Maison Traditionnelle

Morocco

　　The 3-storey granite, palm and argan house, some 400 years old, was inhabited by 20 family members – three generations – until 1982. The owner, Mohammed, is friendly, knowledgeable and multilingual, and obviously takes great pleasure in sharing tales of traditional life. On the tour you'll wind your way through...

Erg Chigaga

Morocco

　　The area's star attraction is the misnamed Erg Chigaga, not a single dune (erg) but an incredible stretch of golden sand sea some 56km southwest of M'Hamid. It is the largest sand sea in Morocco, snaking along the horizon for 40km and bordered to the north and south by mountain...

Leather Souq

Rif Mountains

　　Next to Tetouan's tannery, where you can see how the cow hides get their shades, the leather souq features traditional Moroccan shoes, jackets and bags. Many of the products have been made with methods passed down over generations. ...

Dar El Oddi

Rif Mountains

　　The wealthy El Oddi family graciously opened their sparkling family riad to the public as a cultural centre in 2018, celebrating their beloved Tetouan. Exhibits consist of pictures, maps and vibrant postcards and stamps from Tetouan's past, but the riad itself is the most fascinating part. Don't miss the traditional...

Ensanche

Rif Mountains

　　Restored to resemble the era when Tetouan was capital of the Spanish protectorate, this broad boulevard along Ave Mohammed V from Place Al Jala to Place Moulayel-Mehdi is lined with bright Spanish colonial architecture with a few art-deco elements reminiscent of styles found in Casablanca and Larache. You'll find hotels,...

Feddan Park

Rif Mountains

　　Feddan Park used to be what's currently known as Place Hassan II, but it was destroyed following the Spanish protectorate to make room for the Royal Palace. Locals who missed the park (some say they met their husband or wife there) were pleased when King Mohammed VI rebuilt it in...

Place Hassan II

Rif Mountains

　　The broad and empty Place Hassan II, which is mostly roped off for security reasons, links the medina to the Ensanche. It looks like it houses the Wizard of Oz, with guards standing in front of the long flat facade of the Royal Palace, and four somewhat bizarre columns towering...

Tetouan Museum of Modern Art

Rif Mountains

　　Tetouan boasts one of only two schools of fine arts in Morocco (Casablanca has the other), so it's fitting that this museum should live here. The building itself is worth a visit: a magnificent Spanish-castle-like building that was once the railway station to Ceuta. It has been carefully renovated to...

Medina

Rif Mountains

　　Tetouan's medina is an authentic time machine, with buildings that have witnessed centuries of history. The medina is also very traveller-friendly, with moped-free lanes, few street hustlers, amiable residents and a general lack of congestion. Luckily for you, it doesn't get the attention it deserves. ...

Royal Artisan School

Rif Mountains

　　Just outside Bab El Okla is the best artisan centre in northern Morocco. This is a fascinating opportunity to see masters teaching apprentices traditional arts, including ornamental woodwork, silk costumes, carved plaster, intricate mosaics and decorative rifles. A fantastic central treasury holds the best of the best – don’t miss...

Koubbat As Sufara

Meknes

　　Moulay Ismail's reception hall for foreign ambassadors is a lovely show of zellige (patterned tile) work. It's here that Unesco officially inscribed Meknes in the World Heritage Site registry in 1996. In front of the building, small windows provide light for a 40-hectare crypt below. Descend via stairs to the...

Heri Es Souani

Meknes

　　Moulay Ismail considered this early-18th-century complex one of his finest architectural projects, and on paper it's a marvel. The massive, thick-walled, barrel-vaulted granaries (tribes paid taxes in grain) were kept cool through a system of underfloor water channels, drawing from a cistern below. Outside to the west are the remains...

Palais Al Mansour

Meknes

　　Moulay Ismail's summer palace, built in the countryside in the 17th century, now sits in the middle of the urban fabric of Meknes – there's even a neighborhood playground out front. It has undergone a massive restoration, although at last visit, only the round, domed storage room was open to...

Dar Jamaï Museum

Meknes

　　On the north side of Place El Hedim, this museum was under renovation at last visit, with a possible reopening in 2020. Built in 1882 by the powerful Jamaï family, two of whom were viziers to Sultan Moulay Al Hassan I, the palace building has been a museum since 1920....

Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail

Meknes

　　Closed since 2016 for a massive renovation, the final resting place of the sultan who made Meknes his capital in the 17th century is ordinarily a must-see for anyone travelling through town. Before the closure, non-Muslim visitors were allowed into the entry hall and the front courtyards; this may still...

