Northern Morocco is one of the world’s most geographically and culturally diverse regions, concentrated into a surprisingly compact area. Within a single day’s drive from Tangier, you can move from the Mediterranean shores where Africa and Europe almost touch, through the cedar-forested peaks of the Rif Mountains, down to the Atlantic coast with its whitewashed fishing towns and rolling surf. Few regions anywhere on earth pack such variety into so little distance.
The cities themselves are as distinct as the landscapes between them. Tangier carries the cosmopolitan energy of a city that has belonged to almost every empire and resisted all of them. Chefchaouen, tucked into the Rif, is a medina that seems to exist outside of time — cool, quiet, painted in extraordinary blues. Casablanca, on the Atlantic, pulses with the ambition of a modern economic capital that refuses to abandon its extraordinary Art Deco soul. Each deserves more than a single afternoon.