an extended project that will eventually see the old port transformed into a glitzy residential marina complete with designer shops, a five-star hotel and berths for large cruise ships.

TANGIER’S HUSTLERS

Faux guides (“false guides”) are petty crooks who attach themselves to new-in-town tourists, usually claiming to be “guiding” you and therefore due payment, or just steering you into hotels or shops where they receive a commission (added to your bill, naturally). At one time, Tangier’s faux guides were particularly heavy; nowadays they have largely been cleaned out of town thanks to a nationwide police crackdown, though you may still experience some hustling when arriving at the gare routière or Tanger Med port. Generally speaking, faux guides now limit their activities to encouraging you to visit the shops that employ them – though if they can hustle you into a hotel that will pay them commission, they will do that too. Some may also try to sell you kif (cannabis).

There are a number of approaches you will soon learn to recognize: a favourite is trying to guess your nationality, or asking “Are you lost?” or “What are you looking for?” If you ignore them or turn down their advances, they will sometimes accuse you of being angry or “paranoid”. The best way to get rid of them is to ignore them completely, or explain politely (while never slackening your pace) that you are all right and don’t need any help. As a last resort – and it should not come to this – you can dive into a café or even threaten to go to the police if necessary (the Brigade Touristique are based in the former Gare de Ville train station at the entrance to Tanger Ville port, and there is also a police post in the kasbah). Bear in mind that local residents, as well as the law, are on your side.

The Medina

The layout within Tangier’s Medina, like most throughout Morocco, was never planned in advance. As the need arose, a labyrinth of streets and small squares emerged that eventually became the various quarters there today. The Grand Socco offers the most straightforward approach to the Medina. The arch at the northern corner of the square opens onto Rue d’Italie, which becomes Rue de la Kasbah, the northern entrance to the kasbah quarter. Through an opening on the right-hand side of the square is Rue es Siaghin, off which are most of the souks and at the end of which is the Petit Socco, the Medina’s small, main square. An alternative approach to the Medina is from the seafront: follow the American steps, west of the port, up from Avenue Mohammed VI, walk round by the Grand Mosque, and Rue des Postes (Rue Mokhtar Ahardane) will lead you into the Petit Socco.

Rue es Siaghin

Rue es Siaghin – Silversmiths’ Street – connects Grand Socco with the smaller Petit Socco, and was Tangier’s main thoroughfare into the 1930s. Many of the buildings along here were constructed by Europeans in the late 1800s, with windows and balconies looking out onto the street rather than the traditional inward-looking Medina architecture. Most of the silversmiths have since been replaced by bureaux de change and souvenir shops, but it’s a pleasant enough access road.

Church of the Immaculate Conception

Rue es Siaghin

The Church of the Immaculate Conception, halfway along Rue es Siaghin, was built in 1880 by a Franciscan missionary, Father José Lerchundi and is the only church in Morocco found within the walls of a Medina. No longer used for services, the building is occupied by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity. The area behind here was formerly the Mellah, or Jewish quarter, centred around Rue des Synagogues.

The Petit Socco

Looking at it today, the Petit Socco, or Zoco Chico (Little Market), seems too small ever to have served such a purpose, though up until the nineteenth century the square was almost twice its present size, and it was only at the beginning of the twentieth century that the hotels and cafés were built. Up until the 1930s, when the focus moved to the Ville Nouvelle, this was the true heart of Tangier, and a broad mix of people – Christians, Jews and Muslims, Moroccans, Europeans and Americans – would gather here daily.

In the heyday of the “International City”, with easily exploited Arab and Spanish sexuality a major attraction, it was in the alleys behind the Socco that the straight and gay brothels were concentrated. William Burroughs used to hang out around the square: “I get averages of ten very attractive propositions a day”, he wrote to Allen Ginsberg. The Socco cafés lost much of their appeal at independence, when the sale of alcohol was banned in the Medina, but they remain diverting places to sit around, people watch, talk and get some measure of the Medina.

STREET NAME CONFUSIONS

Spanish and French colonial place names are still in use alongside their Arabicized successors in Tangier, more so than in most other parts of the country. In addition, both Rue and Calle are sometimes replaced by Zankat, and Avenue and Boulevard by Charih. Local maps tend to use the new Arabic versions, though not all of the street signs have been changed. In the text and maps of this guide, we have used new names only when firmly established. Among the main street-name changes, note:

MAIN SQUARES

Grand Socco – Place du 9 Avril 1947

Petit Socco – Place Souk Dakhil

MEDINA

Rue des Chrétiens – Rue des Almouahidines

Rue de la Marine – Rue Djemaa Kebir

Rue des Postes – Avenue Mokhtar Ahardane

VILLE NOUVELLE

Boulevard de Paris – Avenue Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah

BEACH

Avenue d’Espagne – Avenue Mohammed VI

Avenue des FAR – Avenue Mohammed VI

American Legation (TALIM)

8 Rue d’Amérique • Mon–Fri 10am–1pm & 3–5pm, closed on Moroccan public hols • 20dh; guided tour 50dh • tel_icon 0539 935317, web_icon legation.org

A former palace given to the US government by the sultan Moulay Slimane, the American Legation (officially Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies), tucked away in the southern corner of the Medina, is America’s only National Historic Landmark located abroad. Morocco was the first overseas power to recognize an independent United States and this was the first American ambassadorial residence, established in 1777. A fascinating three-storey palace, bridging an alleyway (the Rue d’Amérique) below, it houses excellent exhibits on the city’s history – including the correspondence between Sultan Moulay Ben Abdallah and George Washington – and has displays of paintings by, mainly, Moroccan-resident American artists. Malcolm Forbes’s military miniatures of the Battle of Songhai and the Battle of Three Kings are also on display having been donated by the Forbes family when the Forbes Museum was closed. Downstairs, by the library, a room dedicated to Paul Bowles features photographs of Bowles and his contemporaries, including a shot of him by Beat poet Allen Ginsberg.

Tomb of Ibn Battutah

Cnr Rue Ibn Batouta & Rue Gzenaya, Quartier Jnan Kaptan • Daily, no set times • Free; caretaker donation suggestion 10dh

While there’s no actual evidence to confirm or deny the existence of the remains of explorer Ibn Battutah , they are said to lie in this typically small, simple, nondescript mausoleum tucked away in a corner of Tangier’s Medina. Inside the serene mausoleum, the Tomb of Ibn Battutah is draped in the colour of Islam (green) and watched over by a caretaker; remember to take off your shoes as you enter.

IBN BATTUTAH

Abu Abdallah Muhammad Ibn Abdallah Ibn Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Battutah al-Lawati al-Tanji, better known simply as Ibn Battutah, was born in Tangier in 1304. At the age of 21 he went on a pilgrimage to Makkah (Mecca), a journey that stretched out to nearly thirty years as he explored much of the then-known Islamic world. Travelling alone and three times as far (in distance) as the more famous Middle Ages explorer Marco Polo, who died shortly before Ibn Battutah started his journey, Battutah visited the coasts of East and North Africa, the Middle East, India, China and travelled across the Sahara to Mali. He mostly worked for his passage and was sometimes employed as a judge and ambassador by several of the rulers he visited. In 1354 he returned to Morocco and related his travels to the Sultan. A Granadian scribe later wrote down Ibn Battutah’s stories in El Rihla (“The Travels”), considered to be one of the all-time great travelogues and an invaluable literary account of the Islamic world as it was. Ibn Battutah died in 1377 and his remains are (possibly) in a modest mausoleum in Tangier’s Medina. For more on the “world’s first backpacker”, see the writings and film documentary by British travel writer Tim Mackintosh-Smith ( web_icon mackintosh-smith.com).

The kasbah

The kasbah, walled off from the Medina on the highest rise of the coast, has been the city’s palace and administrative quarter since Roman times. It was the Brits who destroyed the city’s medieval fortifications, including a great upper castle which covered the entire site of the present-day kasbah. It is a strange, somewhat sparse area of walled compounds, occasional colonnades, and a number of luxurious villas built in the 1920s, when this became one of the Mediterranean’s choicest residential sites.

The eccentric Woolworths heiress, Barbara Hutton, moved into the kasbah quarter in 1947, reputedly outbidding General Franco for her mini palace, Sidi Hosni. Her parties were legendary – including a ball where thirty Reguibat racing camels and their drivers were brought a thousand miles from the Sahara to form a guard of honour.

The main gateway from the Medina to the kasbah is Bab el Assa, featured in the 1912 painting La porte de la Kasbah by the French artist, Henri Matisse. Just inside the gate is the Seqaya Bab el Assa, one of the largest and most beautiful fountains of the Medina featuring exquisite zellij mosaic tiling and an ornamental wooden roof. The kasbah’s main point of interest is the former Dar el Makhzen, or Sultanate Palace. It stands to the rear of a formal court, or mechouar, where the town’s pashas held public audience and gave judgment well into the twentieth century. Just before the entrance to the palace, you pass (on your left) the ramshackle clubhouse of the Orquesta Andalusi de Tanger, a fine group of musicians who play Andalous music with a lot of swing. If they’re around practising, they may well invite you in to watch them play.

Museum of Antiquities

Dar el Makhzen, Pl Kasba • Daily except Tues 9–11.30am & 1.30–4pm • 10dh • tel_icon 0539 932097, web_icon maroc.net/museums

The Dar el Makhzen – built, like the Medina’s Grand Mosque, in the seventeenth century by Moulay Ismail – last saw royal use in 1912, as the residence of the sultan Moulay Hafid and his entourage of 168, who was exiled to Tangier after his forced abdication by the French. The ground floor of the otherwise off-limits palace is home to the Museum of Antiquities, centred on two interior courtyards, each with rich arabesques, painted wooden ceilings and marble fountains. Some of the flanking columns are of Roman origin, particularly well suited to the small display of mosaics and finds from Volubilis. Within other rooms are well-presented artefacts discovered in and around Tangier, with origins dating from the Palaeolithic era up until Portuguese occupation. Other exhibits include a map depicting international trade routes, a section dedicated to the Islamization of Tangier, and an interesting room concerned with Roman religion and funeral rites.

Opposite the museum’s entrance, and off the main interior courtyard, are the herb- and shrub-lined palace gardens, shaded by jacaranda trees.

Ville Nouvelle

Sprawling westwards and southwards from the ancient Medina is the European-built Ville Nouvelle. Much of its architecture and layout, especially immediately outside the Medina, is of Spanish origin, reflecting the influence of the city’s large Spanish population during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Grand Socco

The Grand Socco is the obvious place to start a ramble around the town. Its name, like so many in Tangier, is a French–Spanish hybrid, proclaiming its origins as the main market square. The markets have since long gone, but the square remains a meeting place and its cafés make good spots to soak up the city’s life. The Grand Socco’s official but little-used name, Place du 9 Avril 1947, commemorates the visit of Sultan Mohammed V to the city on that date – an occasion when, for the first time and at some personal risk, he identified himself with the struggle for Moroccan independence.

A memorial to this event (in Arabic) is to be found amid the Mendoubia Gardens, flanking the northwest side of the square, which enclose the former offices of the Mendoub – the sultan’s representative during the international years – and now home to the local Chamber of Commerce. Here there’s also a spectacular banyan tree, said to be over 800 years old. Essentially now an open grassed area, the gardens are popular with local families who enjoy the small playground.

FROM TOP GRAND SOCCO, TANGIER; MARKET, TANGIER

Place de France

In Place de France, south and uphill of the Grand Socco, the cafés are the main attraction – and at their best in the late afternoon and early evening, when an interesting mix of local and expatriate regulars turn out to watch and be watched. The seats to choose are outside the 1920s Café de Paris, a legendary rendezvous throughout the years of the International Zone. During World War II, this was notorious as a centre of deal making and intrigue between agents from Britain, America, Germany, Italy and Japan. Later the emphasis shifted to Morocco’s own politics: the first nationalist paper, La Voix du Maroc, surfaced at the café, and the nationalist leader Allal el Fassi, exiled in Tangier from the French-occupied zone, set up his Istiqlal party headquarters nearby.

Terrasse des Paresseux

Just to the east of Place de France is a wide terrace-belvedere looking out over the Straits to Spain. Officially titled Place de Faro but known as Terrasse des Paresseux (“terrace of the lazy”), it’s a great spot for people watching, and on a clear day the pay-for-use telescopes (1dh) afford a good view of the Spanish port of Tarifa.

St Andrew’s Church

Rue d’Angleterre • Sun service 11am

The nineteenth-century Anglican Church of St Andrew is one of the city’s odder sights in its fusion of Moorish decoration, English country churchyard and flapping Scottish flag – the cross of St Andrew, to whom the church is dedicated (though, being an English church, they sometimes fly the cross of St George instead). The regular congregation has fallen considerably but the church is still used for a Sunday morning service, when the numbers swell with worshippers from West African countries en route (hopefully) to a better life in Europe.

In the strangely serene graveyard, among the laments of early deaths from malaria, you come upon the tomb of Walter Harris, the most brilliant of the chroniclers of “Old Morocco” in the closing decades of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. Also buried here is Dean of Dean’s Bar (“Missed by all and sundry”), a former London cocaine dealer (real name Don Kimfull) who tended the bar in the El Minzah hotel before opening his own place in 1937, and worked as a spy for British intelligence in Tangier during World War II; and Caid Sir Harry Maclean, the Scottish military adviser to Sultan Moulay Abd el Aziz at the turn of the twentieth century. Inside the church another Briton is commemorated, Emily Keane, who married the Shereef of Ouezzane in 1877 – at the time one of the most holy towns of the country.

La Marshan

To the west of the kasbah is La Marshan, an upmarket 1840s residential district that offers a pleasant meander through its rich spread of villas, consulates and royal properties. Here you’ll also find Café Hafa.

The beach

Tangier’s beach is a pleasant place to escape the city streets. It’s especially good for a daytime stroll, either on the beach itself or along the 3km-long promenade that runs between the sand and Avenue Mohammed VI. Adjoining the promenade is a string of beach bars, some of which offer a place to change into/out of your beach wear as well as showers, deckchairs, food and drink. The Sun Beach (99 Av Mohammed VI) is where Tennessee Williams wrote a first draft of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, though renovations have stripped it of its original character. The promenade is quite safe at night, but it’s advisable to avoid walking on the beach in the evenings.

MALCOLM FORBES: TANGIER’S LAST TYCOON

The American publishing tycoon Malcolm Forbes bought the Dar el Mendoub, on Rue Mohammed Tazi in La Marshan, in 1970. His reason, ostensibly at least, was the acquisition of a base for launching and publishing an Arab-language version of Forbes Magazine – the “millionaires’ journal”. For the next two decades, until his death in 1990, he was a regular visitor to the city, and it was at Dar el Mendoub that he decided to host his last great extravagance, his seventieth birthday party, in 1989.

This was the grandest social occasion Tangier had seen since the days of Woolworths heiress Barbara Hutton. Spending an estimated $2.5m, he brought in his friend Elizabeth Taylor as co-host and chartered a 747, a DC-8 and Concorde to fly in eight hundred of the world’s rich and famous from New York and London. The party entertainment was on an equally imperial scale, including six hundred drummers, acrobats and dancers, and a fantasia – a cavalry charge which ends with the firing of muskets into the air – by three hundred Berber horsemen.

Forbes’s party was a mixed public relations exercise, with even the gossip press feeling qualms about such a display of American affluence in a country like Morocco. However, Forbes most likely considered the party a success, for his guests included not just the celebrity rich – Gianni Agnelli, Robert Maxwell, Barbara Walters, Henry Kissinger – but half a dozen US state governors and the chief executives or presidents of scores of multinational corporations likely to advertise in his magazine. And, of course, it was tax deductible.

After Forbes’s death, Dar el Mendoub passed into the hands of the state and was used to house personal guests of King Hassan II, before being converted into a museum. It has now reverted back to being a VIP residence for royal and state guests.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: TANGIER

Tangier is one of the major transport hubs in Morocco. Travelling on into Morocco from Tangier is simplest either by train (the lines run from Meknes–Fez–Oujda or Rabat–Casablanca–Marrakesh; all trains stop at Asilah en route), or, if you are heading east to Tetouan, by bus or shared grand taxi.

BY PLANE

Tangier’s airport, Ibn Batouta International ( tel_icon 0539 393720, web_icon www.onda.ma/en) is 15km west of the city and is served by flights from Casablanca by RAM. There are three bureaux de change plus a couple of ATMs, cafés and shops. Car rental is also available here. Royal Air Maroc have an office at 1 Pl de France ( tel_icon 0539 379507 or 0900 00800). Cream/beige grands taxis line up outside the terminal; there is a notice board listing prices at the terminal’s exit and another at the taxi rank itself. Current fares from 5.30am–10.30pm are 150dh (Tangier city centre), 170dh (Tanger Ville train station), 200dh (beach hotels), 250dh (Asilah), 300dh (Tanger Port Med), and 350dh (Larache or Tetouan). These costs are per vehicle, seating a maximum of six passengers, and outside of those hours rates increase. Other than pre-organizing a private transfer with your Tangier accommodation, the only other transport option from the airport is to walk 2km to the main road, where you can pick up bus #9, which goes to Rue de Fez in town. To get to the airport from Tangier, most hotels will be able to organize a transfer for you, or you can rent a grand taxi from the Grand Socco (150dh is the standard rate).

Destination Casablanca (1–2 daily; 1hr).

