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Chefchaouen – the blue city
If you’re visiting Morocco, you simply cannot leave without a short detour to the famous blue city, Chefchaouen. It definitely lives up to the hype and you will NOT be disappointed! If you’re coming from Marrakech or Fes then you will be pleasantly surprised by the much friendlier and chilled vibe in Chefchaouen. If you like blue and you like cats, then this is the place for you! Keep reading to find out everything you need to know the renowned blue city!
Why is it blue?
There are a few theories as to why Chefchaouen is painted all in blue:
It was painted blue by the Jews as it signified their faith to the skies (and heaven). Initially, this ostracised them in the community as their homes clearly stood out so the rest of the city did the same to help them assimilate.
Blue apparently brings the scorching temperature down a few notches
Marrakech is the red city and Fes is the yellow city…maybe Chefchaouen wanted a colour to also attract tourists…whether that’s the reason or not, it has become most tourists’ favourite destination in Morocco!
Fun fact: See those beautiful mountains in the background of this picture? They’re actually growing Marijuana. Yep, more than half of the world’s cannabis is from Morocco, mainly Chefchaouen and over 800,000 Moroccans work in the Hash industry. So don’t be alarmed when you’re walking around town and a local offers you some ‘hashish!’ On our walk up to the Spanish mosque, quite a few locals along the path would be sitting there smoking weed…or singing to their selfie sticks ‘Hasta la vista!’ for about 3 hours straight…hilarious to see!
Where is Chefchaouen?
This is a google maps screenshot of Chefchaouen. Chefchaouen is situated in the rif mountains between Fes and Tanger.
As you can see, it takes around 4 hours by bus to get there (including stops).
How to get there
The best way to get to Chefchaouen is by the CTM bus from either Fes (most popular) or Tanger. If you feel like shelling out at least 120 euros then feel free to take a taxi but the easiest, cleanest, safest and cheapest option (by far!) is the CTM bus. Don’t be nervous about taking a bus in a foreign country, most of the bus passengers were travellers anyway. The bus costs less than $10 and stops along the way for lunch.
We stayed in Fes for a night then caught the CTM bus in the morning. The bus leaves 4 times a day: at 8am, 11am, 1pm and 4pm and takes about 4 hours. Make sure you arrive at the CTM bus station half an hour before your bus leaves to check in any luggage you want stored under the bus. There’s a café at the bus station so you can enjoy a mint tea before boarding.
Another option is to hire a car but we met a German couple in Fes who did that and although it provides some freedom, westerners are stopped so many times on the roads by traffic officials and they’re even stricter with speeding fines, not to mention all the road works to meander through.
Getting there from Casablanca:
5 hour train to Fes > 4 hour bus to Chefchaouen (I’d recommend breaking this up across a few days!)
Getting there from Marrakech:
Fly to Fes or Tanger > 4 hour bus to Chefchaouen (unless you want to spend 12 hours on a bus…)
Getting there from the Sahara desert:
Get your tour operator to organise your tour to finish in Fes > 4 hour bus to Chefchaouen
What to do when you arrive
When you arrive in Chefchaouen, you’re not suddenly in the middle of the city. You have to take a taxi which is less than 10 minutes to the centre of town. The good thing about Chefchaouen is that the locals don’t try and rip you off like they do in Marrakech or Fes. Everyone is super nice and offer you the local price, which doesn’t change if you are a tourist (hooray!). Make sure you choose a ‘petit taxi’ which is blue, of course, and it should cost you 15-30Dh ($1.50-3).
Getting to your hotel / air bnb
If you’re not staying in a hotel, as long as you have the phone number or house number and address of your air bnb, the taxi driver should be able to find it. We only had the name of the air bnb, which was super unhelpful and we had half the street helping us find the place. We’d actually walked past the house about 20 times and it was only when I remembered his name from the booking, ‘Youssef’, everyone shouted ‘Ohhh Youssef! His place is right here’…because of course, it’s such a small town that everyone knows everyone!
Purchasing your bus ticket
Due to lack of internet connection, we were unable to purchase our bus ticket online the day before. Let’s just say that our rushed itinerary, limited time in Fes and the fact that the buses fill up quickly left us in quite a panic! If you’re also short on time and don’t have a chance to purchase your tickets online the day before, just head to the local CTM bus station in Fes or Tanger, whichever city you’re departing from, and ask for a bus ticket to Chefchaouen. Just don’t leave it to the last minute, go as early as you can!
Luckily, our riad host in Fes was super helpful and took us to the local shop to buy our CTM bus ticket for the next day to Chefchaouen. Unfortunately, the 8am bus was already full so we went for the 11am, still leaving enough time to watch the sun set over the blue city once we arrived.
The best option is to purchase your CTM bus ticket online. Unfortunately, you are unable to purchase your tickets 2 or 3 weeks in advance… sorry super organised peeps! The earliest you can buy your ticket is 72 hours in advance using the ctm website: ctm.ma. They cost about 85dh ($8.50) with an extra 5dh per luggage bag.
