Tangier,
Morocco.
Strait of Gibraltar · Northern Morocco
Tangier, Morocco
- From Marrakech
- 503 kmas the crow flies
- How long
- 2 nights
- Nearest airport
- TNGTangier Ibn Battouta (TNG)
- Best time
- April–June and September–October
Where Africa squares up to Europe — the kasbah, the ferry quay and the old international city of Bowles and Matisse, at the country's far northern tip.
Tangier sits at the very crown of Morocco, where the Atlantic spills into the Mediterranean and Spain floats on the horizon on a clear day — about as distant from Marrakech as the country stretches. Run jointly by foreign powers from 1923 to 1956, it was an international city that drew Matisse, Paul Bowles, William Burroughs and the Rolling Stones into its orbit. Now it's the polished doorway to the north, so from Marrakech most travellers fly up or arrive by ferry and use it to open a northern loop: 35 minutes from Tarifa by sea, two hours from Chefchaouen, and about three hours by road from Fes.
Where it sits
Tangier on the map.
Tangier is about 503 km north-east of Marrakech in a straight line; the road is longer. The line on the map is that straight line, not the route your driver takes.
Map: Marrakech to Tangier
- MarrakechView on OpenStreetMap
- TangierView on OpenStreetMap
- AsilahView on OpenStreetMap
- TétouanView on OpenStreetMap
- LaracheView on OpenStreetMap
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
What to see in Tangier.
Tangier medina and hillside buildings above the harbour Photo: Mike McBey, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons The Kasbah & medina
Climb from the Petit Socco to the kasbah museum inside the Dar el-Makhzen, whose terraces gaze out over the harbour to Spain across the strait.
Cap Spartel & the Hercules caves
Africa's north-western corner, marked by its lighthouse and the wave-carved sea cave whose mouth is shaped, uncannily, like a map of the continent.
Literary Tangier walk
The Hotel El Muniria where Burroughs hammered out Naked Lunch, Café Hafa where Bowles sipped mint tea above the waves, and the Librairie des Colonnes.
Trips
Tangier, the way we would plan it.
Every itinerary is private and built around your dates, with a proper stop in Tangier. Each one is priced in a written quote within 24 hours.
Tangier literary weekend
3 days
A weekend in the kasbah with a literary historian, based in a private apartment above the Petit Socco, on the trail of the city's writers and painters.
Plan your Tangier days
- Private your group in its own car
- 24 h a written quote
- Free nothing to pay to ask
Tangier, answered.
Is Tangier worth visiting?
How long do you need in Tangier?
Before you go.
- Getting there
- Ferry in from Tarifa (35 min) or Algeciras (1h), or fly straight into TNG
- Combine with
- Chefchaouen (2h south) and Fes (3h by car) to build a northern loop
Pair Tangier with.
From the journal.
Have your Tangier days planned by a local.
Tell us your dates, group size and pace. We send a written proposal within 24 hours: private guides, transfers, riads, the lot.