BY TRAIN

The first stage of the country’s grand development of a 1500km high-speed rail (HSR) network is currently under construction between Tangier and Casablanca. Work began in 2011 on the proposed four-year project, though in reality the completion date will be somewhere nearer 2017. The new line will cut the journey time between Tangier and Casablanca from nearly five hours to around two, and is expected to carry up to ten million passengers a year. Tangier’s main train station, Tanger Ville, is 2km east of town on the continuation of Bd Mohammed V, and only 300m or so off the eastern end of the beach. The station has a branch of CIH bank (Mon 12.15–3.45pm, Tues–Fri 8.18am–3.45pm, Sat 9.15am–12.45pm) with an ATM, plus a Budget car rental desk ( tel_icon 0675 386167). The best way to reach the station is by petit taxi (20dh or so); it is also served by bus #16 from the bus station but not by any buses from the city centre. A convenient service from Tangier is the night train to Marrakesh, departing at 9.40pm and arriving at 8.10am; it’s regularly full, so book ahead at any train station or Supratours office if possible.

Destinations Asilah (12 daily; 40min); Casablanca Voyageurs (8 direct daily; 4hr 40min–6hr 20min & 2 connecting daily; 7–8hr); Fez (4 direct & 1 connecting daily; 4hr 30min–5hr 10min); Marrakesh (1 direct overnight & 9 connecting daily; 8hr 30min–10hr 30min); Meknes (4 direct & 1 connecting daily; 4hr–4hr 15min); Rabat (8 direct & 3 connecting daily; 3hr 35min–5hr 30min); Souk el Arba du Gharb (11 daily; 2hr).

BY BUS

The gare routière is 2km south of the Ville Nouvelle on Pl Jamia al Arabia ( tel_icon 0539 946928). All long-distance buses operate from here, including CTM & Supratours. There’s a handy consigne (left luggage) counter here (daily 5am–1am; 5–7dh). The gare routière is a 15min walk from the centre of town; a petit taxi costs around 10dh.

Destinations Al Hoceima (1 CTM & over 5 others daily; 8–9hr); Asilah (No CTM services; over 10 others daily; 45min); Casablanca (4 CTM & over 10 others daily; 5hr 30min–6hr 30min); Chefchaouen (1 CTM & over 10 others daily, ask for a direct sans détour service; 3hr); Fez (3 CTM & 5 others daily; 6–8hr); Fnideq (for Ceuta; no CTM services; over 10 others daily; 2hr); Larache (3 CTM & over 10 others daily; 1hr 30min–2hr); Marrakesh (1 CTM & over 5 others daily; 9hr 30min); Meknes (2 CTM & 9 others daily; 4hr 30min–5hr 30min); Nador (2 CTM & over 5 others daily; 10–11hr); Rabat (4 CTM & over 10 others daily; 4–5hr); Tetouan (4 CTM & over 20 others daily; 1hr–1hr 30min).

BY GRAND TAXI

Grands taxis mostly operate from the gare routière and its immediate surrounds. From the rank in the gare routière, grands taxis run to/from Tanger Med port, Chefchaouen, Tetouan and Fnideq. Occasionally you may find a taxi direct to the Ceuta border, 2km beyond Fnideq. Grands taxis running to the Malabata beaches and Ksar es Seghir are parked along Av Moulay Idriss I, opposite the main bus exit. It’s also possible to pick up grands taxis to Fnideq and Ksar es Seghir from Rue du Portugal, off Rue de la Plage at the southernmost corner of the Medina. For destinations in the immediate vicinity of Tangier, you may need to charter a grand taxi at the rank on the Grand Socco, though it’s possible to get to places like the Caves of Hercules or Cap Malabata by shared grand taxi or city bus. Traffic can sometimes be gridlocked around the gare routière, thus lengthening the travel times listed below.

Destinations Asilah (1hr); Chefchaouen (2hr); Fnideq (for Ceuta; 1hr); Ksar es Seghir (30min); Tanger Med port (1hr); Tetouan (1hr).

BY FERRY

Fast hydrofoils for Tarifa in Spain arrive and depart from the old port, Tanger Ville. All other ferries run to and from Tanger Med, some 40km northeast of the city. Reservations are useful at the end of the Easter week and during the first and last weeks of Aug. Full details of routes can be found in “Basics”; be aware, too, that immigration formalities take place as you are sailing to Morocco, except when you are sailing from Tarifa where immigration is performed in the terminal building prior to embarkation. Departing Morocco, each passenger needs an embarkation form and departure card, which must be stamped by the port police prior to boarding. At both ports, all passengers must clear a security check, so allow plenty of time for this. Tickets and timetables can be obtained from any travel agent in Tangier or from the ferry companies themselves.

Tanger Med (Gare Maritime de Tanger Mediterranée) Ticket booths for all the ferry companies, plus bureaux de change, ATMs, and Budget and Europcar offices, are on the ground floor of the port terminal building. Transport options between the city and port include by train (7.15am & 3.20pm from Tanger Ville; 11am & 5.35pm from Tanger Med; 1hr; 30dh), bus #13 (every 45min; 5.30am–10pm from Tanger Ville train station; 6.15am-11.15pm from Tanger Med; 1hr10min; 7dh) and grand taxi (1hr; 40dh shared or 250dh private).

Destinations Algeciras (16–22 daily; 1hr 30min–2hr); Barcelona (4 weekly; 27–32hr); Genoa (2 weekly; 49hr); Gibraltar (weekly, 1hr 30min–2hr); Livorno (weekly, 59hr); Sète (3 weekly; 34–45hr).

Tanger Ville (Gare Maritime du Tanger Ouest) All hydrofoil “fast” ferries to/from Tarifa, as well as an increasing number of cruise liners, operate from the old port. There are bureaux de change and ATMs, plus left luggage (daily 7am–9pm; from 10dh) just outside the arches of the port entrance, about 20m up Rue du Portugal towards the Medina Steps. It’s a relatively short – though at times uphill – 20min walk into the centre from the port or a short ride by petit taxi (up to an exorbitant 150dh directly from the port or around 10dh on the meter from Av Mohammed VI).

Destination Tarifa (12 daily; 1hr).

INFORMATION

Tourist information The tourist office, ONMT Délégation de Tourisme, is at 29 Bd Pasteur (Mon–Fri 8.30am–4.30pm; tel_icon 0539 948050); official guides can be hired here.

GETTING AROUND

By bus City buses are not much use to tourists. The most useful route is #2, which runs from St Andrew’s Church in the Grand Socco to Ziyatin and on to the village of Jabila, not far from the Caves of Hercules. Route #9 goes from Rue de Fez along the Rabat road to the airport turn-off, some 2km from the airport itself. Route #16 connects the train station and the bus station, and runs on to Cape Malabata, but does not serve the city centre. Fares are never more than 10dh.

By grand taxi Grands taxis (large cream/beige Mercedes) are permitted to carry up to six passengers. The price for a ride should be fixed in advance – 15–20dh per person is standard for any trip within the city.

By petit taxi Small blue/green petits taxis (which carry just three passengers) can be flagged down around the town. Most of these are metered – a typical rate for a city trip is 5–10dh per person – make sure the driver starts his meter from zero.

By car While Tangier’s traffic is rarely gridlocked and a car can be handy for day-trips within the region, the city itself is small enough to explore on foot. Agencies include Amine Car, 43 Bd Mohammed V ( tel_icon 0539 944050); Avis, 54 Bd Pasteur ( 0539 934646) and airport ( 0539 393033); Europcar, 87 Bd Mohammed V ( 0539 941938) and airport ( 0539 393273); Hertz, 36 Bd Mohammed V ( 0539 322165 or 0663 614211) and airport ( 0539 393511).

ACCOMMODATION

Tangier has dozens of hotels and pensions, and finding a room is rarely much of a problem. The city does, however, get crowded during July and Aug, when many Moroccan families holiday here. Cheaper hotels and pensions hike up their prices at this time of year, and you’ll often get a better deal at one of the mid-range hotels.

MEDINA

Al-Andalusi 64 Rue Ibn Battuta tel_icon 0539 936052; map. Opened in 2014, this friendly hostel offers dorm rooms sleeping 2–4 in bunk beds, some with private bathroom. Riad-like and inward-facing, with floors and walls of zellij tiling and ornate ceilings as well as a welcoming salon and a rooftop terrace with sweeping views of the city. BB 145dh

Continental 36 Rue Dar el Baroud tel_icon 0539 931024, web_icon continental-tanger.com; map. Commanding a great view over the port and Straits, the Continental opened in 1870, with Queen Victoria’s son Alfred its first official guest. Today, the hotel has a somewhat faded grandeur despite ongoing renovations but it’s still comfortable enough and the service is usually pretty good. Ask to see a selection of rooms before checking in. The multistorey hotel is alcohol-free and there’s no lift, but porters are always available. BB 810dh

author_pick Dar Chams Tanja 2–4 Rue Jnan Kabtan, Bab el Assa tel_icon 0539 332323, web_icon darchamstanja.com; map. One of the best maisons d’hôte in the Medina, with hands-on multilingual owners. Surprisingly spacious inside, the large uncluttered rooms all have a/c and satellite TV, and some enjoy glorious port and bay views. There’s a floor dedicated to wellness, offering a hammam, separate massage room, and a chill-out room to savour the experience. Meals can be taken formally in the dining room or casually up on the roof terrace. BB €110

Dar Nour 20 Rue Gourna, in the kasbah, off Rue Sidi Ahmed Boukouja tel_icon 0662 112724, web_icon darnour.com; map. A perennially popular maison d’hôte run by an attentive English-speaking French trio who have created ten individually styled rooms and suites in what was once five small houses. There are a number of communal areas, including little nooks and crannies perfect for a spot of quiet reading, interesting objets d’art throughout, and a well-stocked library. Literally topping it all off are three terraces with sweeping views of the Medina and Straits – a favourite spot for evening cocktails. BB €65

Mamora 19 Av Mokhtar Ahardane tel_icon 0539 934105; map. Centrally located in the heart of the Medina, with clean, pleasant rooms, some with private bathroom – though the hot water can be a bit sporadic. The rooms with the best views also overlook the Grand Mosque. It’s a little bit sterile but pretty good value for the location. 120dh

author_pick Melting Pot 3 Rue de Tsouli tel_icon 0539 331508; web_icon meltingpothostels.com; map. Clean and well-run sister hostel to one across the Straits in Tarifa, with a regular mix of Spanish backpackers and international budget travellers. There’s a choice of double rooms or dorms sleeping 4–8, all with shared bathrooms, but there’s plenty of hot water. The rooftop terrace is a popular spot for a beer and sheesha pipe, there are lockers for safe keeping, and 24hr reception. BB. Dorm €11, double €35

La Tangerina 19 Riad Sultan, in the kasbah tel_icon 0539 947731, web_icon latangerina.com; map. Pared-down Mediterranean elegance, stylishly composed interiors, an ambience of simple luxury and an outstanding terrace overlooking the Straits continue to rate this well-run guesthouse as one of Tangier’s best. The rooms cover a range of budgets while the attentive service and delicious cuisine are first-class. BB €75

VILLE NOUVELLE AND SEAFRONT

It’s a steep climb from the port or bus station to the Ville Nouvelle, so you may want to grab a taxi if carrying heavy luggage.

Biarritz 104 Av Mohammed VI tel_icon 0539 932473; map. A family-run protectorate-era budget hotel within a short (and flat) walk from the port’s gates. A marbled staircase leads to comfortable en-suite rooms, some with a balcony, and a fair bit of old-fashioned charm. Ask for a room away from the busy road. 320dh

Bristol 14 Rue el Antaki tel_icon 0539 942914; map. Situated 100m uphill from the beach, this is a good bet, with large brightly coloured rooms with TVs and compact bathrooms. Rooms on the upper floors – accessed by an antique elevator – miss most of the noise from the street-level bar. 300dh

Camping Miramonte Marshan tel_icon 0539 423322 or 0672 207055, web_icon campingmiramonte.com; map. This is one of the best campsites on the Atlantic coast, but unfortunately access for camper vans is a little difficult. There are well-maintained grounds that include electrified sites, ablutions with hot water, self-contained bungalows, two restaurants, two swimming pools and a bar. Gets pretty busy and noisy in Aug. It’s best accessed by a new oceanside road that links the port with the city’s Marshan neighbourhood. No wi-fi. Camping 75dh, bungalow 1000dh

El Djenina 8 Rue el Antaki tel_icon 0539 942244, email_icon eldjenina@menara.ma; map. Though the bland but modern rooms are a little on the small side, they are all en suite with TV and always sparkling clean. It’s well managed and only a short walk from the beach. 490dh

Le Grand Hôtel Villa de France Cnr Rue de Hollande & Rue d’Angleterre tel_icon 0539 333111, web_icon leroyal.com/ghvdf; map. Severely neglected after it closed in 1992, restoration started in 2006 – confirmation of Tangier’s urban renewal – and was finally completed in 2014. The hotel looks out over St Andrew’s Church and beyond to the ocean; this was the view from room 35 (refurbished to its past glory as a pseudo-museum), where French impressionist Henri Matisse painted his famous Vue de la fenêtre à Tanger (View from a Window in Tangier) in 1912. There’s a range of rooms and suites available, most with a distant sea view, plus a fine-dining restaurant, piano bar and expansive gardens. While the refurbished decor leans a bit too much to kitsch Orientalism, the overall ambeance is still one of grandness. BB 2370dh

Hollanda 139 Rue de Hollande tel_icon 0539 937838; map. Tucked behind the French Consulate with convenient off-road parking, this large, airy former maternity hospital, shaded by trees, offers simple, good-value rooms with TV and sink. Doubles also have a small bathroom. 350dh

El Minzah 85 Rue el Houria (Rue de la Liberté) tel_icon 0539 333444, web_icon leroyal.com/morocco; map. Built in 1930, this remains one of Morocco’s most prestigious hotels, with a wonderful garden, a pool overlooking the sea and town, an elegant (if pricey) bar and a wellness centre with hammam. The slightly faded grandeur rooms are still worth the price for the hotel’s nostalgic atmosphere. BB 2638dh

Mövenpick Route de Malabata tel_icon 0539 329300, web_icon moevenpick-hotels.com; map. Consistently one of Tangier’s better deluxe hotels, 3km east of town on the road to Malabata, with all the facilities you’d expect from this Swiss chain – three restaurants, a pool, health club, sauna and casino. There’s an array of room options (two of which have been adapted for wheelchair users) mostly offering splendid sea views. 1220dh

De Paris 42 Bd Pasteur tel_icon 0539 931877; map. Central protectorate-era hotel with a range of room options including a great-value single with shared bathroom (270dh). There are a few Art Deco touches in the public areas, some interesting old photos in the lobby and very helpful staff. 552dh

Pension Dar Omar Khayam 26–28 Rue el Antaki tel_icon 0539 343036, web_icon daromarkhayam.com; map. This former convent is a popular stalwart of Tangier’s budget accommodations. You can opt for cell-like singles with shared bathrooms or splash out on en-suite doubles with a/c. Rooms at the rear are quieter. 150dh

Pension Miami 126 Rue de la Plage tel_icon 0539 932900; map. Beautifully tiled old Spanish townhouse said to be over a hundred years old. Pleasant rooms, and bathrooms on each corridor. No wi-fi. 150dh

Rembrandt Cnr Bds Pasteur and Mohammed V tel_icon 0539 937870, web_icon rembrandthotel.ma; map. One of the city’s better value hotels, exuding a 1950s feel while still offering modern, spacious rooms (ask for a sea view) with all the mod cons. Downstairs there’s an average restaurant, a shaded poolside café and a sultry piano-lounge bar. The service is usually good and there’s free parking. BB €55

OUT OF TOWN

Villa Josephine 231 Rue de la Montagne, Sidi Masmoudi tel_icon 0539 334535, web_icon villajosephine-tanger.com; map. Resplendent in antiques, oak panelling and Moroccan carpets, the villa has ten opulent suites – five with private balconies or terraces overlooking the sea. Built in the 1920s by Walter Harris and a former summer residence of Pasha el Glaoui the estate is in impeccable condition. There’s also a colonial-esque bar and a very good restaurant (non-guests welcome) offering daytime snacks and a French-inspired dinner menu (mains 240–450dh), served either inside the classy restaurant or on the outdoor poolside terrace with fantastic Straits views. €255

EATING

Tangier is certainly no culinary hot spot, but the city’s continuing rejuvenation has encouraged a general rise in the standard and variety available, plus there’s now a wealth of attractive cafés and patisseries too. Most top-end restaurants serve alcohol.

RESTAURANTS

VILLE NOUVELLE AND SEAFRONT

Africa 83 Rue de la Plage tel_icon 0539 935436; map. A simply decorated and peaceful dining room known for its excellent-value four-course set menu (55dh). There’s also a la carte standards such as lamb tajine and beef couscous (45–65dh). Daily 11am–10pm.

Agadir 21 Rue Prince Héritier tel_icon 0668 827696; map. This small and friendly restaurant, run by a Tafraouti, with accomplished Mediterranean and Moroccan offerings (35–75dh), is a popular traveller’s favourite. Beer and wine is usually available from the bar next door. Daily except Wed 1–3pm & 7–11pm.

Anna e Paolo 77 Av Prince Héritier tel_icon 0539 944617; map. Managed by Anna and Paolo themselves, this is quite simply the best Italian food in Tangier. The dark interior is decorated with pictures of old Italy and the menu bows to tradition with a host of authentic pizza, pasta (the ravioli neri is recommended), meat and seafood dishes (75–145dh). Mon–Sat noon–3pm & 7.30–11pm.

