For more details about individual destinations throughout Morocco, please visit the Destinations page.
At the point where the Atlantic Coast of Morocco meets the Mediterranean Sea, the beguiling port city of Tangier dips its toes into the water. This marks the most northerly point for our Morocco adventure tours, sitting just a tempting 30 kilometres distance from Spain and the rock of Gibraltar. Tangier can be reached by sea ferry from Algeciras or Tarifa and this makes it a great starting point for travels in Morocco when combined with a European road-tour. The gateway to Africa is so near, yet a world apart from Europe. The once rather shady city of Tangier, which has attracted great artists and creative thinkers over the past century, has been given a make-over and offers many attractions, cafés, galleries, bookshops and interesting historic sights to explore within its old medina and new city districts. To the west of Tangier the coastline drops away south to merge with our Atlantic Coast region at Asilah, but not before reaching such popular local sights as the Cape Spartel promontory and the Caves of Hercules where local legend says that the ancient Greek god Hercules slept the night before his 11th labour – that of collecting golden apples from the nearby Hesperides garden at Lixus. Some ancient relics from Lixus can also be seen in the Archaeology Museum at Tetouan, to the east of Tangiers at the foot of the Rif. Dominating the landscape and climate of northern Morocco are the Rif Mountains, which arc within Morocco from Tangiers at their western end to Nador in the east. They do not form part of the Atlas Mountains ranges, but are geologically part of the Baetic range that continues to the rock of Gibraltar and the Iberian Pensinsula. The Rif has been relatively unexploited or explored by the tourism industry and has beautiful fertile countryside, villages and valleys to discover. The best known of these is the pretty ‘blue medina’ of Chefchaouen, nestled in the Rif Mountains about 5 hours’ drive north of Fes. Within our Northern Morocco & Rif geographic region we also include the Hispano-Moorish town of Tetouan, the natural beauty spots of Akchour Waterfalls and God’s Bridge near Chefchaouen in the Talassemtane National Park. South of the Rif, we encounter fertile plains busy with agricultural activity and the heart of Morocco’s wine growing region. Here we include the Imperial Cities of Fes, Meknes and Rabat, the holy shrine of Moulay Idriss and Morocco’s most important archaeological site, the Roman ruins of Volubilis. On the Atlantic coast at Rabat, our Northern Morocco territory intersects with out Atlantic Coast of Morocco region where the up-and-coming artsy, fishing village of Asilah completes our Northern Morocco and Rif circuit.
The Northern Morocco and Rif is ideal for year-round exploration and we have chosen a number of charming riads, boutique guesthouses and classic hotels for our clients ranging from 3-star to luxury 5-star throughout this region.
Click here to see our suggested tours of Northern Morocco and the Rif Mountains.