Where Africa and Europe gaze at each other across the Strait
Perched at the northwestern tip of Africa, Tangier sits just 14 kilometres from the European coast — the shortest crossing between Africa and Europe. For millennia this geography made it one of the most coveted ports in the ancient world, controlled in succession by Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, Portuguese, Spanish, British, and finally Moroccans.
From 1923 to 1956, Tangier was governed by an international consortium of European nations as a free city — the International Zone — a period of bohemian intrigue, espionage, and artistic flourishing. Paul Bowles settled here permanently in 1947, William S. Burroughs wrote Naked Lunch in the medina, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg visited, and the cafés of the Petit Socco became legendary gathering places for writers and artists.
Today Tangier has reinvented itself again: the Tanger-Med port is Africa's largest container terminal, the city hosts Morocco's first high-speed rail link (TGV Al-Boraq, connecting to Casablanca in 2 hours), and a new generation of boutique riads, creative studios, and cultural institutions has made it one of Morocco's most exciting urban destinations.
The dramatic headland where the Atlantic and Mediterranean meet — a visible boundary between two seas.
A vast coastal grotto with a sea opening shaped like the outline of the African continent, used by Phoenicians as millstone workshops.
A 15th-century hilltop fortress housing the Dar el-Makhzen Museum with artefacts spanning 3,000 years of Tangier history.
The legendary café square of Tangier's International Zone era — haunt of Bowles, Burroughs, Matisse, and scores of artists.
The Blue Pearl of the Rif Mountains — just 3.5 hours from Tangier, one of Morocco's most photogenic medinas.
A UNESCO World Heritage medina founded by Andalusian refugees in 1492 with a distinctly Spanish-Moorish character.
April to June and September to November are ideal. Summers are warm and breezy. Winter can be rainy but the city is dramatic in overcast Atlantic light.
6 DaysThe definitive north-to-south journey across Morocco from Tangier to Marrakech. In six days, travel from the Atlantic-facing port city with its literary legend, through the blue streets of Chefchaouen, across the Roman ruins of Volubilis, into medieval Fez, across the Saharan dunes of Merzouga, and over the High Atlas to the UNESCO kasbah of Ait Benhaddou and the Red City of Marrakech.
7 DaysThe definitive top-to-bottom Morocco journey from Tangier to Marrakech in 7 days, covering Chefchaouen, Fez, Volubilis, Meknes, Casablanca, and Essaouira.
10 DaysThe most comprehensive Morocco journey from north to south: 10 days from Tangier to Marrakech covering Chefchaouen, ancient Fez, the golden Sahara, Ait Benhaddou, and Essaouira.