El Carabo Chellah Beach Club, Av Mohammed VI, opposite Av Louis van Beethoven tel_icon 0539 325068; map. Located within the popular beachside Chellah Beach Club, El Carabo offers Moroccan and Mediterranean standards such as brochettes and grillés, along with a few seafood dishes (mains 60–145dh). It’s a lively place in the evening. Daily noon–10pm.

El Dorado 21 Rue Allal Ben Abdallah; map. A stalwart of Tangier’s restaurant scene with a dependable Moroccan-Spanish menu that also includes a good selection of seafood dishes. Try their couscous on Fri or the good-value paella on Sun (mains 60–140dh). You can dine alfresco at the back. Daily noon–3pm & 7.30–11pm.

Eric’s Hamburger Shop Arcade Mentoubi, between Bd Pasteur and Rue el Moutanabi; map. It doesn’t get much simpler than this: Eric’s has been open 24/7 since 1968 and succeeds because it doesn’t claim to be anything other than a cheap diner. There’s a row of wooden stools lined up against the stainless steel counter, and the menu consists of four hamburgers and four hot dogs. Close to some of the city’s more seedy nightclubs, it’s immensely more attractive at midnight than midday. No alcohol. Mains 17–21dh. Daily 24hr.

Miami Beach 3 Av Mohammed VI tel_icon 0539 322463; map. This upmarket beachside restaurant is managing to continue its high standards and excellent menu despite the ongoing port renovation going on just outside. The menu offers mainly seafood with French influences (mains 100–195dh), accompanied by an impressive wine list. Daily noon–4pm & 7–11pm.

Miramar Av Mohammed VI, opposite Atlas Rif Hotel tel_icon 0539 944033; map. A beachfront restaurant with a varied menu of Moroccan, Spanish and seafood dishes (55–140dh) – their steaks are recommended, especially the escalope avec sauce poivron. There’s also a separate lively tapas bar. Daily noon–11pm.

Otori Sushi 41 Av de la Résistance tel_icon 0539 325533, web_icon otorisushi.com; map. Oriental in design with a typically minimalistic, somewhat sterile interior, Tangier’s only sushi restaurant offers standards such as by-the-piece sushi, maki, sashimi and California rolls, all in different shades and combinations. The house specialities include tempura, haromaki (surimi, salmon, avocado, & herbed rice), and a “sushi pizza” (mains 45–100dh). Fresh fish arrives daily from the nearby port. Takeaway available. Daily noon–11.15pm.

Pagode Rue el Boussiri tel_icon 0539 938086; map. The Viet-Chinese menu here is a winner, including specialities like poisson à la sauce Pékinoise (grilled fish in a ginger sauce) and bouef à la citronelle (stir-fried beef with lemongrass). Dim lighting through typical Oriental lamps sets the scene, while the service is dependable with a hands-on owner. Mains 85–100dh. Tues–Sun noon–2pm & 7.30–11pm.

author_pick Populaire Saveur de Poisson 2 Escalier Waller tel_icon 0539 336326; map. This family-run seafood restaurant is as friendly (and good) as they come. Just one room, cluttered with paintings, and an adjoining kitchen, it’s often packed with in-the-know locals. There are no choices as such, just a single menu du jour (200dh). Count on dishes like brochettes of char-grilled sole or merlan (whiting) pan-fried in butter with garlic, onions and spinach. Their in-house fruit punch is brewed daily in a big vat in the kitchen. No alcohol. Daily except Fri 1–5pm & 8–11pm; closed during Ramadan.

San Remo 15 Rue Ahmed Chaouki tel_icon 0539 938451; map. This popular restaurant serves up credible, good-value Mediterranean cooking, including a dependable selection of seafood and meat grills (mains 70–240dh). There’s also a good choice of pizzas, available either in-house or from their cheaper pizzeria across the road. Daily noon–3 & 7–11pm.

Valencia 6 Av Youssef Ben Tachfine tel_icon 0539 945146; map. A simply furnished fish restaurant, very popular with both locals and tourists. The straightforward menu includes a variety of friture (fried) or grillé (grilled) dishes, with calamars (calamari), merlan (whiting) and sole the most prevalent (mains 35–80dh). No alcohol. Daily except Tues 11am–10pm.

MEDINA

A L’anglaise 37 Rue del la Kasbah tel_icon 0660 960483; map. This hole-in-the-wall pavement café-restaurant is on the ground floor of the owner-manager’s house, which perhaps explains the warm atmosphere, eclectic furnishings and excellent home-cooked dishes. The blackboard menu covers most traditional dishes, including pastilla, while the breakfast spread is a renowned tummy stretcher. No alcohol. Mains 45dh. Daily 8.30am–10pm.

Marhaba Palace 26 Palais Ahannar, just outside the Medina tel_icon 0539 937927; map. One of a number of “palaces” catering solely to tourists, this one rates highly due to its warm ambience, unobtrusive musicians and good Moroccan food. The interior is indeed palatial in style with plenty of faux-zellij tiling, antiques and colourful furniture. Set menus for €17 and €24. Daily noon–3pm & 7.30–11pm.

Le Nabab 4 Rue al Kadiria tel_icon 0661 442220; map. In the heart of the Medina, this former fondouk has been restored to a classy restaurant, decked out in shades of grey and charcoal and with table settings that afford some privacy. The Moroccan menu includes both traditional dishes and some more inventive offerings; it’s also licensed – a rarity in Tangier’s Medina. Mains 90–140dh, set menu 175dh. Mon–Sat noon–3pm & 7.30–11pm.

Rif Kabdani 14 Rue Dar el Baroud tel_icon 0539 371760; map. In a handy location close to the Hotel Continental, this small French-style bistro offers a menu of Moroccan standards that out-tastes much of its fancier and more expensive competition. The complimentary tapas and mint tea are a bonus, as is the attentive and at-times entertaining service. No alcohol. Mains 55–85dh. Daily noon–10pm.

CAFÉS

author_pick Café de Paris Pl de France; map. Tangier’s most famous café from its conspiratorial past. There’s two levels of seating inside, including the original 1920s section with studded leather seats. Outside there’s the standard line of chairs for people watching. It’s still a staple meeting place for expats and usually a good place to track down English newspapers in the morning. Coffee & pastry 15dh. Daily 7am–11pm.

Café Hafa La Marshan; map. A ramshackle affair and popular locals’ café, with steep terraces looking directly out to the Straits. While the service can be overly casual, the mint tea (8dh) is good and the views sublime. Daily 10am–7pm.

Café Metropole 27 Bd Pasteur; map. The Metropole serves one of the best cafés au lait (8dh) in town; pastries can be bought across the road at Pâtisserie Le Petit Prince and consumed at your table. Daily 7am–11pm.

Café Porte Cnr Rue Prince Moulay Abdallah and Rue Ibn Rochd tel_icon 0661 163644; map. A 1950s café that was modernized in 2011, the Porte is popular with a young crowd who come for the ice-cream selection and free wi-fi. There’s also a decent menu offering breakfast and light meals (20–55dh). Daily 7am–10pm.

Café Tingis Petit Socco; map. A favourite haunt of Tennessee Williams and Paul Bowles, this traditional high-ceilinged café remains full of charm and character. A raised terrace looks down upon the Petit Socco and is the best spot in the Medina for people watching. The café’s sole concession to the twenty-first century is a flat-screen TV showing football matches. Mint tea 5dh. Daily 7am–10pm.

Dolcy’s Eastern end of Bd Pasteur; map. Central and friendly, this is a great spot for breakfast, offering eggs, toasted sandwiches and fresh juices. With an extra-long line of outdoor seats facing the busy footpath, it’s a prime spot for people watching at any time of day. Daily 7am–11pm.

Matisse Residence Nasser, 53 Rue Allal Ben Abdallah tel_icon 0539 340050; map. A classy, French-owned patisserie that offers a good selection of pastries, biscuits and deliciously creamy gâteaux (eat in or take away), as well as artisan bread and even a few bottles of wine. Daily 9am–6pm.

Rahmouni 35 Rue du Prince Moulay Abdallah tel_icon 0539 940787; map. A well-established family-run franchise – there’s another branch in Tetouan – renowned for its high quality, reasonably priced biscuits and cakes (8dh/100g) as well as pastries, both sweet and savoury. Daily 8am–10pm.

Terrasse Boulevard Tanger Bd Complex, 23 Bd Mohammed V tel_icon 0553 036848; map. This new café has magical views of the port and Straits, and is comfortable at any time of the year thanks to ceiling-high glass windbreakers and a covered roof. If you want more than a coffee, they have a pretty good menu of light meals, as well as milk shakes and fresh juices. Daily 7am–11pm.

Traiteur al Mouatamid Bnou Abbad 16 Rue al Mouatamid Ibn Abadd tel_icon 0539 341725; map. Popular with local Tanjawis catering for a party or celebration, this patisserie offers tray upon tray of sweet biscuits (15dh/100g) and pastries within a stunning Moroccan zellij (mosaics) interior. Daily 9am–6pm.

DRINKING AND NIGHTLIFE

The city’s possibilities for films, theatre, the occasional concert and, at the right time of year, festivals are refreshingly varied nowadays. Unfortunately the same can’t really be said for most of the bars and clubs, which seem to be either stuck in a time warp or grossly expensive.

BARS

A decadent past has taken its toll on Tangier’s bars and most of those that have survived have fallen into a rather bland seediness and are the domain of hard drinking, heavy smoking Moroccan men. The better options are in or alongside the older hotels, supplemented by the beach bars, which stay open till 1am or so (though take care in this area after dark).

Atlas Bar 30 Rue Prince Héritier; map. Small, friendly tapas pub open nightly. Proudly in business since 1928 and has barely changed since – the intimate dive-bar atmosphere is still fully intact. Beer 20dh. Daily 8pm–1am.

Caid’s Bar Hôtel el Minzah, 85 Rue de la Liberté; map. Classy establishment that oozes nostalgia for Tangier’s International Zone days. There’s a pianist tinkling away most nights, while over the bar is the centrepiece of the ritzy decor, a grand painting of Caid Sir Harry Maclean, former commander in chief of the sultan’s army. Cocktails 85dh. Daily 10am–midnight.

author_pick Chellah Beach Club Av Mohammed VI, opposite Av Louis van Beethoven tel_icon 0539 325068; map. This beachside bar has been around for ages and remains especially popular with expats thanks to its fun atmosphere and lack of pretension. The music (live and DJs), ranges from jazz and flamenco, to Moroccan Gnaoua. Draught beer 30dh. Daily 7pm–midnight.

Dean’s Bar 2 Rue d’Amérique du Sud; map. This tiny and smoky establishment was once the haunt of Tennessee Williams, Francis Bacon and Ian Fleming. It is now frequented more or less exclusively by Moroccans although tourists are welcomed. Beer 15dh. Daily noon till late.

Tanger Inn 16 Rue Magellan, below the Hôtel el Muniria; map. One of Tangier’s last surviving International Zone relics – there’s a faded framed picture of Jack Kerouac on the wall – the Tanger Inn is more reminiscent of a private club but without the dress standards. The clientele nowadays is mostly local (both male and female), the music is often loud and the service pretty good. Beer 20dh. Mon–Sat 10pm–2am.

CLUBS

The principal areas for clubs are the grid of streets south of Pl de France and Bd Pasteur, and along the beach promenade. Admission can be as high as 100dh and drinks are two or three times regular bar prices. Be careful leaving late at night as the streets can be none too safe; best to tip the doorman 10dh to call a taxi.

555 Av Mohammed VI, opposite the Atlas Rif Hotel tel_icon 0678 181085, web_icon beachclub555.com; map. By day, this is a classy beach bar & restaurant, by night, resident and guest DJs (like David Vendetta & Dutch favourite Leroy Styles) serve up body-thumping dance mixes. Both the entrance fee (150dh) and the drinks (beer 75dh, spirits 85dh) are expensive, and things don’t really get going until midnight. Ladies Night (free drinks) every Tues. Daily 8pm–4am.

Mondial 52 Av Mohammed VI, opposite Solazur Hotel tel_icon 0661 758069, web_icon mondialbeachclub.com; map. Catering to a crowd of twenty-something Moroccans and weekender Europeans, with two resident and regular guest DJs. There’s also a separate cabaret lounge where synthesized Arabic music is performed, as well as a female-friendly tapas bar. Club 50dh. Daily 11pm–5am.

Regine Club 8 Rue el Mansour Dahbi tel_icon 0606 732026, web_icon regineclubtanger.com; map. Mainstream club firmly stuck in the 1980s. It’s larger and a little cheaper than most, and is especially fun after midnight. Happy hour 2-for-1 drinks Mon 11pm–1am. Free admission. Mon–Sat 10pm–3am.

FESTIVALS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Up-to-date information on local events can be found in the monthly brochure, Tanger Pocket (in French), available at most hotel receptions and in some bureaux de change, or online at web_icon tangerpocket.com.

American Legation (TALIM) 8 Rue d’Amérique, Medina tel_icon 0539 935317, web_icon legation.org. The American Legation often hosts free cultural events such as live performances, book launches and discussions on a range of themes, such as North African art, military history and languages.

Cinema Rif Grand Socco tel_icon 0539 934683, web_icon cinemathequedetanger.com. Renovated in 2006, this 1930s Art Deco landmark has nightly showings of new releases, documentaries and classics, plus regular week-long film festivals, including the Mediterranean Short Film Festival of Tangier ( ccm.ma). Check beforehand if the film is dubbed into Arabic.

Institut Français du Nord 1 Rue Hassan Ibn Ouazzane, Ville Nouvelle tel_icon 0539 942589, web_icon if-maroc.org/tanger. The cultural arm of the French government presents a weekly programme of events that includes art & literary functions, as well as films and live performances from its 170-seater theatre.

Instituto Cervantes de Tanger 99 Av Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdallah, Ville Nouvelle tel_icon 0539 932001, web_icon tanger.cervantes.es. Like its French counterpart, this branch of Spain’s cultural arm is enthusiastically involved in Tangier’s social scene, providing a weekly programme of film screenings, discussions, concerts and general cultural exchange.

TanJazz web_icon tanjazz.org. Highly regarded jazz festival, attracting quality artists from Europe, the Americas, Africa as well as the odd performer from Asia and Australia, which takes place in a number of venues over four days in Sept.

TANGIER’S ART GALLERIES

There’s a vibrant art scene in Tangier, with at least two or three exhibitions on at any given time. Up-to-date listings and information on various small galleries can be found in the window of Bab el Fen, a well-stocked art supply shop at 25 Rue Ibn Rochd, opposite the Rembrandt Hotel.

Galerie d’Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi 52 Rue d’Angleterre, Ville Nouvelle tel_icon 0539 936073. Located in the former British Consulate, with a number of rooms hosting contemporary works by mainly Moroccan and European artists. Admission 10dh. Daily except Tues 9–11.30am & 3–6pm.

Galerie Delacroix 86 Rue de la Liberté, Ville Nouvelle tel_icon 0539 941054. The gallery for Tangier’s Institut Français du Nord, with regular exhibitions by Moroccan artists, and sometimes non-Moroccans residing in Tangier. Tues–Sun 10am–1pm & 4–8pm.

author_pick Medina Art Gallery 30 Av Abou Chouabib Doukali, Ville Nouvelle tel_icon 0539 372644, web_icon medinagallery.com. Founded in 1999 by local artists Saïd Kadiri and Omar Salhi, this gallery aims to discover new local talent and refocus attention on some of the past Moroccan masters, such as Mohamed Hamri. Mon–Sat 10am–1pm & 4–8pm.

Volubilis Art Gallery 6 Sidi Boukouja, Kasbah tel_icon 0539 333875, web_icon volubilisartgallery.com. This little gallery has regular exhibitions of mainly Moroccan artists, including owner Mohamed Raïss El Fenni. Tues–Sun 10.30am–1pm & 3.30–7pm.

SHOPPING

The vast majority of craftwork found in the city’s market stalls and stores are produced elsewhere in Morocco, something worth considering if you’re travelling further into the country.

author_pick Bazaar Tindouf 64 Rue de la Liberté, opposite the Hôtel el Minzah tel_icon 0539 931525; map. One of the better-quality junk/antique shops, with a good array of cushions, carpets, Moroccan lamps and ceramics from both Fez and Salé. Daily 9am–7pm.

Blanco y Negro 40 Bd Pasteur, next door to Hôtel de Paris tel_icon 0671 273636; map. This small music shop has a pretty good selection of CDs by Moroccan artists, as well as music from North Africa and the Middle East. Daily 9am–9pm.

Ensemble Artisanal Cnr Rue Belgique & Rue M’sallah (left-hand side, going west from the Pl de France) tel_icon 0661 924952; map. A government-run centre that both produces and sells Moroccan crafts, such as zellij (mosaics), woodwork and book binding. There’s virtually no haggling which often relates to higher prices than what you might get elsewhere, but without the stress. It’s recently renovated and is a pleasure to stroll around and browse. Daily except Wed 9am–1pm & 3–7pm.

Librairie des Colonnes 54 Bd Pasteur tel_icon 0539 936955, web_icon librairie-des-colonnes.com; map. Tangier’s premier bookshop with a selection of souvenir coffee table books as well as English-language classics. Mon–Sat 10am–1pm & 3–8pm.

Marrakech la Rouge 50 Rue es Siaghin, Medina tel_icon 0539 931117; map. Large and not-too-pushy bazaar selling rugs, jewellery, pottery, antique weaponry and leather, wood and metal crafts. Daily 9am–7pm.

