Tours in Tangier

Tangier looks at Spain. The strait is 14 km across at its narrowest, and on a clear morning the Spanish hills are plainly there. The city climbs from the port in tiers. Kasbah on top, medina below it, the new town spreading south.

From 1923 to 1956 this was an international zone run by several powers at once. That left it with smugglers, spies, tax exiles and a literary crowd. The reputation outlived the arrangement. What is here now is calmer: a rebuilt seafront and a working fishing port.

Most of what visitors see falls into two clusters, one in town and one out on the headland.

• The Kasbah — the old sultan's palace, now a museum, with a terrace over the water.
• The medina — small by Moroccan standards, walkable in an afternoon, far less relentless than Fes.
• The Grand Socco — the hinge between old town and new, the market and the Cinema Rif.
• The American Legation — a museum in the medina, the only United States landmark on foreign soil.
• Café Hafa — terraces cut into the cliff, mint tea, Spain on the horizon.
• Cap Spartel — the lighthouse west of town, on the corner where the Atlantic turns into the strait.
• Caves of Hercules — next door, where the sea opening happens to be shaped like Africa.

The day trips from Tangier are why many people stay a night. Chefchaouen, the blue town up in the Rif, is two hours each way, which makes a long day and a better overnight. Tetouan and its walled medina sit an hour east. Asilah is forty-five minutes south.

A lot of visits here are short. Cruise ships and the Tarifa ferry both land people for a few hours. The standard answer is a four-hour loop: kasbah, cape, caves, a camel on the beach, gangway. A full day buys the medina without a stopwatch.

Practical

• Crossing from Spain. The fast boat from Tarifa takes an hour and docks in the city itself. Ferries from Algeciras land at Tanger Med, 45 km east.
• Weather. This is the wet corner of Morocco. Winter brings rain and hard wind off the strait, while summer stays in the twenties and never bakes.
• Clocks. Morocco moves its clock for Ramadan and back afterwards, so a ferry timetable and a phone can disagree by an hour.
• Languages. Spanish is as useful as French here, and English is common near the port.
• Cheap tours. A low price is paid for in carpet and pharmacy stops. Tours advertised as no-shopping cost more and are worth it.
• Taxis. Petit taxis are blue and metered, except on ship days, when drivers quote a flat price instead.
• Lunch. The catch lands at the port in the morning and is grilled behind the Grand Socco by one.