CityBest March – May, October – November

Chefchaouen

A mountain town painted blue from the ground up, best seen early before the day-trip buses from Fes and Tangier arrive.

The blue isn't a gimmick added for photos — it dates back to the 1930s and gets repainted by residents every year. Stay the night and the town is a different place once the tour groups clear out, quiet enough to hear the Rif mountains around it.

Photo: Badr Rachadi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Where to stay in Chefchaouen

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Part of

Walled towns

The Best Walled Towns and Cities

Ten places still inside their walls — the only fortified city north of Mexico, Marrakech's 12th-century red ramparts, and a Greek village whose houses are the wall.