Volubilis Boutique 15 Petit Socco, Medina tel_icon 0539 931362 or 0668 373340; map. Shop for the artist and designer Mohamed Raiss el Fenni, with an interesting mix of traditional Moroccan and Western clothing and accessories on offer, as well as paintings. Daily with irregular opening hours between 10am–8pm.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: CAVES OF HERCULES

By bus On summer weekends, the #2 bus runs here from St Andrew’s Church by the Grand Socco in Tangier (daily 9am, 11am & 4pm; 45min); at other times it runs to the nearby village of Jabila, a long walk from the caves – you’re better off alighting before then, at Ziyatin on the old airport road, from where there are connecting taxis to the caves.

By grand taxi You can charter a grand taxi from the Grand Socco (around 100dh with waiting time) or get to Ziyatin in shared grands taxis from St Andrew’s Church.

By car The caves are a 15min drive from Tangier, travelling west of the city via the plush residential quarter of La Vieille Montagne and Cap Spartel. You can make a round trip by continuing along the coast road, then take either the minor road through Jabila or the faster main road (N1) back to Tangier.

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING

Camping Achakar tel_icon 0674 719419. Close to the caves, this pleasant, well-wooded campsite has grass pitches and thirteen small bungalows. Showers are clean but usually cold, and there’s a café, restaurant, small shop and children’s playground. No wi-fi. Camping 45dh, bungalow 250dh

Le Mirage tel_icon 0539 333332, web_icon lemirage-tanger.com. This upmarket clifftop complex of bungalows has full facilities including a swimming pool, though the service can often disappoint. The restaurant and piano bar are open to non-residents and make a very pleasant, albeit expensive, day-trip lunch stop. BB 2476dh

< Back to Tangier, Tetouan and the northwest

East of Tangier

The best beaches in the immediate vicinity of Tangier are to be found at Cap Malabata, where much wealthy villa development has been taking place, but long open swathes of sandy beach can still be found. Beyond here, Ksar es Seghir offers a pleasant day by the sea, or a stop on the coast road to Ceuta. The ongoing expansion of the new Tanger Mediterranée port near the village of Dalia, 20km from Ceuta has, together with a new road and rail network, transformed the rugged coastline into a busy trade hub.

Cap Malabata

Bus #15 or #16 (every 45min; 5.30am–10pm) from the Grand Socco in Tangier, or grand taxi from Av Moulay Idriss I, opposite the gare routière main exit

The bay east of Tangier is flanked by long stretches of beach and a chain of elderly villas and newer apartment blocks until you reach Cap Malabata, which has a couple of intermittently open hotels and some attractive stretches of beach. Further on, an old Portuguese fort on an outcrop makes a good destination for coastal walks.

Ksar es Seghir

Buses travelling between Tangier and Fnideq (1hr) stop at the junction in the centre of town; shared grands taxis depart from Tangier’s Rue de Portugal

The formerly picturesque little fishing port of KSAR ES SEGHIR has grown a little ugly in recent years, with a modern breakwater constructed at its western entrance and the autoroute from Tanger Med Port towering over the village to its south. Although it continues to attract a fair number of Moroccan beach campers in summer, it now sees few European visitors. Just across the river from the town centre lie the remains of a medieval Islamic town and Portuguese fortress (there’s a plan of the site posted up by the west side of the bridge). Ksar es Seghir has been of specific interest to archeologists, being positioned at the meeting point of three distinct terrains: the Habt (Atlantic lowlands), Jabala (sandstone hills), and the Rif mountains.

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING: KSAR ES SEGHIR

Diamant Bleu At the western entrance to town. With a nice view of the coast, this restaurant offers a Moroccan and Mediterranean menu, specializing in seafood (mains 35–90dh). Daily 10am–9pm; often closed Jan, Feb, Nov & Dec.

Ksar al Majaz N16 Hwy, 3km from Tanger Med Port tel_icon 0539 593647. Block-type hotel built to take advantage of passing trade from the new port. Lacking any real character, the modern rooms are nonetheless comfortable and good value. There are a number of café-restaurants close by. No wi-fi. 248dh

Tarifa Old coastal road from Tangier, 12km before town tel_icon 0539 561849. A pleasant place with comfortable en-suite rooms overlooking the sea and a restaurant serving Moroccan staples and seafood. No wi-fi. 396dh

< Back to Tangier, Tetouan and the northwest

Asilah

The first town south of Tangier – and first stop on the train line – ASILAH (sometimes spelt Assilah) is one of the most elegant of the old Portuguese Atlantic ports, small, clean and easy to navigate. First impressions are of wonderful square stone ramparts, flanked by palms, and an outstanding beach – an immense sweep of sand stretching to the north halfway to Tangier. The town’s Medina is one of the most attractive in the country, colourwashed in pastel shades, and with a series of murals painted for the town’s International Cultural Festival (3–4 weeks in Aug; web_icon c-assilah.com), which attracts performers from around the world with a programme of art, dance, film, music and poetry.

Before the tourists and the International Festival, Asilah was just a small fishing port, quietly stagnating after the indifference of Spanish colonial administration. Whitewashed and cleaned up, it now has a prosperous feel to it, with a new Grand Mosque, wide paved seaside promenade and swish property developments. There’s a villagers’ market, at its liveliest on Thursday and Sunday, held on Avenue Moulay Ismail below the grand taxi stand. As with Tangier, the beach is the main focus of life in summer. The most popular stretches are to the north of the town, out towards the train station. For more isolated strands, walk south, past the Medina ramparts.

The Medina

The Medina’s circuit of towers and ramparts – built by the Portuguese military architect Botacca in the sixteenth century – are pleasant to wander around. They include two main gates: Bab el Homar, on Avenue Hassan II, and Bab el Kasba. If you enter by the latter, you pass the Grand Mosque and the Centre Hassan II des Rencontres Internationales, formerly a Spanish army barracks and now an arts venue and accommodation centre for the festival, with a cool open courtyard.

Further on is a small square overlooked by the “red tower”, El Hamra, used for exhibitions. Turn right past here, along a tiny network of streets, and down towards the platform overlooking the sea, and you’ll come upon at least a half-dozen murals painted (and subsequently repainted) during the festival; they form an intriguing mix of fantasy-representational art and geometric designs. Keep an eye out for the small art galleries of local artists which are scattered around the Medina.

Palais de Raisuli

Rue Sidi Ahmed Ben Mansour • Other than during the International Cultural Festival, it’s not officially open to visitors but if you’re interested, knock or enlist the help of a local and you may strike lucky with the caretaker

The town’s focal sight, the Palais de Raisuli, overhangs the sea ramparts towards the far end of the Medina, away from the beach. Built in 1909 with forced tribal labour by Moulay Ahmed er Raisuli, a local bandit, the interior is worth seeing, if you can gain access. One of the strangest figures to emerge from what was a bizarre period of Moroccan government, he began his career as a cattle rustler, achieved notoriety with a series of kidnappings and ransoms (including the British writer Walter Harris and a Greek-American millionaire, Perdicaris, who was bailed out by Teddy Roosevelt), and was eventually appointed governor over practically all the tribes of northwest Morocco. Harris described his captivity in Morocco That Was as an “anxious time”, made more so by being confined in a small room with a headless corpse. Despite this, captor and captive formed a friendship, Harris finding Raisuli a “mysterious personage, half-saint, half-blackguard”, and often entertaining him later in Tangier.

Another British writer, Rosita Forbes, visited Raisuli in his palace in 1924. Raisuli told Forbes that he made murderers walk to their death from the palace windows – a 27-metre drop to the rocks. One man, he said, had turned back to him, saying, “Thy justice is great, Sidi, but these stones are more merciful”.

Church of San Bartolome

Cnr Av Mohammed V and Av Prince Héritier Sidi Mohamed • No set visiting hours; Mass Sun 11am • Ring the bell by the door alongside the church

The Church of San Bartolome was built in 1925 by Franciscan priests from Galicia, in northwest Spain. The cool and airy colonial-Spanish-style interior is complemented by the nuns’ own small chapel in Moorish style, with prayers common to Islam and Christianity carved in Arabic. One of the few church bells allowed to be used in Morocco is rung for Sunday Mass, and the sisters, from a teaching order founded by Mary Ward in Yorkshire in 1585, train local girls in dressmaking, embroidery and literacy.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: ASILAH

By train The train station is inconveniently located 2km north of the town; there is occasionally a taxi to meet arrivals but don’t count on it. It’s a straightforward 15min walk into town. Book ahead if you’re planning on catching the overnight couchette service to Marrakesh, which departs Asilah at about 10.45pm.

Destinations Casablanca Voyageurs (8 direct & 2 connecting daily; 4hr–5hr 30min); Fez (4 direct & 1 connecting daily; 3hr 40min–4hr 10min); Marrakesh (1 direct & 9 connecting daily; 8hr–9hr 30min); Meknes (4 direct & 1 connecting daily; 3hr–3hr 30min); Oujda (1 direct & 1 connecting daily; 10–11hr); Rabat (8 direct & 3 connecting daily; 3–4hr); Souk el Arba du Gharb (11 direct daily; 1hr 15min); Tangier (12 direct daily; 40min); Taza (1 direct & 3 connecting daily; 6hr 20min–7hr).

By bus Buses arrive at the gare routière on the Tangier–Larache (N1) road. From here it’s a short walk across the N1 and down Av Moulay Ismail to the central Plaza Mohammed V. Note that CTM doesn’t stop at Asilah.

Destinations Larache (over 20 daily; 1hr); Tangier (over 20 daily; 1hr).

By grand taxi Grands taxis park just north of Plaza Mohammed V on Av Moulay Ismail.

Destinations Larache (1hr); Tangier (1hr).

ACCOMMODATION

Accommodation in Asilah used to mostly consist of bland, multistorey hotels or cheap pensions but a number of good quality, intimate guesthouses have recently opened up. From May to Sept (especially on a weekend or during the International Cultural Moussem), reservations are recommended. Camper vans are usually allowed to park for the night in an open parking area just outside the Medina wall at the end of Rue Moulay Hassan Ben Mehdi – tip the gardien 10dh. Note that recently there has been a marked increase in touts preying on travellers arriving at the Medina – their ploy is to advise you that your chosen guesthouse is fully booked or closed, in their intent to then lead you to alternative accommodation.

Dar Azaouia Rue 6 n° 18, Quartier Moulay Idriss (near Bab el Homar) tel_icon 0672 110535, web_icon darazaouia-asilah.com. Located just outside the Medina in the old Jewish quarter, Dar Azaouia has that wonderful combination of being relatively new (opened in 2010) while feeling homely and inviting. Each room is individually styled, all have large bathrooms and a fireplace. A split-level rooftop terrace is the setting for a delicious breakfast or dinner. BB €80

Dar Manara 23 Rue M`Jimma tel_icon 0539 416964, web_icon asilah-darmanara.com. Lovely, bright Medina guesthouse known for its friendly and personalized service. Five small but comfortable rooms with private bathrooms are spread over three floors that open inwards to a serene central courtyard perfect for long mint teas and a good book. BB €80

author_pick MIA Hostel Lotissement El Minzah, Lot 55 tel_icon 0539 417894, web_icon mia-hostels.com. Opened in 2014 by a dynamic and very friendly local duo, MIA offers a choice of doubles or en-suite dorms (6–8 beds; towel extra 10dh). There’s also a fully kitted common kitchen, lounge area and rooftop terrace. Located in a new area to the east of the N1 highway, about a 10min walk from the Medina. BB. Dorm 120dh, double 380dh

Oued el Makhazine Av Melilla tel_icon 0539 417090. A pleasant and comfortable hotel, tiled throughout, and with some suites that can comfortably sleep four. A rooftop terrace gives a nice view of the harbour and across to the northern beaches. No wi-fi. 450dh

Patio de la Luna 12 Rue Zellaca tel_icon 0539 416074, web_icon patiodelaluna.com. A small house, beautifully converted into a tastefully decorated guesthouse, with simple, rustic rooms overlooking a peaceful patio-garden. There’s also a sunny rooftop terrace and friendly, Spanish-speaking management. 500dh

Pension el Karam 40 Rue Mansour Eddahbi tel_icon 0539 417626. A small, homely pension close to the seafront but a little way from the Medina. Rooms are all ground level, opening onto a pleasant, open courtyard. Shared bathrooms. No wi-fi. 300dh

Sahara 9 Rue Tarfaya tel_icon 0539 417185. A little away from the action, behind the Cinéma Magali, but it’s quiet, clean, comfortable and great value. Rooms look onto a central courtyard, some are without external windows, and all have shared showers (10dh extra). No wi-fi. 150dh

Zelis 10 Rue Mansour Eddahbi tel_icon 0539 417029. Asilah’s only “skyscraper” and still one of the better hotels in town, but not especially attractive. Often used by tour groups, with bright, airy rooms, some of which have ocean views. There’s a swimming pool and café but the restaurant, however, is not recommended. BB 604dh

EATING

Dining in Asilah has an obvious lean towards fresh seafood, and a number of the town’s restaurants are frequently visited by regulars from Tangier, Rabat and Casablanca.

Casa Garcia 51 Rue Moulay Hassan Ben Mehdi tel_icon 0539 417465. Popular restaurant across the road from the promenade, with tables inside and out. Regulars compliment the consistently high standard of the dishes (mains 80–290dh), such as delicious seafood tajine, prawn tagliatelle and fish tapas washed down with Moroccan rosé. It can get pretty busy at times; book ahead on Sun. Daily noon–4pm & 8–11.30pm.

Océano Casa Pepe 22 Pl Zellaca (opposite Bab Kasbah) tel_icon 0539 417395. An Asilah institution, this is one of the more formal dining options in town. Seafood dishes make up most of the menu (mains 70–270dh), including a house paella as well as the Asilah speciality of marinated white anchovies. There’s seating inside and out, black-tied waiters and a wine list dominated by Spanish vineyards. Daily noon–4pm & 8–11.30pm.

author_pick La Perle d’Assilah Cnr Rue Allal Ben Abdallah and Av Melilla tel_icon 0539 418758. This classy, friendly restaurant is owner-managed by Moroccan-Irish couple Lahcen and Helen Iouani, Lahcen doubling as head chef. Outdoor tables are shielded by glass windbreakers, while the wood-panelled and spacious interior creates an intimate dining area. The menu includes a variety of seafood, meat and vegetarian choices (90–300dh), as well as good-value set menus (160–190dh), plus there’s also a decent wine list. Daily noon–3pm & 7–10.30pm.

Rabie Av Hassan II. One of a number of alfresco places to eat on this street. Shaded under tall eucalyptus trees with plastic tables and chairs, the menu includes tajines, brochettes and pasta dishes, along with plenty of seafood options (mains 25–75dh). No alcohol. Daily 11am–11pm.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: LARACHE

By bus Long-distance buses, including CTM, use the town bus station (estación de autobús) just off Rue Moulay Mohammed Ben Abdullah. The bus station is a straightforward 400m walk from Pl de la Libération, down Rue Moulay Mohammed Ben Abdallah.

Destinations Asilah (over 20 daily; 1hr); Casablanca (2 CTM & 5 others daily; 4–5hr); Fez (2 CTM & 3 others daily; 4–5hr); Ksar el Kebir (over 5 daily; 45min); Meknes (2 CTM & 3 others daily; 3–4hr); Rabat (2 CTM & over 10 others daily; 2hr 30min–3hr 30min); Souk el Arba du Gharb (over 10 daily; 1hr); Tangier (3 CTM & over 10 others daily; 1hr 30min–2hr).

By grand taxi Grands taxis operate from outside the bus station.

Destinations Asilah (1hr); Ksar el Kebir (30min); Moulay Bousselham (1hr); Souk el Arba du Gharb (45min).

ACCOMMODATION

Cervantes 3 Rue Tarik Ibnou Ziad tel_icon 0539 910874. Cervantes, just off Pl de la Libération, was built in the early days of the Spanish Protectorate – don’t be put off by the peeling exterior paintwork. This is a friendly little place, with comfortable enough rooms (some with a sea view) and shared hot showers. No wi-fi. 140dh

España Pl de la Libération; entrance at 6 Av Hassan II tel_icon 0539 913195, web_icon hotelespanalarache.com. This was the Gran Hotel in Spanish days, and there’s still a touch of elegance about the place today. An ornate, carpeted staircase leads from an impressive reception area to a range of large en-suite rooms with a/c and TV. A selection of cafés close by makes up for the lack of an in-house restaurant. 340dh

author_pick Hay Essalam 9 Av Hassan II tel_icon 0539 916822. One of our readers described this place as “the best budget hotel in Morocco”, and we’d be hard-pressed to disagree: the rooms, some of which are en suite, are spacious and immaculate, with constant hot water and even a TV. The location is central but on a quiet pedestrian-only side street. No wi-fi. 130dh

Pension Amal 10 Rue Abdallah Ben Yasin tel_icon 0539 912788. Very basic, cheap and cheerful family-run place off Rue Moulay Mohammed Ben Abdallah, with simple but decent rooms and comfortable beds. Hot showers (10dh) and toilets are in the hallways. No wi-fi. 100dh

Somarian 68 Av Mohammed Zerktouni tel_icon 0539 910116, web_icon hotelsomarian.com. Ignoring the slightly bizarre decor in the lobby, this business-class hotel offers large tiled rooms with a/c and TV. Noise from the local market across the road usually isn’t a problem. 450dh

Tanger Cnr Rue Moulay Mohammed Ben Abdallah and Rue Tanger tel_icon 0539 916814. Opened in 2012, this family-run hotel has large, bright rooms, some en suite though those with shared facilities are particularly good value. Spread over a number of floors, there’s no lift but the friendly management are on hand to assist with luggage. 140dh

EATING

Balcón Atlantico Rue de Casablanca tel_icon 0539 910110. One of the nicest locations in town, overlooking a popular promenade with great views out to the Atlantic. They offer some good breakfast menus, as well as light meals like pizza, panini and savoury crêpes (mains 30–45dh). Daily 8am–10pm.

