Things to do in Tangier
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Tangier
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring is best overall, mild, green Rif hills, Akchour at full flow and terraces without August crowds.
Summer beach and festival season with sea breeze, August is peak domestic tourism and most congested.
Autumn is best for culture and value, warm sea in September, thin crowds and golden light on the Kasbah.
Winter is quietest, wettest and cheapest, good for museums and hammams, ferries and trails are weather dependent.
Late April to May and late September to October are the plain best windows if you can choose.
What's on
- Asilah Arts Festival (Moussem Culturel d'Asilah) late July into August
Month-long arts forum in Asilah, artists repaint the medina murals, with forums and concerts.
- Tanjazz Festival Usually mid to late September
Jazz festival across Tangier venues with headline concerts, free street brass, jam sessions and dance classes.
Best things to do in Tangier
Kasbah Museum (Dar el-Makhzen)
Sultan palace museum in the citadel with carved ceilings, a courtyard garden and the best Strait views.
Tangier Medina
Whitewashed lived-in old town that is navigable and calmer than Fes or Marrakech for wandering.
Petit Socco
Small cafe-ringed square in the medina where Beat writers lodged in the 1950s.
Grand Socco
Orientation square between the new city and old walls, by the Mendoubia Gardens and banyan trees.
Tangier American Legation Museum
America's first property abroad in an 1821 palace, with period rooms, maps and a Paul Bowles room.
Café Hafa
Terraced cliffside cafe from 1921 serving mint tea above the Strait, best near sunset.
Phoenician Tombs
Rock-cut tombs in an open plot beside Cafe Hafa with the same panorama over the Strait for free.
Blue Door Cuisine
Small cooking class with a souk tour, bread, tea ceremony, tagine and couscous in a home kitchen.
Where to stay in Tangier
Kasbah / Upper Medina
atmosphere, couples, repeat visitors
Highest quietest old town with palace views and rooftop terraces, but steep lanes and no cars to doors.
Medina (lower) / Petit Socco edge
first-time immersion on a budget
Inside the walls near Grand Socco and the port, lively and cheap, with noise and the most touting outside.
Ville Nouvelle / Avenue Pasteur - Place de France
first-timers, business, mobility
Flat wide boulevards, historic hotels, cafes and taxis, a short walk to the medina gate and beach.
Marshan
quiet, views, longer stays
Residential villa plateau by Cafe Hafa and the tombs with sea air, but taxis needed for most dinners.
Corniche / Malabata / Ghandouri
families, beach and pool, summer
Big resort hotels with pools and parking east along the bay, but a taxi ride from the medina each time.
Think twice about
- Beni Makada and dense inland eastern suburbs
No visitor infrastructure or sights and long taxi rides for every outing. Cheap rooms here waste the trip.
- Tanger Med port area, Ksar Seghir
A vast cargo and ferry port, not a town, with almost no accommodation or evening life and a costly taxi each way.
- Immediate Tanger Ville ferry terminal fringe late at night
Unlit lanes toward the lower medina draw persistent touting and taxi overcharging for newly arrived visitors with luggage.
- Isolated Cap Spartel / Achakar villas without a car
Beautiful but stranded, every dinner and sight needs a long pre-booked taxi. Wonderful only with a car and a cook-in plan.
Best restaurants in Tangier
Restaurant Populaire Saveur de Poisson
No-menu seafood institution serving fish soup, grilled catch, seafood stew and spiced fruit juice.
El Morocco Club
Tangier's most sophisticated dinner in a Kasbah mansion, with a piano bar and terrace over Tabor Square.
Nord-Pinus Restaurant
Short Mediterranean-Moroccan menu on the Kasbah's highest terrace, order fish of the day and salads.
Dar Harruch
Home-style Moroccan cooking in an intimate medina house, generous tagines and couscous with warm service.
Restaurant Ahlen
Honest Moroccan grills and tagines near Bab Kasbah without Kasbah terrace pricing, brisk at peak.
Kebdani
High-volume Moroccan grill and tagine stop near Bab Kasbah that locals on a break actually use.
Chez Hassan
Grill and kebab stop by Bab Kasbah for grilled meats, salads, olives and bread at honest prices.
Alma
Contemporary Mediterranean-Moroccan cafe for brunch and lunch, known for sardine croquettes and coffee.