If you’re only staying in Chefchaouen for one night and expecting to catch the CTM bus back to Fes or Tanger the following day, don’t forget to purchase your return ticket as SOON AS YOU ARRIVE in Chefchaouen! We were so exhausted from the 4 hour bus trip that we headed straight to our accommodation in Chefchaouen and totally forgot to buy our return ticket for the next day and they were ALL SOLD OUT! Luckily, we found another bus company but ended up wasting 2 hours waiting for the bus to arrive as it had broken down and then the journey took 5 hours…CTM is definitely the way to go!
How many days do you need?
We stayed for 2 days and 1 night and that was plenty. We met travellers who were planning on visiting Chefchaouen on a day trip from Fes! The bus trip is 4 hours ONE WAY. Do you really want to be spending 8 hours on a bus in the same day?! You’ll barely have any time to see anything before you’re on the bus back to Fes! Plus the buses only run 4 times a day…
As Chefchaouen is quite a small city, you can get to all the main places by walking or taking a 5-10 minute taxi. The good thing about Chefchaouen is that the taxis are much cheaper than those in Marrakech of Fes. Scroll down to see how Chefchaouen compares to other cities to set your expectations right!
Top places to see
There isn’t really a lot to do in Chefchaouen apart from taking photos and stroking cats so you can do everything in a day. The top things to do include:
Spanish mosque
The Spanish mosque offers the BEST view of the blue city and I highly recommend going up to watch the sunset as it is jaw-dropping.
Get a taxi to drop you off at Bab Al Ansar, which is the medina’s east gate (the Spanish mosque is located to the right of the medina so you can walk through town to get back to your accommodation afterwards). The trail begins with a series of steps then ambles past prickly pears and spiky cacti (and locals high on weed!) all the way up to the ruin.
There are a bunch of photo ops along the way if you don’t want all the tourists in your pics, who are at the top! With that said, the towering rif mountains and pink sunset against the 50 shades of blue make it seem like you’re in a post card!
Souvenir or rug shopping
On your way back down the trail, you can head straight into the east gate of the medina rather than hanging a left to the road. You will pass a row of souvenirs laid out as you walk through. As my daddy always told me, never buy the first one you see as there will be plenty more further into the medina with much cheaper prices! They sell the cutest hand-made magnets that resemble the signature blue doors of the blue city and open up to reveal a picture of the town.
Oh yeah, there was also an ostrich at the entrance to the medina…we have no idea why…
Get lost
As they say, the best way to explore a city is to get lost! Well, getting lost is almost guaranteed as you meander through all the blue alleyways. The numerous shades of blue confuse you and the hundreds of cats distract you! Many of the alleyways lead up to a bunch of stairs, which lead to more alleyways and the whole city is a maze of blue alleys!
If you ask me where to find the Instagram hot spots, I’d say the WHOLE CITY is an Instagrammer’s dream. Just get lost and you’ll find yourself in yet another perfect photo opportunity! It’s almost as if the cats are posing for the gram…
Kasbah
The centre of the medina opens up into a square centred around a pretty fountain and surrounded by restaurants. Here you will find the Kasbah, which is essentially the town’s citadel. You have to pay to go inside so we passed but worth a visit if you’ve got the time and money!
Where to stay?
Chefchaouen has a bunch of air bnbs and staying in a local house gives you the best impression of what it’s like to live in such a cute blue city!
We stayed at Casa a chauen, which was right in the centre of where you’d want to be, close to (but not too close) the shops and in and amongst all the photogenic doorways and paths – so the perfect location. It was $39 USD for the night and included our very own living room & tv (with international movie channel!), our bedroom with a queen bed and extra single bed (so ideal for 2 or 3 guests) and a bathroom, not to mention the HUGE breakfast, served by the CUTEST little old lady in front of an EPIC blue view! Let’s just say we stayed in the best air bnb there was.
When you ask anyone who has been to Chefchaouen, you’ll find that the Blue Pearl is the most popular option when it comes to accommodation and yes, while it has it’s very own photo shoot set up, Casa a chauen is cheaper and offers all you need! After all, you’re there for the view!
How does Chefchaouen compare to Marrakech or Fes?
Coming from Marrakech then Fes, we were pleasantly surprised by the contrast in attitudes, behaviour, mood and overall atmosphere of Chefchaouen.
As Chefchaouen was the final stop in our Morocco tour, we had learnt (the hard way) to be firm and guarded in our approach when dealing with Moroccan taxi drivers and people in the street who would pretend to ‘help’ us and always end up trying to scam us.
In contrast, Chefchaouen had a completely different vibe. No one chased you down the street trying to sell you things; the streets weren’t packed with aggressive street vendors and kids who would try and lead you the wrong way; no one tried to scam or deceive us. Instead, there was a super chilled and relaxed vibe about the town; much less busy and you could actually walk with your own personal space (without being run over by a horse and carriage like in Marrakech); people left you alone; when you looked lost, locals would try and help you in a kind and friendly way out of the goodness of their hearts and NOT ASK FOR MONEY!
One guy even took us into town to buy our CTM bus ticket and when it was sold out, he put us in a taxi and translated to the taxi driver to take us back to the bus station to get our tickets.
Chefchaouen was our favourite city in Morocco not just because of the stunning views and hundreds of cute cats but it was a lazy town with friendly people.
So, I hope I’ve convinced you to escape the craziness of Marrakech and Fes and retreat to the cutest city ever for a couple of days, you won’t regret it! In fact, you’ll probably find it to be the best part of your trip, as we did!