Commercial Pl de la Libération. This old restaurant is pretty basic inside but has a good location on the main square. It’s popular with the locals, who come for its simple and cheap dishes such as paella and portions of fried fish. Mains 25dh. Daily noon–10pm.

Puerta del Sol (aka Porte du Soleil) Rue Ahmed Chaouki tel_icon 0539 913641. This small setup offers up the usual Mediterranean-Moroccan standards. Choose a combination of both by ordering their seafood tajine, or simply select a fillet of line fish from their refrigerated display and have it fried or grilled just the way you like (mains 40dh). Daily noon–10pm.

LIXUS AND HERCULES

The legendary associations of Lixus – and the site’s mystique – centre on the Labours of Hercules. For here, on an island in the estuary, Pliny and Strabo record reports of the palace of the “Libyan” (by which they meant African) King Antaeus. Behind the palace stretched the Garden of the Hesperides, to which Hercules, as his penultimate labour, was dispatched. In the object of Hercules’ quest – the Golden Apples – it is not difficult to imagine the tangerines of northern Morocco, raised to legendary status by travellers’ tales. The site, too, seems to offer reinforcement to conjectures of a mythic pre-Phoenician past. Megalithic stones have been found on the Acropolis, and the site was known to the Phoenicians as Makom Shemesh (City of the Sun).

The site

Despite a new visitor’s centre built in 2014 amid plans to rejuvenate Lixus into a more welcoming experience, the site is still not effectively enclosed and therefore always open and accessible. There’s a useful map board by the roadside at the entrance, but there is no interpretive signage within the site itself. On random days there is a self-appointed French-speaking gardien who is eager to show visitors the main points of interest for a tip. The Lower Town, spreading back from the modern road, consists largely of the ruins of factories for the production of salt – still being panned nearby – and garum fish sauce. The factories seem to have been developed in the early years of the first century AD and they remained in operation until the Roman withdrawal.

A track, some 100m down the road to Tangier, leads up to the Acropolis (upper town), passing on its way eight rows of the Roman theatre and amphitheatre, unusually combined into a single structure. Its deep, circular arena was adapted for circus games and the gladiatorial slaughter of animals. Morocco, which Herodotus knew as “the wild-beast country”, was the major source for these Roman venations (controlled hunts), and local colonists must have grown rich from the trade. Until 1998, the baths built into the side of the theatre featured a remarkable mosaic depicting Neptune’s head on the body of a lobster; unfortunately, the mosaic was irreparably damaged when the gardien’s son tried to dig it up to sell, and just about a third of it remains.

Climbing above the baths and theatre, you pass through ramparts to the main fortifications of the Acropolis – a somewhat confused network of walls and foundations – and temple sanctuaries, including an early Christian basilica and a number of pre-Roman buildings. The most considerable of the sanctuaries, with their underground cisterns and porticoed priests’ quarters, were apparently rebuilt in the first century AD, but even then retained Phoenician elements in their design.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: ANCIENT LIXUS

By bus and grand taxi From Larache port, bus #4 (June–Aug only, every 20 min) and bus #5 (5 daily) will both drop off at the ruins (35min); bus #4 continues on to the beach; alternatively, charter a grand taxi (around 100dh) but be sure to agree on a collection time from the ruins and only pay once you’re back in town.

On foot It’s a 4–5km walk to the ruins from both Larache beach or town. Currently lacking any great signage, the entrance to the site is on the corner of the Larache–Asilah road and a minor road signposted as “Plage Ras Rmel”.

< Back to Tangier, Tetouan and the northwest

Ksar el Kebir

As its name – in Arabic, “the Great Enclosure” – suggests, KSAR EL KEBIR, an eleventh-century Arab power base 36km southeast of Larache, was once a place of some importance. It was 12km north of here where, in August 1578, the Portuguese fought the disastrous Battle of the Three Kings, the most dramatic and devastating in their nation’s history – a power struggle disguised as a crusade, which saw the death or capture of virtually the entire nobility and which ultimately resulted in 62 years of Spanish rule.

The town fell into decline in the seventeenth century, after a local chief incurred the wrath of Moulay Ismail, though its fortunes were revived to some extent under the Spanish protectorate, when it served as a major barracks.

The Sunday souk is held right by the gare routière and Moulay el Mehdi station. On any morning of the week, however, there are lively souks around the main kissaria (covered market) of the old town – in the quarter known as Bab el Oued (Gate of the River). Beyond Ksar el Kebir, a decaying customs post at Arbaoua marks the old colonial frontier between the Spanish and French zones.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: KSAR EL KEBIR

By train The easiest way to get to Ksar el Kebir is by train, either on a direct service or via Casa Voyageurs or Sidi Kacem stations. Ksar el Kebir station is way out on the northern edge of town; for the town centre, get off at Moulay el Mehdi station, one stop south.

Destinations Asilah (12 daily; 40min–1hr); Casablanca Voyageurs (8 direct & 3 connecting daily; 3hr 30min–5hr); Rabat (8 direct & 3 connecting daily; 2hr 25min–4hr); Sidi Kacem (5 direct daily; 1hr 30min) Tangier (12 direct daily; 1hr 30min).

By bus The gare routière is next to Moulay el Mehdi station. However, as the motorway bypasses the town, few long-distance buses come here.

Destinations Larache (over 5 daily; 45min); Moulay Bousselham (5 daily; 35min); Ouezzane (3 daily; 1hr 30min).

By grand taxi Grands taxis from Larache operate to and from a station just across the tracks from the gare routière, and those from Ouezzane and Souk el Arba du Gharb operate from one 500m further south.

Destinations Larache (30min); Moulay Bousselham (30min); Ouezzane (1hr); Souk el Arba du Gharb (30min).

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING

There are a number of hotels and basic places to eat located on or near the town square; head south from the Moulay el Mehdi station and turn right after 300m.

Ksar al Yamama 8 Bd Hassan II tel_icon 0539 907960. A good-value place, with nice, large, airy rooms, some en suite with a bathtub, and some with balconies overlooking the town square. No wi-fi. 270dh

< Back to Tangier, Tetouan and the northwest

Moulay Bousselham

MOULAY BOUSSELHAM, 55km from Ksar el Kebir, is a very low-key resort, popular almost exclusively with Moroccans. It comprises little more than a single street, crowded with grill-cafés and sloping down to the sea at the side of a broad lagoon and wetland area, known as Merja Zerga. This is one of northern Morocco’s prime birdwatching locations, and avid birdwatchers from all over the world come here to see the lagoon’s flamingo and other bird colonies.

The beach itself is sheltered by cliffs – rare along the Atlantic – and has an abrupt drop-off, which creates a continual crash of breaking waves. While a lot of fun for swimming as well as beginner surfers, the currents can at times be quite strong and only the most confident of swimmers should venture out past the breakers. In summer, a section of the beach is patrolled by lifeguards.

For Moroccans, the village is part summer resort, part pilgrimage centre. The village’s namesake saint, Marabout Moulay Bousselham, was a tenth-century Egyptian whose remains are housed in a koubba prominently positioned above the settlement. In July this sees one of the largest moussems in the region.

WETLAND WILDLIFE

Adjoining the Moulay Bousselham lagoon is a large wetland area known as Merja Zerga (“Blue Lake”). The lagoon’s periphery is used for grazing by nomadic herds of sheep, cattle and goats, and the lagoon itself is a Ramsar-listed Wetland of International Importance, and is one of the largest of its kind in Morocco.

The huge extent of the site ensures rewarding birdwatching at all times of the year. There are large numbers of waders, including a large colony of flamingos, plus little-ringed plovers, black-winged stilts and black-tailed godwits.

For serious birdwatchers, it is the gulls and terns that roost on the central islands which are worthy of the closest inspection, as, among the flocks of lesser black-backed gull and black tern, it is possible to find rarer species such as Caspian tern. The adjacent grassland is probably the best place in Morocco to see pairs of North African marsh owl, which usually appear hunting above the tall grasses shortly after sunset. Marsh harrier and osprey can also sometimes be spotted. One bird you’ll certainly see wintering here, usually around cattle (and sometimes sitting on their backs), is the cattle egret. For rarity-spotters, the current grail is the lesser crested tern and its cousin the royal tern, both immigrants from Mauretania during spring and summer.

English-speaking local ornithologist Hassan Dalil ( tel_icon 0668 434110; 100dh/hr boat tour) is easily the best guide in the region, and can be contacted directly or via the Café Milano in Moulay Bousselham, which also keeps a bird log. Beware of copycat guides purporting to be “the” Hassan. The tours are best taken in early morning or at dusk, depending on the tides; the boat isn’t shaded so bring along a hat, protective clothing, sunscreen and water.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: MOULAY BOUSSELHAM

By bus Buses stop at a car park at the entrance to the village. From here it’s a short, slightly uphill walk to the village centre or a similar distance but slightly downhill to the two camping sites.

Destinations Ksar el Kebir (5 daily; 35min); Souk el Arba du Gharb (4 daily; 40min).

By grand taxi Grands taxis stop at the same spot as the buses, though it’s worth asking the driver to drop you off in the village centre or even at your accommodation. The frequency of services increases greatly during the summer holiday season.

Destinations Ksar el Kebir (20min); Larache (1hr); Souk el Arba du Gharb (30min).

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING

During the summer accommodation should be booked in advance. In the village centre is a line of grill-cafés; indistinguishable from each other – they will all fix you a large mixed platter of freshly fried fish for around 60dh.

Camping Caravaning International 500m east of town on the lagoon tel_icon 0537 432477. This large, grassy, shaded but ageing campsite remains ever popular due to its lagoon-side location. It can get very busy during summer, when both the ablutions and mosquitoes are a worry. A restaurant is conveniently located across the road. No wi-fi. 70dh

Flamants Loisirs 1km east of town, signposted opposite the post office tel_icon 0537 432539 or 0661 892214, web_icon campingmaroc1.com. The better of the town’s two campsites, set away from the village in a relatively secure lot overlooking the lagoon from up high. There’s lots of shady camping sites and basic ablutions with hot water, as well as an on-site restaurant and large swimming pool (summer only). A number of stuffy four-person bungalows as well as larger apartments are also available. No wi-fi. Camping 90dh, bungalow 450dh

Le Lagon Main road, village centre tel_icon 0537 432650. An ageing, crumbling, overpriced 80s-era hotel with fantastic views over the lagoon – its one and only attribute. Rooms are en suite and some also have TV. No wi-fi. 300dh

La Maison des Oiseaux About 2km east of town; phone ahead for directions tel_icon 0537 432543 or 0661 301067, web_icon moulay.bousselham.free.fr. The “house of the birds”, down by the lagoon, is a whitewashed villa with a pleasant garden, though the homely atmosphere of times gone by seems to have disappeared. There’s a variety of rooms, including some family suites that sleep up to four adults. No wi-fi. HB 750dh

author_pick Vila Bea 41 Rue de Mer tel_icon 0537 432087, web_icon vilabea.com. Easily the village’s best accommodation, this charming French-owned guesthouse overlooks the Atlantic. The spacious rooms boast quality furnishings and some have views over the welcoming infinity pool to the ocean. An in-house restaurant offers sumptuous breakfasts and fine seafood dinners. BB €100

Villa Nora At the far northern end of town, about 1.5km from the centre tel_icon 0537 432071. This British-owned, friendly guesthouse overlooks the beach and the Atlantic rollers, offering rooms that are small but comfortable, with a shared bathroom. The service is still commendable and meals can be arranged, but many of the furnishings are in need of repair and the overall standard seems to have dropped of late. BB 500dh

MOUSSEM OF MOULAY BOUSSELHAM

The Moussem of Moulay Bousselham is held annually in mid-July. The village, already bursting at the seams at this time of the year, overflows with pilgrims dressed in white who come to pay homage to the saint by visiting the koubba. A fantasia – a traditional cavalry charge culminating in firing of muskets in the air – also usually takes place during the festival, on a level field between the village and the autoroute.

< Back to Tangier, Tetouan and the northwest

Ceuta

A Spanish enclave since the sixteenth century, CEUTA (Sebta in Arabic) is a curious political anomaly. Along with Melilla, east along the coast, it was retained by Spain after Moroccan independence in 1956 and today functions largely as a military base, its economy bolstered by a limited duty-free status. It has been an autonomous city, with a large measure of internal self-government for its eighty thousand inhabitants, since 1995. The city makes for an attractive stop when en route either to or from Morocco with its relaxed European atmosphere, pristine squares, tapas bars, coastal walks and pleasant accommodation options. Note that the euro is the only accepted currency and Ceuta runs on Spanish time.

Plaza de Nuestra Señora de Africa

The most attractive part of Ceuta is within several hundred metres of the ferry terminal, where the Plaza Nuestra Señora de Africa is flanked by a pair of Baroque churches, Nuestra Señora de Africa (Our Lady of Africa; open most days) and the cathedral (usually locked). Bordering the square, to the west, are the most impressive remainders of the city walls – the walled moat of Foso de San Felipe and the adjacent Muralla Real (Royal Walls; Tues–Sat 11am–2pm & 5–9pm, public hols 11am–2pm; free). The oldest sections of the fortifications were built by the Byzantines.

BORDER TRADE: PEOPLE, DRUGS AND TERRORISM

Over the last few decades, the economies on both sides of Ceuta’s border seemed to benefit from the enclave, spurred on by the city’s duty-free status. However, the border is also the frontier between Africa and Europe, and inevitably the EU became increasingly concerned about traffic in drugs and illegal immigrants, financing in 2005 a £15m ($22m) hi-tech “wall” with CCTV and sensors along the 8km boundary.

The money to be made from outflanking these defences has attracted equally hi-tech smugglers, trading in hash, hard drugs, disadvantaged Moroccans, and refugees from as far south as Liberia and Rwanda. More affluent refugees have been sent over to Spain by night, often in small boats unsuited to the short but difficult crossing. The more desperate simply try to scale the six-metre-high border fence, an increasing occurrence as groups of up to three hundred mostly sub-Saharan men simultaneously rush the Moroccan border guards and ascend the fence to then await apprehension by the Spanish guards. Most recently, there has been growing dissent in the impoverished residential areas of Ceuta where Moroccan occupants have come into conflict with the Spanish authorities over a severe lack of employment and poor living conditions, leading some to look for “greener pastures”. Along with its sister city Melilla, this ancient Mediterranean outpost has contributed more recruits to the self-declared Islamic State (IS) per capita than any other town in Europe.

Museo de Ceuta

30 Paseo del Revellín • Tues–Sat 11am–2pm & 5–9pm, public hols 11am–2pm • Free • tel_icon 956 517739

To the east of Plaza de la Constitución, an oldish quarter rambles up from the bottom of the long Paseo del Revellín. There’s an interesting little municipal museum here, the Museo de Ceuta, displaying archeological finds from Stone Age and Roman times through to the Islamic era, well laid out and with good explanations, but in Spanish only. There is also a section dedicated to contemporary art exhibitions on the ground floor.

Museo de la Legión

1 Paseo de Colón • Mon–Fri 10am–1pm, Sat 10am–1pm & 4–6pm, closed public hols • Free • tel_icon 956 526458

On the southern flank of the city centre, the Museo de la Legión offers an interesting glimpse of Spanish–African military history. Relatively small in size, its four exhibition rooms are crammed with uniforms, weapons and paraphernalia of the infamous Spanish Foreign Legion. Opposite the museum is a statue of a legionario accompanied by a Barbary sheep, just one of many mascots that the Ceuta regiment has had over the years.

The peninsula

A round circuit of the peninsula makes for a pleasant day-trip if the weather is fine. Start by heading east (and uphill) on Recinto Sur; as the buildings gradually disappear from view, the land swells into a rounded, pine-covered slope offering fine views out to the Rock of Gibraltar. Known as Monte Acho, the summit is crowned by a Byzantine-era fort that is still an active military setup, and therefore off-limits. Around midway, signs direct you to the Ermita de San Antonio, an old convent rebuilt during the 1960s and dominated by a monument to Franco. At the very eastern end of the peninsula is another military museum, the Museo del Desnarigado (Mon–Sat 10am–1pm, closed public hols; free; tel_icon 956 514006), housed in a fort that is mainly nineteenth-century, though with remnants from the sixteenth and seventeenth too. Below the lighthouse here is a secluded beach, Playa Torrecilla.

Parque Marítimo del Mediterráneo

Paseo de la Marina Española • 1 Jan–24 April & 29 Sept–1 Dec 11am–7pm, closed Thurs; 25 April–31 May & 1–28 Sept daily: Mon & Thurs 11am–8pm, Tues, Wed & Sun 11am–8pm & 9pm–midnight, Fri & Sat 11am–8pm & 9pm–1am; 1 June–31 Aug daily: Mon & Thurs 11am–8.30pm, Tues, Wed & Sun 11am–8.30pm & 9.30pm–1.30am, Fri & Sat 11am–8.30pm & 9.30pm–2.30am; closed 2–31 Dec • 1 Jan–24 April & 29 Sept–1 Dec €1, children free; 25 April–31 May & 1–28 Sept €3.20–4.20, children €2.10–3.20; 1 June–31 Aug €4.20–5.80, children €3.70–4.20

The seafront leisure and amusement complex of Parque Marítimo del Mediterráneo is very popular in summer, with hordes of families and young people enjoying three large saltwater pools set among waterfalls and sculptures. A replica Muralla Real houses restaurants, bars and cafés, as well as a disco and casino (daily 10pm–3am).

