
Rabat is a solid WHS worth seeing. (I visited in Feb 2025.) It's not the most amazing tourist destination compared to other cities, but it holds its own as a decent spot that I would recommend adding to your trip if you have time. Everything can easily be fit into one day with time to spare.
Some items worth experiencing are:
- The newly-reopened Chellah is fantastic with great signage, beautiful pathways, and a perfect-length audioguide that tours you through the entire thing. The Chellah is a mix between an ancient archeological site (that you can walk right into!), a beautiful garden, and a tour of more recently historical, fully-intact buildings.
- The Kasbah is the biggest attraction of the city and is an excellent little enclosed space that is preserved as an ancient "downtown" area but with modern vendors selling there. (You can also haggle there.)
- Often not talked about, but the Kasbah connects to a beautiful little lane called Rue Bazou filled with terraced white houses that feel very similiar to those in Santorini, Greece.
- The Rue Bazou will dump you out directly next to the Andalusian Gardens which are a treat, if a bit small. Very peaceful, and significantly distinct from the Chellah.
- If you have a little extra time, you won't be at all disappointed by the Rabat Old Market (Souk Tahti) which is akin to a more spacious version of the famous medina found in Fez.
🌊The last thing I should mention here are the beach jetties. I am not at all a person who is typically interested in "spending time hanging out on the beach" because I prefer to keep my schedule full of seeing historical sites or trying new experiences, but the eponymous Rabat Beach was unlike any I had been to before. It's cradled by two large jetties, one of which can be walked out along during the day and is constantly being bombarded with massive, aggressive waves that wash over the jetty.* You are almost assured to get soaked by walking down the full length unless you time your sprint just right. These waves are frankly mesmerizing, and my three relatives and I spent hours sitting at this beach during sunset watching the waves crashing, the tourists braving the ocean, the locals playing on beach, and the surfers catching some of the best surfing waves I've seen in-person. All of this took place at sunset, and I have to say, it was a bit magical. I definitely recommend taking some time to walk down to Rabat Beach (I belive also called "Al Marsa Beach"?) to look around. There is also a massive cemetery abutting it that seems to go on forever. (Pictured.)
*There is the chance that we were experiencing some freak weather conditions the day that we visited and the waves are not usually so aggressive and notable. However, I have not been back to the country since to check.
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