Outdoor things to do in Tangier
Al Houara Golf Club
Championship 18 holes between protected forest and Atlantic beach, with a floodlit academy course.
Royal Golf de Tanger
Historic hilly tree-lined 18 holes minutes from the centre, a shaded walkers course with Strait views.
Royal Golf Cabo Negro
Day trip golf near Tetouan and Martil, worth it only when combined with a deliberate Tetouan day.
Perdicaris Park
Shaded pine and cork oak forest park with sea view clearings, trails and the renovated Perdicaris Villa.
Cap Spartel
Northwest tip of Africa where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean below an 1864 lighthouse.
Hercules Caves
Sea caves below Cap Spartel, quick to visit and best as part of the west coast loop, not alone.
Achakar Beach
Long Atlantic beach for swimming where locals swim, camel and horse rides, and the city's best sunset.
Merkala Beach
Small scenic beach under the Kasbah and Marshan cliffs, good for a morning swim without a taxi trip.
Best hotels in Tangier
Fairmont Tazi Palace Tangier
Restored 1920s palace in hillside gardens with pool and spa, Tangier's current luxury benchmark.
Hotel Nord-Pinus Tanger
Seven room Kasbah palace with antique furniture and a terrace looking north to Spain and south to the Rif.
Hilton Tangier Al Houara Resort & Spa
Large Atlantic resort with three pools, private beach, spa and the Al Houara golf course on site.
El Minzah Hotel
Grand dame hotel from 1930 with courtyard pool and Caid's Bar, steps from the medina and port.
Dar Nour
Book-filled Kasbah guesthouse with a panoramic roof terrace where breakfast is the ritual.
La Maison Blanche
Small owner-run Kasbah house with traditional decor, courtyard and rooftop terrace and personal service.
Dar Sultan
Small owner-run Kasbah house with traditional decor, courtyard and rooftop terrace and excellent breakfasts.
Barceló Tanger
Reliable modern chain hotel near the bay with sea views, good wifi, gym and easy taxis and parking.
Is Tangier expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | MAD 350 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | MAD 1,250 a person |
| Splurge | MAD 3,200 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Blue Door Cuisine: a few days ahead
- Al Houara Golf Club: a few days ahead
- Royal Golf de Tanger: a few days ahead
- Royal Golf Cabo Negro: a few days ahead
- Akchour Waterfalls: a few days ahead
- Fairmont Tazi Palace Tangier: weeks ahead
- Hotel Nord-Pinus Tanger: months ahead
- Hilton Tangier Al Houara Resort & Spa: weeks ahead
- Book Kasbah riads, Fairmont and Nord-Pinus weeks ahead in August and for Tanjazz, and Blue Door Cuisine days ahead.
- Book El Morocco Club weekend dinners, Al Houara tee times and Al Boraq first class on busy weekends ahead.
- Do not book generic online city tours, a licensed guide via your riad costs less and can agree no shopping stops.
Is Tangier safe?
- Petty theft is the main risk at Grand Socco, crowded medina lanes, transport hubs and beaches, violent crime is negligible.
- Have your hotel address offline on arrival, walk to a calm spot, then navigate with luggage put away.
- Dress more modestly in the medina and at religious sites, and pre-book late night transfers instead of hailing in empty streets.
- Get dirhams from bank ATMs in daylight and carry small bills, many small places and sights are cash only in dirhams.
Tangier travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Refuse free guides at the port, Grand Socco and Kasbah gate who steer you to a cousin's rug shop for commission.
- Deal directly with taxi drivers, not middlemen at stations and the port who add their own cut.
- For port seafood ask the catch, price per fish and what is included before grilling.
- Hercules Caves alone and a rushed three hour Chefchaouen stop are overrated, do the coast loop or stay overnight.
Getting around Tangier: public transport and more
- Walk the Medina, Kasbah and Ville Nouvelle triangle in flat shoes with a phone torch after dark.
- Petit taxis are blue and metered in the city, carry small notes and check the meter is reset at departure.
- Grand taxis are shared six-seat cars to Tetouan, Chefchaouen and Asilah, agree any private hire price before moving.
- Take the Tarifa to Tanger Ville ferry as a foot passenger, Algeciras ferries go to Tanger Med far east of the city.
Who Tangier suits
| Solo travellers | Great |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Tangier your trip
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