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: CEUTA

By bus & taxi Running between Ceuta’s Plaza de la Consitutíon and the border are local bus #7 and metered taxis. Taxis can also be usually found waiting outside Ceuta’s ferry terminal, while the closest bus stop is opposite the Muralla Real (Royal Walls) on Avda de España.

By ferry The ferry terminal is a short walk northwest of the town centre. Aside from Semana Santa and the last week in Aug, it’s usually possible to board a ferry for Algeciras (12–22 daily; 1hr–1hr 30min) within a couple of hours of arriving at the port. For hydrofoil services, it’s best to book the previous day. Ticketing offices for Acciona Trasmediterránea ( tel_icon 956 522215), Balearia Nautus ( 956 205190) and FRS ( 956 629620) are inside the terminal, and there are ticket agencies along Avda del Cañonero Dato.

By helicopter In past years it was possible to travel by helicopter between Ceuta and Algeciras or Málaga, but the service is now discontinued. Check with Inaer (Málaga tel_icon 952 048700, Ceuta 956 504974, web_icon inaer.com) or Cat Helicopters (Barcelona 932 240710, cathelicopters.com) for the current situation.

CROSSING THE BORDER AT CEUTA

Since the Algeciras–Ceuta ferries and hydrofoils are quicker than those to Tangier (and the ferries significantly cheaper for cars or motorbikes), Ceuta is a popular point of entry and exit to Morocco. There is no customs/passport check at the port as the frontera (border; open 24hr) is 3km out of town and a further 2km from the Moroccan town of Fnideq.

At the border, which is well signposted from the port and vice versa, formalities for entering and leaving Spain are brief. On the Moroccan side, the procedure can be time-consuming, especially for drivers. Each passport holder needs an immigration form (yellow or photocopied white) and, if you have a car, an additional green form; these are available – though you have to ask for them – from the officials sitting inside the small immigration posts. The car form requires inconvenient details such as chassis number and date of registration. If you despair of getting a form and having it processed, you can always enlist one of the innumerable touts for a 10–20dh tip; ignore their standard scam of trying to charge you for immigration forms, which are free. The whole business can take ten minutes on a good day, an hour or two on a bad one, and the noise and chaos can be a bit unsettling. Just try to keep a steady head and if you are in doubt as to where and what you should do, ask one of the (sometimes over-stressed) officials for assistance or directions.

Coming from Ceuta into Morocco, try to arrive early in the day so that you have plenty of time to move on to Tetouan or Tangier – and possibly beyond. Once across and into Morocco proper, you can take a shared grand taxi to Fnideq, 2km away (5dh; 7dh after 9pm), where you’ll find connecting bus and taxi services to Tetouan (20–35dh) or Tangier (25–35dh). When travelling to Fnideq by bus from Tangier, services that travel via Ksar el Seghir will drop you at the border post, whereas the services that travel via Tetouan terminate at Fnideq’s gare routière. To charter your own grand taxi from the border to Tangier will set you back around €30. On the Moroccan side of the border is an Attijariwafa bureau de change (Mon 12.15–3.45pm, Tues–Fri 8.15am–3.45pm, Sat 9.15am–12.15pm), and on the Spanish side there are a couple of travel agencies that will change Moroccan dirhams into euros.

INFORMATION AND ACTIVITIES

Time Ceuta works to Spanish time, an hour ahead of Morocco (2hr ahead between the times when Europe and Morocco change to daylight saving).

Telephone When phoning Ceuta from Morocco (or anywhere else outside Spain), you must prefix phone numbers with the international code ( tel_icon 00 34). Dialling numbers within Ceuta you must include the old local code ( 956) as part of the nine-digit number. To phone Morocco from Ceuta, you need to dial 00 212, followed by the local code (minus the initial zero) and number.

Tourist information The tourist office is under the traffic flyover at the western end of Paseo de las Palmeras (Mon–Fri 8.30am–8.30pm, Sat & Sun 9am–8pm; tel_icon 856 200560 or 956 506275).

Kayak tours Ceuta Kayak ( tel_icon 676 278086, web_icon ceutakayak.com) offers a number of guided paddles around the Ceuta coastline as well as a very interesting circuit that explores the waterside fortifications of the Muralla Real.

ACCOMMODATION

It’s advisable to book ahead throughout the year, but especially during the main festivals: Carnival (Feb), Holy Week (Easter), the Fiesta de Nuestra Señora de Monte Carmel (July 16), and the Fiesta de Nuestra Señora de Africa (Aug 5).

Hostal Central Paseo del Revellín 15, first floor tel_icon 956 516716, web_icon hostalesceuta.com. One of the cleaner and more modern of the city’s cheap hotels, in a good, central location, offering small but comfortable en-suite rooms complete with TV and fridge. Single rooms available (€40). €60

author_pick Hostal Plaza Ruiz Plaza Teniente Ruiz 3, second floor tel_icon 956 516733, web_icon hostalesceuta.com. Located opposite the Museo de Ceuta, this reliable option offers similar but slightly larger rooms than its sister hotel down the road, Hostal Central, some of which benefit from wrought-iron balconies overlooking the plaza below. Singles also available (€40). €60

Parador de Ceuta Pl Nuestra Señora de Africa 15 tel_icon 956 514940, web_icon parador.es. Formerly the Gran Hotel La Muralla and set into the Muralla Real, Ceuta’s grand old dame retains a certain colonial charm. Rooms, some with balcony, are looking a little tired but offer great views of the verdant garden and swimming pool or across a car park to the Mediterranean. BB €100

Pensión la Bohemia Paseo del Revellín 12, first floor tel_icon 956 510615. Best deal among the cheapies, this clean and comfortable pensión is centred around a pleasant interior courtyard. Most of the rooms lack outside windows but all come with fan and TV; bathrooms, with hot water, are shared. The pensión can be difficult to locate as trees sometimes obscure the blue sign. €35

Pensión Charito Calle de Teniente Arrabal 5, first floor tel_icon 956 513982. Despite looking a little worn, this is still one of the best and most welcoming places among a number of small, cheap lodgings in this area. Bathrooms with hot water are shared, and there’s a small kitchen. Look for the small “CH” sign located on the second floor of an unmarked building, one door down the hill from the (currently) cream and green Limité bar. €25

Tryp Ceuta Calle de Alcalde Antonio L. Sánchez Prados tel_icon 956 511200, web_icon melia.com. Modern, large three-star chain hotel centred around a gleaming white atrium, offering over a hundred rooms with all the mod cons. The breakfast buffet is extensive but the in-house restaurant isn’t so great. Underground parking is available (€12). BB €120

Ulises Calle Camoens 5 tel_icon 956 514540, web_icon hotelulises.com. After many years of severe neglect, a major refurbishment in 2013 transformed the Ulises into one of the best hotels in town. All 124 rooms sport a contemporary look with wood-panelled floors and works of art adorning the walls; those on the higher floors offer unobstructed views and the least street noise. BB €80

EATING AND DRINKING

Ceuta’s main concentration of restaurants is around the Plaza de la Constitución. For tapas bars, check the smaller streets off Calle Camoens. All of the below recommendations serve alcohol.

La Campana Calle Real 13 tel_icon 956 518005. A smoke-filled bar-café with a reasonable €6 set menu (though no choice for non-pork eaters), plus tapas, spaghetti, sandwiches, beer and wine from the barrel. Mon–Sat 9am–3pm & 5–10pm, Sun 10am–3pm.

author_pick Cala Carlota Club Nautico, Calle Edrissis tel_icon 956 525061. This popular fish restaurant, with both indoor and shaded outdoor seating, overlooks the yacht harbour and serves some of Ceuta’s best seafood dishes (mains €5–10). There’s also a good-value menú del diá (daily set menu; €7). Mon–Sat 9am–3pm & 5pm–midnight, Sun 10am–3pm.

Charlotte Plaza de los Reyes, Calle Cameons. This popular and inviting café-tapas bar overlooks a busy plaza and offers a varied menu of light dishes. There’s also plenty of beers, wine and cocktails to choose from, and a great range of leaf teas served in heavy clay teapots. A second café is located down at Paseo de las Palmeras 10 (same opening hours), and attracts more of a drinking crowd. Mains €1–8. Daily 9am–midnight.

Gran Muralla Plaza de la Constitución 4 tel_icon 956 517625. A popular, long-established Chinese restaurant with sweeping views over the harbour. The extensive menu (in English) offers the usual standard dishes, including some good seafood choices, as well as sushi. (€4.50–11). Mon–Sat noon–4pm & 7–11pm.

Hollywood Café Calle Padilla 4. Very friendly, family-run café with toasted bocadillos (sandwiches), paella and other Spanish dishes (€1.50–4), and both indoor and covered outdoor seating. Mon–Fri 9am–4pm & 7–11pm.

ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION: TETOUAN

By bus Besides CTM, all buses serve Tetouan’s gare routière, 1km south of the city; petits taxis are usually parked out the front of the building (around 10dh to Pl Hassan II). Ticket booths are on the ground floor, and Supratours also have an office in the Ville Nouvelle, on Bd 10 Mai. CTM buses (ticket office daily 4am–midnight; tel_icon 0539 711654) use their own separate station, more conveniently located just below the Medina on Av Hassan II.

Destinations Al Hoceima (2 CTM & over 5 others daily; 8hr); Casablanca (5 CTM & over 10 others daily; 6–7hr); Chefchaouen (5 CTM & over 10 others daily; 1–2hr); Fez (4 CTM & over 10 others daily; 6hr); Fnideq (for Ceuta; 1 CTM & over 10 others daily; 1hr); Larache (2 CTM & over 5 daily; 2–3hr); Marrakesh (1 CTM & over 5 others daily; 9–10hr); Nador (2 CTM & over 5 others daily; 13hr); Oued Laou (5 daily; 1hr 30min); Rabat (5 CTM & over 10 others daily; 5–6hr); Tangier (4 CTM & over 20 others daily; 1hr–1hr 30min).

By grand taxi Collective grands taxis for Tangier and Chefchaouen arrive and depart from Av Khaled Ibnou el Oualid, west of town, a 20min walk or 15dh petit taxi ride. Grands taxis to Fnideq (Ceuta border), Mdiq, Martil and Cabo Negro leave from Av Hassan II; those for Oued Laou leave from the beginning of Av Ksar el Kebir, which is the Oued Laou turn-off from Av Hassan II, not far from Bab el Okla.

Destinations Chefchaouen (1hr); Fnideq (for Ceuta; 20min); Martil (15min); Mdiq (20min); Oued Laou (1hr); Tangier (1hr).

Tourist information 30 Bd Mohammed V (Mon–Thurs 8.30am–4.30pm, Fri 8.30–11.30am & 2–4.30pm; tel_icon 0539 961915); official guides can be enlisted here.

ACCOMMODATION

MEDINA

Blanco Riad 25 Zankat Zawiya Kadiria tel_icon 0539 704202, web_icon blancoriad.com. This former Spanish Consulate, in an arched lane off Bd Mohammed V, is surprisingly spacious with a central courtyard and separate paved garden area. The seven rooms and one suite range in style from small and minimalistic to grand and exquisitely Andalusian. There’s also a hammam, great restaurant and small library. BB €85.

author_pick El Reducto 38 Zankat Zawiya Kadiria tel_icon 0539 968120, web_icon riadtetouan.com. Tetouan’s most upmarket accommodation, this small riad was the home of the city’s Grand Vizier in the 1940s, and was lovingly brought back to life in 2006 by the current owner. Five suites, each individually furnished in the Andalusian style, overlook a central courtyard and an excellent restaurant. Book ahead. BB €75

Riad Dalia 25 Pl el Ouessaa tel_icon 0539 964318, web_icon riad-dalia.com. This older riad once housed the Dutch Consul-General. A quirky combination of palatial and antique (though they’re in danger of becoming tired), the seven rooms range from very large and luxurious to tiny, with a shared bathroom. This range in room types (and costs) attracts a welcoming mix of travellers. There’s a great roof terrace and an in-house restaurant. BB €25

EL ENSANCHE

Atenas 7 Bd Allal Ben Abdallah tel_icon 0539 700065, web_icon hotelatenas.ma. This modern hotel is a class above anything else in this part of town, with eighty large rooms over four floors, all en suite with satellite TV, a small fridge and balcony. Good-value triples (748dh), though small. 626dh

Oumaima Av 10 Mai tel_icon 0539 963473. This ageing hotel is central and functional but a little soulless. The rooms are on the small side but are all en suite with TV. The ground-floor café does a nice breakfast. 295dh

Panorama Vista Av Moulay el Abbas tel_icon 0539 964970, web_icon panoramavista.com. In a handy location close to the CTM bus station and with indeed a lovely panoramic view from the mountain-facing rooms, this two-star hotel offers dated but clean rooms with small en suites. BB 526dh

Pensión Iberia 5 Pl Moulay el Mehdi, third floor tel_icon 0539 963679. Above the BMCE bank (accessed only by stairs), this old dame is central, clean and excellent value for money. Some of the classic high-ceilinged rooms have shuttered balconies overlooking busy Pl Moulay el Mehdi. There’s a kitchen available, and shared bathrooms with hot showers (10dh). No wi-fi. 108dh

Regina 8 Rue Sidi Mandri tel_icon 0539 962113. This ageing, budget hotel still offers very good value for money. The large, bright rooms have colourful, Riffian fabrics on the beds and clean bathrooms with constant hot water. A ground-floor café serves breakfast. No wi-fi. 200dh

Trebol 3 Av Yacoub el Mansour tel_icon 0539 962093. Popular with ultra-budget travellers, this very cheap hotel has clean, high-ceilinged single and double rooms that come with a hand basin, though there is only intermittent running water; toilets are shared and there are no showers. No wi-fi. 70dh

OUT OF TOWN

Chams Rue Abdelkhalek Torres tel_icon 0539 990901, web_icon hotel-chams.com. This three-storey, modern hotel is 3km out of town and perhaps only worth it if you have your own transport. The en-suite rooms are all very comfortable with a/c and satellite TV, and there’s a good-sized swimming pool and in-house restaurant. Large discounts out of season. 1058dh

EATING

RESTAURANTS

MEDINA

Blanco Riad 25 Zankat Zawiya Kadiria tel_icon 0539 704202, web_icon blancoriad.com. Serving the best cuisine in the city, this riad’s restaurant offers tables inside a traditional indoor courtyard of whitewashed walls studded with exquisite zellij tiling, or in a peaceful, sunny stone-paved outdoor garden. The menu – traditional Moroccan with a contemporary Mediterranean twist – is incredibly inventive; think pastilla of pigeon and foie gras, and an oxtail kefta and quince tajine (mains 90–145dh). Daily noon–11pm.

Palace Bouhlal 48 Jamaa el-Kebir tel_icon 0539 998797. A palace restaurant on a lane north of the Grand Mosque with a richly decorated interior, serving indulgent Moroccan four-course meals (set menu 140dh) accompanied by traditional musicians and dancers. Popular with tour groups. Daily noon–4pm.

El Reducto 38 Zankat Zawiya Kadiria tel_icon 0539 968120, web_icon riadtetouan.com. The menu (in Spanish; ask for a translation) at this stylish restaurant in a riad takes inspiration from Tetouan’s Spanish and Moroccan heritage; try their signature dolmas or kefta tajine. Choose to dine on the cosy, traditionally decorated ground-floor courtyard or flop back on loungers under a rooftop tent (mains 65–80dh). Daily noon–10pm.

EL ENSANCHE

author_pick Restinga 21 Bd Mohammed V tel_icon 0539 963576. Eat indoors or in the leafy courtyard at this very pleasant restaurant serving tajine, couscous and fried fish every day since 1968 (mains 35–70dh). Popular with locals for a midday meal, the service is attentive, with some English-speaking staff. Beer is available. Daily 11.30am–9pm.

La Union 1 Pasaje Achaach. Popular with locals, this budget place serves up standard Moroccan fare, including harira, brochettes and a reasonable meat tajine (mains 25–40dh). To find it, go through the arcades opposite Cinema Español. No alcohol. Daily noon–9.30pm.

CAFÉS

EL ENSANCHE

Café de Paris Pl Moulay el Mehdi. A large café on the main square, which has become quite a fashionable and relatively female-friendly hangout. Besides great coffee and mint tea (8–15dh), there are also fresh pastries and some delicious gateaux (7–18dh) on offer. Daily 9am–11pm.

Chatt Rue Mourakah Annual. A small and popular diner that’s been serving up fast (and cheap) snack food for years. The wall-mounted menu offers pretty much everything you’d need for breakfast (pastries 4dh, fresh orange juice 3dh), plus tea, coffee, burgers, omelettes and snacks (mains 9–23dh). Daily 7am–midnight.

Patisserie Rahmouni Bd Youssef Ben Tachfine. Clean, modern café-patisserie with a good selection of breakfast and tea delights, such as chocolate doughnuts, croissants, baghrir (Moroccan crumpet), and plenty of cakes and biscuits, purchased by weight (8dh/100g). There’s also ice cream, coffee and tea, plus tables with waiter service. Daily 8am–1pm & 4–10pm.

