A blue-painted mountain town in the Rif — small, steep and photographed to death, and still the quietest place in Morocco to spend a few days.
Free things to do
Free
The blue medina, camera out
Before 9am the lanes are yours and the light is impossible.
Free
Spanish Mosque sunset walk
Twenty minutes up; the whole blue city glows below.
© Badrbina1 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Free
Ras el-Maa and the washing place
The spring the town was built around, at the top edge of the medina — women still beat laundry on the stones, and the path above it carries on into the Rif.
Where to stay
from $14
Aline Hostel
Dorm bed · per night · Rooftop over the blue rooftops — breakfast in, Rif mountain tours out the door.
from $35
Hostal Znika
Private room · per night · Hostal Znika is a property with a familiar atmosphere in a quiet area of the medina of Chefchaouen.
from $12
Pension Souika
Dorm bed · per night
from $30
Casa Khaldi
Private room · per night
Trips that take it in
Africa · 9 days · 2 nights in Chefchaouen
The Medina Line
Marrakesh → Fes → Chefchaouen
$136
plus flights · Dec 2026 dates