Place El Hedim

Meknes

　　Cleared by Moulay Ismail so his populace could better admire Bab El Mansour, this square is the social heart of the medina, and it really livens up at night. Families come out to stroll, snack at the cafes, play football and listen to musicians. Kids zip around in battery-powered cars...

Medersa Bou Inania

Meknes

　　Opposite the Grande Mosquée, this religious school, completed in 1358, is typical of the exquisite Merinid interior design. Although it is not as lavish as its counterpart of the same name in Fez, it does display the classic zellige tile, delicate stucco and carved cedar-wood ceiling. You can explore the...

Bab El Mansour

Meknes

　　The focus of Place El Hedim is this huge gate, perhaps the grandest of all imperial Moroccan gateways. The gate is well preserved, if a bit dulled by soot, with intricate mosaic tilework and inscriptions across the top. It was completed by Moulay Ismail’s son, Moulay Abdallah, in 1732. You...

Horno Bab El Ain

Chefchaouen

　　A traditional bakery; locals still bring their bread dough and bastilla (savoury-sweet pies) to bake here. ...

Grande Mosquée

Chefchaouen

　　Towering over Plaza Uta El Hammam, the Grand Mosquée and its unusual octagonal minaret were built in the 15th century by the son of the town’s founder, Ali Ben Rachid. Like all mosques in Chefchaouen, it is closed to non-Muslims. ...

Kasbah

Chefchaouen

　　If you're getting tired of blue, Chefchaouen's 15th-century clay-brown kasbah contains a lovely Andalusian-style garden, a former prison, the small Center for Research and Andalusian Studies and even smaller art gallery (only open during exhibitions). One of the fortress' 13 spires, the Portuguese Tower, named after the Portuguese prisoners who...

Spanish Mosque

Chefchaouen

　　The mosque was built by the Spanish in the 1920s, but never used. It fell into disrepair and remains closed, but the grounds out front make for a perfect place to behold the blue city and watch the sunset dip behind the green hills with a freshly squeezed orange juice...

Oued Ras El Maa

Chefchaouen

　　The waterfall of Ras El Maa is just beyond the far northeastern gate of the Chefchaouen medina. It’s here, where the water comes gushing out of the mountain, that local women come to do their washing. The sound of the water and the verdant hills just beyond the medina wall...

Plaza Uta El Hammam

Chefchaouen

　　The bustling heart of the medina is the shady, cobbled Plaza Uta El Hammam, which is lined with cafes and restaurants, all serving similar, rather uninspired fare. It is also where you'll find the kasbah and Grand Mosquée. The large tree at the centre makes for a great meeting point...

Bouhachem Regional Nature Reserve

Chefchaouen

　　One of two parks in the Rif Mountains, Bouhachem is exceptionally beautiful and covers an enormous territory. The forest has various species of oak and maritime pine, and is home to an important number of birds, mammals (including the rare Barbary macaque) and reptiles. Less visited than neighbouring Talassemtane, hikers...

Medina

Chefchaouen

　　Winding alleyways, cute doorways and charming plazas all in many shades of blue – this is what has attracted millions to this tiny village in the Rif Mountains, and there's no sign tourism will let up. Despite overcrowding, Chefchaouen's medina is still well worth the visit. 　　The heart of the...

Art Naji

Fez

　　If you're interested in how Fez's beautiful pottery and tiles are made, head to Ain Nokbi, a district just outside the medina where potters were relocated in 2013 to spare their neighbours the dust and heat of the kilns. At Art Naji (and neighbouring operations, all popular stops on bus...

Medersa El Attarine

Fez

　　Founded in 1325 in the heart of the medina, this school is a marvel of elegant mosaic tiles, magnificent cut plaster as fine as lace and beautiful original carved cedar. A renovation in 2019 opened the upstairs rooms as well, so you can get a taste of student life –...

Fez Medina

Fez

　　The largest car-free urban area in the world, Fez El Bali (Old Fez) is a warren of twisting lanes and centuries-old monuments and mosques. As well preserved as the traditional architecture are the traditional crafts practised here for centuries: this is a rare opportunity to see how many distinctly Moroccan...

Jnan Sbil

Fez

　　These lush gardens are a breath of fresh air after the intensity of Fez's medina, and a good walking route between Bab Bou Jeloud and the mellah (Jewish Quarter). Midday, they can feel a bit dry and empty; they're better at dusk, when locals come in droves to promenade on...