ENTERTAINMENT

Cinema Avenida Pl al Adala tel_icon 0539 965611. Shows current release movies, including the odd Hollywood flick, though it will always be dubbed.

Cinema Español Bd Mohammed Torres tel_icon 0539 964329. Mainly shows “L’histoire et la géographie” (a double bill of Bollywood and kung fu).

Institut Français du Nord 13 Bd Chakib Arsalane tel_icon 0539 961212, web_icon if-maroc.org/tetouan. The cultural arm of the French government, the Tetouan branch is quite active and often presents cultural events such as exhibitions, films and live performances.

Instituto Cervantes 93 Bd Mohammed Torres tel_icon 0539 967056, web_icon tetuan.cervantes.es. Like its French counterpart, this branch of Spain’s cultural organization provides a weekly programme of film screenings, discussions, concerts and general cultural exchange.

THE ORQUESTA ANDALUSI DE TETOUAN

The Orquesta Andalusi de Tetouan is one of the best-known groups playing Moroccan-Andalous music, a seductive style awash with Oriental strings. It was founded, and is still conducted, by Abdessadaq Chekana, and his brother Abdallah leads on lute. The orchestra has recorded with Spanish flamenco singer Juan Peña Lebrijano and has toured with British composer Michael Nyman (best known for his soundtracks for Peter Greenaway’s films – and for The Piano), from which came the 1994 album “Michael Nyman – Live”. Despite such collaborations, none of them reads music; everything is committed to memory. They often play in Tetouan and you may be able to catch them locally at an official reception, or at a wedding or festival; ask at the tourist office, where staff may be able to help.

TETOUAN’S FESTIVALS

Tetouan’s International Mediterranean Film Festival (Festival International du Cinéma Méditerranéen; web_icon festivaltetouan.org), takes place around the end of March each year. Established in 1985 by a group of Tetouan-based film lovers and originally called “Rencontres Cinématographiques de Tétouan” (Tetouan Film Encounters), the week-long festival has since become truly Mediterranean and features a diverse offering of over eighty films from all over the region.

The moussem of Moulay Abdessalem Ben Mchich is a very religious, traditional occasion with a large number of Riffian tribesmen in attendance. It’s usually held on 1 July at the saint’s marabout, or tomb on a flat mountain-top near the village of Beni Arouss, about halfway between Tetouan and Chefchaouen off the N2. Contact the Tourist Information Office in Tetouan for more information.

Fnideq

Fnideq, sometimes called by its Spanish name Castillejos, has little to recommend it, especially compared with Mdiq and Martil further along the coast. However, it has seen some development of late, including a new beachside promenade between here and the beach at Restinga-Smir, and there’s a couple of good hotels; if you’re arriving late in the day on your way to or from Ceuta, it makes a decent stopover.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: FNIDEQ

By bus Fnideq’s gare routière is in the centre of the town, set a couple of blocks back from the seafront highway. Grands taxis ply the route from the station to the Ceuta border, about 3km away (5dh).

Destinations Casablanca (1 CTM & 2 others daily; 6hr); Martil (6–10 daily; 30min); Mdiq (6–10 daily; 20 min); Rabat (1 CTM & 2 others daily; 4hr 30min); Tangier (10 daily; 2hr); Tetouan (1 CTM & over 10 others daily; 1hr).

By grand taxi Grands taxis gather at both the bus station and a separate taxi rank at the northern (Ceuta) end of town. They depart for the Ceuta border (5min) throughout the day, though the wait is a little longer during the night, and similarly for Tetouan (35min) via Restinga-Smir, Mdiq (15min) and Martil (25min). There are also irregular runs to Tangier (1hr), travelling directly past the Tanger Med port.

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING

There are a few decent hotels and restaurants dotted along Fnideq’s sea-facing main road, Av Hassan II, and the parallel Av Mohammed V. Out of the summer season, ask for discounts at the hotels.

La Corniche Av Hassan II, southern end of town towards Restinga-Smir tel_icon 0539 976163. The best of Fnideq’s hotels, with modern, comfortable rooms, some with sea views and balconies. There’s also a classy sea-facing café-restaurant, which offers light meals like omelettes, pizzas and salads (20–55dh). 623dh

Dreamland Av Hassan II tel_icon 0539 976357. Surprisingly modern and clean hotel in the middle of town; rooms are en suite, though note that those facing the sea also face the busy road. Guest parking out the front. No wi-fi. 258dh

Tarik Av Mohammed V tel_icon 0539 976421. Sister hotel to the more upmarket La Corniche, located a couple of blocks back from the seafront. Bright, tiled rooms with TV, and an in-house restaurant that serves a pastry and coffee breakfast. 323dh

Mdiq

Mdiq is a lovely coastal town and semi-active fishing port. A popular promenade overlooks the town beach (which gets better the further north and away from the redeveloping port you venture) while a vibrant café-restaurant quarter lies one block back. The small port is undergoing a major facelift that will turn it into a compact, upmarket marina and there are a handful of nice places to stay nearby, which only adds weight to the town’s honest claim of being the best of Morocco’s northwestern coastal resorts.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: MDIQ

By bus and grand taxi Mdiq is on the bus and grand taxi route between Fnideq and Tetouan, with both forms of transport operating from a large open stand at the northern entrance to the town, a 5–10min walk from all the action. The frequency of services increases July–Aug.

Destinations Fnideq (for Ceuta; 15–20min); Martil (10–15min); Tangier (via Fnideq or Tetouan; 1hr 30min to 2hr); Tetouan (15–25min).

ACCOMMODATION

Besides the eating options listed below, there’s a bevy of cafés and cheap restaurants gathered along a couple of pedestrianized streets just one block back from the beach. During the season, this area has a great atmosphere throughout the day and into the night.

Badis Cnr Av Lalla Nezha and Av Casablanca, northern end of town tel_icon 0539 663030. Opened in 2011, Hôtel Badis offers three floors of modern rooms, some sleeping up to four comfortably and others with sea views. A ground-floor café (daily 7am–10pm) serves a decent breakfast of pastries and eggs. BB 800dh

Golden Beach Av Lalla Nehza, on the beachside corniche at the northern entrance to town tel_icon 0539 975077. This large resort-style hotel has long been one of the best along this coast. The sea is so close that rooms with a sea view feel like they’re literally in the water. Besides a very decent restaurant, there’s a large swimming pool, a bar (daily 10am–11pm) and a nightclub (daily 10pm–3am in season) which can get pretty loud during the summer holidays; request a room away from it during this time. 850dh

Narjiss Av Lalla Nezha, southern (Cabo Negro) entrance to town tel_icon 0539 663770. The town’s best budget option, a short uphill walk from the corniche. The bland, modern rooms have tiled floors, satellite TV and spotless bathrooms, and there’s a handy streetside café serving pastry-and-coffee breakfasts. 300dh

Playa Av Lalla Nezha, centre of town tel_icon 0539 975166. This modern and comfortable hotel is directly across the road from the beach, with four floors of bright and airy en suites, the majority of which have uninterrupted sea views. There is also a bar and restaurant on the ground floor. 550dh

EATING

Las Olas Corniche car park, Av Lalla Nezha tel_icon 0539 664433. This beachfront landmark, resembling a lighthouse, offers fantastic views as well as a decent menu. More of a café downstairs and restaurant upstairs, the a la carte menu offers good variety, with some Italian and Moroccan standards accompanying the seafood. Mains 45–160dh. Daily: café 9am–11pm; restaurant noon–10pm.

La Vie en Rose Golden Beach Hotel, Av Lalla Nehza tel_icon 0539 975077, web_icon golden-beachotel.com. This hotel restaurant is a cut above the usual and is very popular during the summer season. Overlooking the beach, it offers an impressive and reasonably priced a la carte menu (mains 55–150dh), as well as a three-course menu du jour (160dh) for both lunch and dinner. As you would expect, seafood is a speciality. Daily 7–10.30am, noon–2.30pm & 7–11pm.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: MARTIL

By bus and grand taxi Martil is on the bus and grand taxi route between Fnideq and Tetouan, with the frequency of services increasing July–Aug. Buses operate from a large water tower located five streets back from the southern end of the beachside corniche, while grands taxis can be found opposite the Mohammed V Mosque off Av Moulay el Hassan II (the N16 highway to Tetouan).

Destinations Fnideq (for Ceuta; 25–35min); Mdiq (10–15min); Tangier (via Fnideq or Tetouan; 1hr 40min to 2hr 15min); Tetouan (10–15min).

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING

Besides the hotel restaurants below, there’s a string of café-restaurants on the land side of the beachfront promenade.

Etoile de la Mer (aka Nejma el Bahr) Av Moulay el Hassan II, southern end of the beachfront tel_icon 0539 979058. One block from the beach and close to the grand taxi rank, with clean and colourful rooms, some with sea views. The in-house restaurant (open to non-guests) is licensed and serves up a good selection of fresh seafood dishes. BB 268dh

Residence L’Hacienda Route de Cabo Negro tel_icon 0539 688668. This sprawling, friendly hacienda offers a surprising number of spacious, though slightly dated rooms (some sleep four comfortably), as well as large bungalows with equipped kitchen and living room. There’s a lovely swimming pool surrounded by a leafy garden, and a good in-house restaurant which is licensed and open to non-guests. BB 600dh

Omeya Suites Hôtel Av Lalla Hasna Corniche tel_icon 0539 688888. Easily the best hotel in town, with a range of modern rooms and suites, some with a sizeable balcony and great sea views. The in-house restaurant specializes in seafood and Moroccan standards, while a street-front café is a good spot for a quick breakfast or pizza. There’s also a second-floor piano-lounge-cum-bar with live (and loud) music most weekends; ask for a room on one of the higher floors. 1080dh

Oued Laou

Travelling southeast from Tetouan, the coastline almost immediately changes and you come under the shadow of the Rif. The coastal highway (N16, formerly S608) continues to follow the coast while also hugging the foothills of the Rif; it’s a stunning drive. Though experiencing something of a construction boom since the completion of the N16, Oued Laou – named after the River Laou that reaches the ocean here from its source in the Rif mountains near Chefchaouen – is still quieter than the more popular beach towns closer to Tetouan. It’s not an especially pretty place (Riffian villages tend to look spread out and lack any core) but it has a near-deserted beach, which extends for miles on each side, particularly to the southeast, where the river has created a wide, fertile bay down to Kâaseras, 8km distant. There’s not much to do other than relax, read, watch the fishermen hauling in their nets, and swim – not an altogether terrible itinerary. On Saturdays, there is a souk, held 3km inland from Oued Laou, which draws villagers from all over the valley.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: OUED LAOU

By bus and grand taxi Buses and grands taxis operate from the old village square, one block back from the beach, opposite the mosque.

Destinations (bus) Chefchaouen (daily; 1hr 30min); El Jebha via Kâaseras (daily; 5hr); Tetouan (3 daily; 2hr).

Destinations (grand taxi) Dar Ackoubaa (for connecting taxis to Chefchaouen and Tetouan; 20min); Kâaseras (20min).

ACCOMMODATION

Mare Norstrum 4km north of Oued Laou, signposted off the N16 tel_icon 0661 356825. The Tetouan coast’s one true luxury option, situated on a cliff overlooking a secluded bay. The twelve large rooms with four-poster beds all offer sea views from good-sized balconies, and there’s a good restaurant and a large swimming pool; however, it’s a bit of trek down to the beach and back up. BB 1500dh

Oued Laou 8 Bd Massira tel_icon 0648 064435. This basic but friendly hotel is one block from the beach in a cul-de-sac bordering the village’s new square and corniche. It is open year-round and has simple yet clean and sunny rooms, with shared toilets and bathrooms. 150dh

EATING AND DRINKING

Aramar 2 Bd Massira tel_icon 0539 569854. The best of a number of beachfront restaurants. While fresh fish is the house speciality (the fishing boats are right out front), there’s also a pretty good menu offering Moroccan standards such as tajines, brochettes and harira soup (35–80dh). Daily 8am–10pm.

Café Picasso Picasso beach, 3km north of village centre tel_icon 0661 459865. Built into the rock and made from driftwood and reeds, Café Picasso is like something out of Robinson Crusoe. This is a great place to relax – the owner has been cooking up tajines (35–50dh) on the beach for over a decade, and they serve (usually warm) beer. Daily 10am–8pm.

< Back to Tangier, Tetouan and the northwest

Chefchaouen

An isolated refuge for over four hundred years before absorption in the 1920s into the Spanish Protectorate, CHEFCHAOUEN (pronounced “shef-sha-wen”, sometimes abbreviated to Chaouen) remains today somewhat aloof from the goings-on in the rest of the country. Visiting Chefchaouen requires venturing into the rugged Rif mountains and it almost feels by chance that one comes upon the town, still hidden beneath the towering peaks from which it takes its name. The setting, like much of the Rif, is largely rural and the bright lights and bustling noise of cities less than half a day’s drive away are soon forgotten. That’s not to say that Chefchaouen is completely isolated, for the town has long been a stop on the intrepid backpacker circuit – thanks in part to the easy availability of the Rif’s kif – and has also gradually become popular with mainstream tourists, who are arriving in increasing numbers to wander the town’s blue-washed Medina, surely the prettiest in the country.

While the increase in visitors has inevitably led to a slight rise in hassle, local attitudes are still very relaxed, and the Medina pensions are among the friendliest and cheapest around.

Brief history

Chefchaouen translates to “two horns” in Arabic, in reference to the mountain that is split in two by the slope on which the town lies. The region hereabouts has forever been sacred to Muslims due to the presence of the tomb of Moulay Abdessalam Ben Mchich – patron saint of the Jebali Riffian tribesmen and one of the “four poles of Islam” – and over the centuries has acquired a considerable reputation for pilgrimage and marabouts – “saints”, believed to hold supernatural powers. An isolated location, it was the perfect base in 1471 for one of Moulay Abdessalam’s shereefian (descendant of the Prophet) followers, Hassan Ben Mohamed el Alami, known as Abu Youma, to launch secret attacks on the Portuguese in their coastal enclaves of Asilah, Tangier, Ceuta and Ksar es Seghir. Abu Youma perished in one of these raids and his cousin, Ali Ben Rachid moved the settlement to its current site on the other side of the river.

In the ensuing decades, as the population was boosted by Muslim and Jewish refugees from Spain, Chefchaouen grew increasingly anti-Christian and autonomous. For a time, it was the centre of a semi-independent emirate, exerting control over much of the northwest, in alliance with the Wattasid sultans of Fez. Later, however, it became an almost completely isolated backwater. When the Spanish arrived in 1920, they were astonished to find the Jews here speaking medieval Castilian, a language that hadn’t been heard on the Iberian peninsula for four hundred years. In 1924 the Spanish were repelled back to the coast by the Riffian rebel leader Abd el Krim el Khattabi, but two years later they retook Chefchaouen and held it until the end of the Protectorate in 1956.

NO ENTRY FOR CHRISTIANS

Until the arrival of Spanish troops in 1920, Chefchaouen had been visited by just three Westerners. Two were missionary explorers: Charles de Foucauld, a Frenchman who spent just an hour in the town in 1883, disguised as a Jewish rabbi, and William Summers, an American who was poisoned by the townsfolk here in 1892. The third, in 1889, was the British journalist Walter Harris, whose main impulse, as described in his book, Land of an African Sultan, was “the very fact that there existed within thirty hours’ ride of Tangier a city in which it was considered an utter impossibility for a Christian to enter”. Thankfully, Chefchaouen today is more welcoming towards outsiders, and a number of the Medina’s newer guesthouses now include owners hailing from Britain, Italy and the former Christian enemy, Spain.

The Medina

Chefchaouen’s Medina is small when compared to others in Morocco, and it is undoubtedly a place to enjoy exploring at random. The architecture has a strong Andalusian character, reflecting the city’s history: Sultan Mohammed Ben Abdallah (Mohammed III) ordered the Jewish families to move into the Medina around 1760, their Mellah taking in the area that today encompasses the southern quarter between the kasbah and Bab el Aïn. Here they built their whitewashed ochre houses with small balconies, tiled roofs and Andalusian-style courtyards. It’s from this time that Chefchaouen’s famous shades of blue arose, the Jews adding indigo into the whitewash to contrast the Mellah against the traditional green of Islam.

The main gateway to the Medina is Bab el Aïn, a tiny arched entrance at the junction of Avenue Hassan II with Rue Moulay Ali Ben Rachid. Through the gate a clearly dominant lane winds up through the Medina to the main square, Plaza Outa el Hammam and beyond to a second, smaller square, Plaza el Makhzen.

Plaza Outa el Hammam

Considering the compact layout of the Medina, Plaza Outa el Hammam is surprisingly large. It takes its name from the number of public hammams that used to be located on or around the plaza – one still exists and is tourist-friendly. Watching over the plaza’s daily proceedings is Jamae Kebir, the Grand Mosque. Chefchaouen’s oldest and largest mosque, it was built in 1560 by Moulay Mohamed, son of the town’s founding father Ali Ben Rachid; its octagonal minaret was added to the mosque in the 1700s.

The kasbah

Plaza Outa el Hammam • Mon, Wed, Thurs & Sun 10am–2pm & 4–7.30pm, Tues 4–7.30pm, Fri 10am–1pm & 4–7.30pm • 10dh

The town’s kasbah, a quiet ruin with shady gardens, was built by Ali Ben Rachid in 1471, when he moved the original settlement from across the other side of the Ras el Ma River. Inside, and immediately to the right, in the first of its compounds, are the old town prison cells, where Abd el Krim was imprisoned after his surrender in nearby Targuist in 1926. Four years earlier, he had driven the Spanish from the town, a retreat that saw the loss of several thousand of their troops. Also within the kasbah is a small art gallery exhibiting works from local artists, and an Ethnographic Museum housing musical instruments, ancient weapons, tapestries and carpets, as well as interesting photos of old Chefchaouen.

