Chefchaouen is a small city in the Rif mountains in the north-west of Morocco. It is famous for its gorgeous blue alleys and blue-washed buildings. Millions of travelers visit it for its photo studio like alleys where you can take some perfect photos easily. Is it beautiful? Yes! But is it worth a visit? For me, the answer is NO or you may need to think it twice. It is located a little bit far away from major cities. From Fes, one-way bus is over FIVE hours. The town is really tiny and you can probably finish everything in 3-5 hours. And other than pretty blue alleys and buildings, I did not find too much to impress me.
The Blue Pearl of Morocco
Well, I was a little bit disappointed for my Chefchaouen visit. First, the pure return travel time I spent on this visit was over 12 hours on the bus but the town is so small that if you don’t spend 10 minutes for taking one picture, you can tour the entire town in 3-5 hours. Besides the high travel time and tour time ratio, I did not find too much to do in Chefchaouen other than just walking in the blue alleys. I only spend two days there and that was more than enough! In summary, it is a very touristic destination and very small…
But I have to admit the town is a photographer’s paradise.
Blue Alleys and Buildings
Colorful Shops in the Blue Town
Cat’s Heaven
I do not know why, but there are lots of street cats in almost every city in Morocco. In terms of life quality, I guess Chefchaouen is probably one of the best Moroccan cities for street cats. These cute creatures are everything in the blue alleys and seem to really enjoy their life while ignoring us, the human beings.
The Lookout Point at the Spanish Mosque
OK, for those outdoor activity lovers, there are some trails in the Rif mountains. Since I did not done any of the hiking trails in Chefchaouen, I could not provide further comments.
What I did was a short hike to the Spanish Mosque for an overview of the blue town. It’s easy to get to the trailhead from the town. Just exit the medina at the Eastern Gate or ask people for directions to Spanish Mosque. It hike up is about 1 mile each way and the walk up takes only 30-45 minutes.
The Spanish Mosque and the last hundred of steps.
The overview of the blue town.
Getting to Chefchaouen
Chefchaouen can be difficult to get to. As of 2020, there was no airport in Chefchaouen. So your choice is get there by bus. From north, the closest big city is Tangier. For south, Fes is the nearest city. No matter of where you start, plan for 3-5 hours one-way bus ride.
I started from Fes and the bus time is about 5 hours. The bus company is CTM.
Once you get to Chefchaouen CTM bus terminal, you are about 1 mile away from the media of Chefchaouen. I walked there. Of course, you can take a taxi to the entrance of Medina.
Food in Chefchaouen
Apparently, Chefchaouen is a popular touristic destination among Chinese. How could I tell that? By the number of Chinese restaurants inside the city.
Meal 1: Spicy Beef Noodles. Cost: 58 dhs (~ 6.5 USD)
Meal 2: Chicken Stir Fry with Rice. Cost: 83 dhs (~ 9 USD)
Ghoulal - Moroccan Snail Soup
A very common Moroccan street food. The land snails in their shell are boiled in a broth with a blend of Moroccan herb and spice. You will find people gather around a food cart in the street with a big pot of full of steaming snails.
Order it by the size of the bowl you like, small, medium and large. Eat it by your hand and a toothpick. Also you can refill your soup as many as you like.
In terms of the taste, it’s hard to say. I personally do not find it very tasty but OK to finish my medium bowl. The soup tasted like Chinese herb medicine. But I was told it is good for your health. For a medium bowl, it costed me 7 dhs (~ 0.8 USD).
Unknown Street Food
I was not sure what it was. But this food cart was just next to the snail soup and there were lots of local people around it. So I tried it as well. The taste was like egg pudding and only costed 1 hds (~ 0.15 USD) for one piece without the bread.
Log
Chefchaouen stay from March 2 to March 3, 2020.
Next Stop 1: Fes, Morocco (Bus to Fes at 13:00, Mar 3, 2020).
Next Stop 2: Merzuga, Morocco (Bus to Merzuga at 20:30, March 6, 2020)
Final Stop: Casablanca, Morocco (Bus to Casablanca at 13:00, Mar 11, 2020 )
This post was published at Phoenix on August 24, 2020.