Road Tripping around Morocco
Have you ever thought about taking a road trip around Morocco? I have, and I did. Visiting 5 different areas in the Mid-northern part of the country all in only 8 days will affect your sleep, sure, but you’ll see so much of the country that you’ve never imagined. We stopped in Casablanca, Rabat, Fes, Chefchaouen, and Marrakech.
Our Moroccan road trip stopped in Casablanca, Rabat, Fes, Chefchaouen, and Marrakech.
The view from Riad Marhaba’s rooftop in Rabat, Morocco
Casablanca
We arrived in Casablanca super late, around 11:30 pm and it felt like a ghost town. We slept with forks and knives next to our beds. But we were still glad that we visited Casablanca because the next day we got to visit Hassan II Mosque which is the largest functioning mosque in Africa. Standing next to a Mosque that large, beautiful, and detailed definitely puts life into perspective, that we live in a world that is older, stronger, and wiser than us. Casablanca was also the first time we got to experience Tagine, which is a slow-cooked Moroccan stew. Try it as much as you can while you’re there!
Rabat
After Casablanca, we headed to Rabat which was surprisingly one of my favorite areas! The streets were so cute and it has more of a local vibe than Marrakech and feels much safer and comfortable than Casablanca. We stayed in Riad Marhaba which was also my favorite Riad during the entire trip! In Rabat, we visited the Hassan Tower plaza which includes Hassan Tower and the Mausoleum of Mohammed V. The Hassan Tower was actually supposed to be a part of a Mosque but the mosque was never built so it’s just a stand-alone tower.
After Rabat, we headed to Fez and on the way we stopped at Meknes and Vulubilis to see the historic Roman ruins, but honestly I probably would’ve skipped this part looking back. Especially with all the amazing and historic ruins in Greece and Italy, I felt like these ones (although really cool) weren’t a must-see for me.
Fes
Moving on to Fes! We stopped by the leather factory, which smelled so bad. It was cool to see that the coloring on all of their jackets and other items come from natural products, like saffron, henna, poppy flower, mint, and the list goes on. We couldn't leave without leather jackets, and I couldn’t leave without some saffron slippers, which I wore religiously when I got home. My favorite part about Fez was the ceramic factory, Art Naji, because it was a peek into the daily life of factory workers, and we got to see how talented they are. We watched people creating vases, tagines, plates, bowls, everything on a pottery wheel, and saw the entire process from start to finish, including the artists that were hand drawing such intricate details on all the ceramic products.
Chefchaouen
Morocco’s Blue City
Chefchaouen is the Moroccan version of Mykonos with all the blue walls and houses. They painted the city blue because they thought it would keep the mosquitoes away. Instead, it attracted all the tourists!
There are a lot of great photo opportunities there but my favorite was in a perfect little garden scene which is actually the front porch of someone’s house. But they do charge $ to get a photo there, it’s only like in US currency 50 cents and I don’t remember the name but I was able to find the address which is 192 Hassan 1. But honestly if you ask any local for the IG photo spot, they’ll probably know.
The central part of the city was Plaza Utah el-Hamman which has a lot of great restaurants and cafes and you also have a view of Grand Mosquee with the mountain in the background
Marrakech
El Jardin Majorelle
Our last stop in Morocco was Marrakech and my first impression of it was 1 – there are so many alleyways that look the same and 2 – locals will definitely help you with directions, but they’ll expect you give them a very generous tip, even if it’s like two doors down.
A super cool place to visit is El Jardin Majorelle, which was designed by Yves Saint Laurent. It has so many vibrant colors and is very instagrammable, for all of you looking for some good pics
My favorite part about Marrakech was experiencing the night market, Jemma El Fina Square! We had fresh pomegranate juice, delicious street food, desserts, and bought some cool items from the local vendors. Even locals were at the night market casually sitting down for dinner.
If you’re looking for a fun bar to visit, African Chic was very lively and had multiple artists singing throughout the night and we even saw the Moroccan version of Kirby Jenner there!!
Lastly, a Moroccan Hammam is like a public bathhouse where you go to clean and exfoliate your skin. They use a specific glove to exfoliate called a Kisse, which Persians are very familiar with. When going to a hammam, whether it’s friends or strangers, expect to see some naked folks.