Plaza el Makhzen

Ensemble Artisanal daily 10am–2pm & 4–6pm

Plaza el Makhzen – the colonial-era “government square” – is an elegant clearing with an old fountain and flanked by souvenir stalls. It’s home to the Ensemble Artisanal, where a few craftworkers can be seen producing the town’s signature brightly coloured rugs and thick woollen jumpers.

BOTH CHEFCHAOUEN’S BLUE-WASHED MEDINA

Ras el Ma

Just outside Bab Onsar – dating back to the early 1500s and the Medina’s easternmost exit – Ras el Ma (head of the water) is where the Oued el Kebir bursts from a sheer cliff-face to cascade down the mountain slope. Riffian women do their laundry here, at a number of modern, concrete washhouses complete with diverted water channels and built-in washboards. The river splits into three different streams, each flanked by flourmills that still harness the hydropower to turn their millstones. A good view of the river and surrounding area can be enjoyed from Plaza Sebanin, where a small bridge leads to a compact residential quarter as well as a couple of pleasant, shaded riverside cafés.

Spanish Mosque

Over to the east of the town, an enjoyable, though uphill thirty-minute walk from Bab Onsar brings you to the “Spanish Mosque”. Built by the Spanish in the early 1920s, the mosque itself has never been used and was derelict up until 2010, when it was restored, again by the Spanish. Set on a hilltop with sweeping views of both the Medina and the surrounding countryside, it’s a popular meeting point for young locals. Alongside the path to the mosque are some spectacular rock-climbing pitches, and in the limestone hills behind, there are active cave systems – the source of local springs.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: CHEFCHAOUEN

By bus The gare routière is 1.5km southwest (and downhill) from the town centre – about a 15min walk. Alternatively catch a petit taxi (unmetered) to/from Bab el Aïn (around 10dh). CTM & most other companies start their Chefchaouen routes elsewhere, so buses can arrive full, with no space. It’s best to book a ticket in advance, or at least arrive at the station early.

Destinations Al Hoceima (3 CTM daily; 6–7hr); Casablanca (1 CTM & 1–2 others daily; 6hr); Fez (4 CTM & over 5 others daily; 4hr 30min); Jorf el Malha (4 CTM & over 5 others daily; 2hr 30min); Ouezzane (5 CTM & over 10 others daily; 1hr 30min); Rabat (1 CTM & 2 others daily; 5hr); Tangier (1 CTM & over 10 others daily, ask for a direct sans détour service; 3hr); Tetouan (5 CTM & over 10 others daily; 1–2hr).

By grand taxi Grands taxis for Ouezzane and Bab Berred (connecting there for Issaguen Ketama and points east) operate from around the junction of Av Allal Ben Abdallah and Av Zerktouni. Tangier and Tetouan services operate from Av Jamal Dine el Afghani, off the west side of Pl Mohammed V. To reach Fez or Meknes, you can change vehicles at Ouezzane and again at Jorf el Malha (where grands taxis to Fez and Meknes are sparse, and you’ll probably end up having to wait for a bus) or charter a grand taxi – you’ll need to bargain hard, but the trip should cost around 500dh for up to six passengers.

Destinations Bab Berred (50min); Ouezzane (1hr 15min); Tangier (2hr); Tetouan (1hr).

THE R410

If you have your own transport and wish to head towards the west coast from Chefchaouen, the R410 to Ksar el Kebir is a highly recommended scenic route and short cut. The road is signed off the N13 to Ouezzane on your right coming from Chefchaouen. The route wends its way through wooded high country following the Oued Loukkos to the Barrage Oued el Makhazine, where there are magnificent vistas, and on to Ksar el Kebir.

ACTIVITIES

Climbing and trekking Ask at Dar Antonio or Camping Azilan if you are interested in climbing or trekking in the area.

HIKES AROUND CHEFCHAOUEN

A good day’s hike from Chefchaouen is to head east, up over the mountains behind. As you look at the “two horns” from town, there is a path winding along the side of the mountain on your left. A four-hour (or more) hike will take you up to the other side, where a vast valley opens up, and if you walk further, you’ll see the sea. The valley, as even casual exploration will show, is full of small farms cultivating kif – as they have done for years. Walking here, you may occasionally be stopped by the military, who are cracking down on foreign involvement in the crop. For more ambitious hikes – and there are some wonderful paths in the area – ask at the pensions (or Camping Azilan) about hiring a guide. Someone knowledgeable can usually be found to accompany you, for around 150dh a day; the harder the climb, the more it costs.

ACCOMMODATION

Chefchaouen can get bitterly cold during winter and all of those listed proclaim to have hot water, though few will have any room heating other than plenty of blankets; it’s also worth asking for a discount on rack rates.

MEDINA

Andaluz 1 Rue Sidi Salem tel_icon 0539 986034. Small, functional pension with friendly management, signposted off to the left at the near end of Plaza Outa el Hammam. Rooms face an inner courtyard and have shared showers; there’s a kitchen and a nice rooftop terrace, with a handy tub for doing your laundry. 120dh

Chams 22 Rue Lalla el Hora tel_icon 0539 987784, web_icon chamschefchaouen.com. A good compromise of pension price and hotel comfort, this centrally located place has large, modern rooms (en suite or shared bath), a dining area and a very pleasant terrace. BB 220dh

author_pick Dar Antonio 36 Calle Garmata tel_icon 0539 989997, web_icon darantonio.com. This cosy guesthouse was personally restored and imaginatively decorated by the hands-on owner-manager. Each of the seven rooms is unique, colourful and warm, and there’s even one with a working fireplace. Guests have access to a kitchen and the shared showers are in a cave-like grotto. 250dh

Dar Gabriel Derb Cadi Ben Maimoun, Bab Souk tel_icon 0539 989244, web_icon dargabriel.com. British-owned and Moroccan-managed, this is one of the better guesthouses in the Medina. The compact (though not poky) rooms are all simply but thoughtfully furnished, while the common areas include a dining room with fireplace, and a three-tiered rooftop terrace. BB €50

Dar Meziana 7 Rue Zagdud, Bab Souk tel_icon 0539 987806, web_icon darmezianahotel.com. One of the Medina’s most luxurious guesthouses, with three floors of compact, tastefully decorated en-suite rooms and suites overlooking an open-plan courtyard and kitchen. There’s some comfortable common areas, as well as great panoramic views from the terrace and a hammam to top it off. HB 950dh

Dar Terrae Av Hassan I, Quartier Andalous tel_icon 0539 987598, web_icon darterrae.com. One of Chefchaouen’s earliest Medina riads, this charming old Andalusian-style house has a great homely atmosphere. The six cheerful rooms are all tastefully furnished, reflecting the Italian owner’s taste, and though not all are en suite and only some have a fireplace, each has its own terrace. BB €38

Hostal Guernika 49 Rue Onsar tel_icon 0539 987434. This old house, in the higher quarter of the Medina, towards Bab Onsar, has been superbly converted by its Basque owner. Life here revolves around the central fireplace and small library in winter, and the rooftop terrace in summer. The rooms are all en suite; ask for a mountain view (which also means more sunlight) during the colder months, when there’s an extra charge (70dh) for a room heater. Breakfast available (35dh). 250dh

Hostal Yasmina 12 Rue Lalla el Hora tel_icon 0539 883118. Small, bright and clean with just six modern rooms; the back four face inward with no outside windows. It’s very conveniently located, just off Plaza Outa el Hammam, and a very pleasant little place to stay. There are hot showers (shared; 10dh), and during summer – when you should book ahead – guests are welcome to sleep on the rooftop terrace. No wi-fi. 150dh

Pension la Castellana 4 Rue Bouhali tel_icon 0539 986295. Aficionados return loyally to the Castellana each year, creating a distinctly laidback and youthful atmosphere; others take one look at the poky (but clean) rooms and leave. The key is the manager, Mohammed Nebrhout, who arranges communal meals and excursions on request. There are shared bathrooms and separate toilets on each floor, and a hammam next door. Just to the left at the near end of Plaza Outa el Hammam – follow the signs. 150dh

Pension Cordoba 32 Calle Garnata tel_icon 0539 989969. Well located and with great rooftop views, this pension offers lovely rooms and tasteful decor in a charming, beautifully restored old Andalusian-style house. The rooms all look inwards to a central courtyard, and bathrooms are shared. 140dh

OUTSIDE THE MEDINA

Camping Azilan On a hill above the Medina; follow signs for the Atlas Riad Chaouen Hotel tel_icon 0539 986979, web_icon campingchefchaouen.com. Shaded and inexpensive, with plenty of sites with electricity and a few bungalows, plus a café, small shop, and internet café, though it can get crowded in summer. It’s a good place to enquire about mountain treks. Camping 95dh, bungalow 150dh

Al Khalifa Av Ras el Ma tel_icon 0539 882664, web_icon hotel-alkhalifa.com. Close to Ras el Ma and a 5min stroll from Bab Onsar, this two-star newcomer offers modern, spacious en-suite rooms with sweeping Medina and mountain views from large arched windows. Breakfast can be taken in a large salon inside or at a shaded table outside. The service is attentive, and there’s parking out front. BB 450h

CIUDAD NUEVA (NEW TOWN)

Parador de Chefchaouen Pl el Makhzen tel_icon 0539 986136, web_icon hotel-parador.com. This former Spanish “grand hotel” is in a great location on the edge of the Medina, and offers an adjoining car park. Popular with both independent travellers and tour groups, there are stunning mountain vistas from a poolside terrace and bar. While the ageing carpeted rooms are undergoing a slow refurbishment, they are nonetheless still comfortable, and they’re heated in winter. 536dh

Salam 39 Av Hassan II tel_icon 0539 986239. A cheap, friendly place and a favourite with backpackers who don’t want to be in the Medina. The high-ceilinged rooms are very basic, and bathrooms are shared. The back rooms as well as a shady roof terrace overlook the valley. No wi-fi. 120dh

OUT OF TOWN

Auberge Dardara 11km from Chefchaouen at the junction of the N2 to Al Hoceima and P28 to Ouezzane tel_icon 0539 707007, web_icon dardara.chez.com. Guests, including King Mohammed VI when he was prince, come here to experience a unique blend of rustic getaway and agri-tourism. The brainchild of local resident El Hababi Jaber (“Jabba”), the Auberge has twelve comfortably furnished rooms – each named after an influential woman in Jabba’s life – and focuses on environmentally friendly practices and community involvement. The restaurant serves fresh, hearty food. 590dh

EATING

While not offering any great culinary experience, Plaza Outa el Hammam is Chefchaouen’s prime spot for a meal at any time of the day or night. There are about a dozen restaurants on the plaza, all of them facing outwards for prime people watching. One of the few places selling alcohol in Chefchaouen is Parador de Chefchaouen.

MEDINA

Assada On a nameless lane just north of Bab el Aïn, opposite the Hôtel Bab el Aïn. Extending across the lane and above to an open rooftop terrace, this has long been a favourite of locals and travellers alike. Very friendly, and serves food all day from breakfast (18–25dh) through to tajine or a Fri couscous at dinner (mains 20–45dh). Daily 9am–9pm.

La Estrella Plaza Outa el Hammam. Atmospheric restaurant decked in natural Riffian fibres with lounges and low tables, dim lighting at night and world music playing in the background. The lounges are the best place on the plaza for a long, casual meal. The menu is pretty standard, with grilled fish a speciality (mains 35–100dh). Daily 10am–10pm.

La Lampe Magique Casa Alladin Rue Targui. Just north of Plaza Outa el Hammam, with two floors and a terrace, and beautifully done out in Arabian Nights style as its name suggests. Expect great tajines, couscous (including vegetarian) and other staple fare (mains 45–85dh, set menu 75dh). Daily 11am–11pm.

author_pick Mandala Av Hassan I, Quartier Andalous tel_icon 0654 614449. Not to be confused with the pizzeria of the same name, this Mandala is quite different. Consisting of a ground-level restaurant and second-floor lounge area, the three major cultural influences of journeyman-owner Giani “Gigi” Uigi – Italian, Indian and Moroccan – are all evident in the varied menu (including handmade egg-free tagliatelle; mains 35–120dh), spiritual ambience, and the many available kif pipes. Come here with time to spare, even just for a chai, a game of backgammon and some relaxing world music. Daily noon–11pm.

Tissemlal Casa Hassan, 22 Rue Targui tel_icon 0539 986153. A long-standing and popular restaurant, with a choice between tables on the ground floor with a fireplace and an upstairs roof terrace. Serving only a set menu (100dh), a small selection of starters is followed by a good choice of mains including a few tajines, grillés, fish and couscous dishes. The atmosphere is welcoming and the standard a step up from what’s available on the nearby plaza. Daily noon–3pm & 7–11pm.

CIUDAD NUEVA (NEW TOWN)

Al Azhar At the bottom of the steps on Av Moulay Idriss. Popular local snack restaurant with good food and service. Fast and cheap, with a choice of brochettes, tajines, grilled chicken, sandwiches and omelettes (mains 20–50dh). Daily 10am–10pm.

Mandala Pizzeria Cnr Av Hassan II and Rue Sidi Ahmed el Ouafi tel_icon 0539 882808. This intimate Italian restaurant is popular with young locals and travellers alike. The English-speaking Moroccan owner runs a tight ship and the kitchen is open for all to see. As well as pizzas, the menu offers numerous pasta and meat dishes, as well as some great salads, desserts and ice cream (mains 35–85dh). Takeaway & delivery available. Daily noon–11pm.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: OUEZZANE

Ouezzane provides a useful link if you’re travelling by public transport (bus or grand taxi) between Chefchaouen and the central or southern Atlantic coast.

By bus The bus terminal is about 50m below the Pl de l’Indépendance. Buy onward tickets in advance, as it’s not unusual for buses to arrive and leave full.

Destinations Chefchaouen (5 CTM & over 10 others daily; 1hr 30min); Fez (4 CTM & 3 others daily; 3hr); Jorf el Malha (4 CTM & 10 others daily; 1hr); Rabat (1 CTM daily & 1 other daily, 4hr); Souk el Arba du Gharb (1 CTM & 5 others daily; 1hr); Tangier (2 CTM & 1 daily; 4–5hr).

By grand taxi The grand taxi terminal is about 50m below the Pl de l’Indépendance. Grands taxis occasionally run direct to Fez, but usually you have to take one to the truck-stop village of Jorf el Malha and pick up onward transport there.

Destinations Chefchaouen (1hr 15min); Jorf el Malha (for Fez; 45min); Ksar el Kebir (1hr); Souk el Arba du Gharb (1hr).

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING

Bouhlal Rue 1, Hay el-Haddadine Echaouen, signposted off the main road (N13) tel_icon 0537 907154. A family home with a few rooms (doubles and triples), this is currently the town’s most comfortable option, despite its location in a dusty side street full of woodworking shops. The rooms have optional a/c (40dh extra), and the bathrooms (with hot water) are shared. 120dh

Motel Rif 2km out on the Fez road tel_icon 0537 907172, web_icon motel-rif.ma. This sprawling motel-like complex offers functional rooms with a/c and with or without en suite, as well as some self-catering two-bedroomed apartments. There are also sites with electricity for campers, as well as a decent-sized swimming pool and a large restaurant that serves up the usual Moroccan standards, sourced from the adjoining farm. Camping 30dh, double 250dh, apartment 700dh

< Back to Tangier, Tetouan and the northwest

Tangier, Tetouan and the northwest

Highlights

Tangier

Brief history

Andalusian and European Influence

Morocco takes control

Tangier today

TANGIER’S HUSTLERS

The Medina

Rue es Siaghin

Church of the Immaculate Conception

The Petit Socco

STREET NAME CONFUSIONS

MAIN SQUARES

MEDINA

VILLE NOUVELLE

BEACH

American Legation (TALIM)

Tomb of Ibn Battutah

IBN BATTUTAH

The kasbah

Museum of Antiquities

Ville Nouvelle

Grand Socco

Place de France

Terrasse des Paresseux

St Andrew’s Church

La Marshan

The beach

MALCOLM FORBES: TANGIER’S LAST TYCOON

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: TANGIER

BY PLANE

BY TRAIN

BY BUS

BY GRAND TAXI

BY FERRY

INFORMATION

GETTING AROUND

ACCOMMODATION

MEDINA

VILLE NOUVELLE AND SEAFRONT

OUT OF TOWN

EATING

RESTAURANTS

VILLE NOUVELLE AND SEAFRONT

MEDINA

CAFÉS

DRINKING AND NIGHTLIFE

BARS

CLUBS

FESTIVALS AND ENTERTAINMENT

TANGIER’S ART GALLERIES

SHOPPING

DIRECTORY

The Caves of Hercules

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: CAVES OF HERCULES

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING

East of Tangier

Cap Malabata

Ksar es Seghir

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING: KSAR ES SEGHIR

Asilah

The Medina

Palais de Raisuli

Church of San Bartolome

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: ASILAH

ACCOMMODATION

EATING

DIRECTORY

Larache

Place de la Libération

Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Pilar

The Medina

The beach

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE: LARACHE

ACCOMMODATION

EATING

DIRECTORY

Ancient Lixus

LIXUS AND HERCULES