Ben Danan Synagogue

Fez

　　Built in the 17th century to serve the megorashim (Jews descended from those expelled from Spain), this synagogue is trimmed in pretty herringbone green tiles, turquoise octagonal pillars and glowing chandeliers. The guardian can point out the main features, including the original deerskin Torah scrolls in an ark built into...

Nejjarine Museum of Wooden Arts & Crafts

Fez

　　In a wonderfully restored early-18th-century funduq (inn used by caravans), the former rooms for travelling merchants are given over to displays of fine woodwork from across Morocco, including doors, prayer beads and musical instruments. Many show the difference between Amazigh traditional styles and the more Andalusian designs of Fez. A...

Medersa Bou Inania

Fez

　　The most architecturally refined of Fez’s theological colleges was built by the Merinid sultan Bou Inan between 1351 and 1357. Beyond the massive brass entrance doors, its interior courtyard is a masterpiece of elaborate zellige tilework, carved plaster and beautiful cedar lattice screens. Smaller courts off either side functioned as...

Chouara Tannery

Fez

　　The largest of the medina's several tanneries, Chouara is one of the city’s most iconic sights (and smells). Operating since at least the 16th century, the area was heavily renovated in 2016, but the scene, viewed from the surrounding balconies, remains remarkably medieval. It's striking to see the hard physical...

Musée de la Fondation Lorin

Tangier

　　This eclectic museum is housed in a former synagogue. Here you will find an open 2-storey room with an engaging collection of B&W photographs of 19th- and 20th-century Tangier on the walls. Meanwhile, a children’s theatre production may be going on in the centre. The museum doubles as a workshop...

Nahon Synagogue

Tangier

　　Tangier once had 17 synagogues and 27,000 Jewish residents. That number has dwindled and the only synagogue open to the public is Nahon – but it's a beauty. Intricate bronze lanterns hang over the main sanctuary and wine-coloured drapes cover the Torah (Hebrew bible) on the bema (stage). Upstairs is...

St Andrew’s Church

Tangier

　　St Andrew's Church is one of the more charming oddities of Tangier. Completed in 1894 on land granted by Sultan Hassan, the interior of this Anglican church is decorated in high Fassi style, with the Lord’s Prayer in Arabic over the altar. Behind the altar is a cleft that indicates...

Petit Socco

Tangier

　　This was once the most notorious crossroads of Tangier, the site of drug deals and all forms of prostitution. Today the facades are freshly painted, tourists abound, and it’s a wonderful square for people watching over a mint tea. ...

Medina

Tangier

　　The medina, the top attraction of Tangier, is a labyrinth of alleyways both commercial and residential. It's contained by the walls of a 15th-century Portuguese fortress, although most buildings are actually relatively new for a Moroccan medina. The place is full of travellers' treasures and offers glimpses of traditional living....

Grand Socco

Tangier

　　The Grand Socco is the romantic entrance to the medina, a large, sloping, palm-ringed plaza with a central fountain that stands before the keyhole gate, Bab Fass. Once a major market, its cobblestone circle is now the end of the line for taxis, the point at which the modern streets...

Tangier American Legation Museum

Tangier

　　This museum, in an elegant five-storey mansion, is a must-see: Morocco was the first country to recognise the United States by opening its ports to the fledgling nation in 1777, and this was the first piece of American real estate abroad, as well as the only US National Historic Landmark...

Kasbah Museum of Mediterranean Cultures

Tangier

　　This recently refurbished museum is housed in the former sultan's palace of Dar El Makhzen. The focus is on the history of the area from prehistoric times to the 19th century. Exhibits are well-presented in French and Arabic only. Work your way anticlockwise around the first courtyard before heading inside...

Comptoir des Mines

Marrakesh

　　Once the home of a mining corporation, this 1932 building now houses Marrakech Art Fair founder Hicham Daoudi’s latest project: a contemporary gallery. Restored to its original art deco glory, the sweeping staircases, terrazzo flooring, crystal-shaped wall sconces and furniture make this spot worth a visit in itself. Rotating art...

Lazama Synagogue

Marrakesh

　　Only a couple of synagogues in the Mellah are still used by Marrakesh's dwindling Jewish community, including this one, which doubles as an interesting museum of Jewish life in Morocco. It was originally built in 1492 by Jews expelled from Spain, but its blue-and-white interior is a much later iteration....

Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden

Marrakesh

　　Spanning 900 sq m of exhibition space across two floors, this impressive museum showcases contemporary African artwork from all corners of the continent. It's located within the Al Maaden golf resort: there's also an intriguing sculpture park interwoven with the golf course itself (visits by advanced reservation only). The garden...