Honestly, I’m not sure where to even start with this post. Our time visiting Morocco’s Blue City was far, far from anything we’ve ever imagined it to be. It was blue and really pretty, but that’s about where the dreamland stopped. Visiting Chefchaouen was more of a nightmare.
After our quick, ye eventful time in Fez, we were so happy to be on the bus just watching the orange trees pass by.. yes, loads and loads of orange tree groves! The drive was beautiful! The craziness of Fez was fading in the rearview mirror as our dreams of visiting the iconic Blue City of Morocco were getting closer.
Watch our Chefchaouen video here…
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What The Heck Is The Blue City
Chefchaouen blue city is a town up in the Riff Mountains in the northern part of Morocco. There are two main reasons people visit Chefchaouen.. One, the amount of “hash” (marijuana) you can get in the area because it’s grown right in the Riff Mountains, and two… the blueness of Chefchaouen.
Traveler’s Tip… We don’t do marijuana, so we can’t speak from experience, but we’ve heard horror stories about using it in Chefchaouen. If the hash is what’s drawing you to Chefchaouen just use caution with it all. Be forewarned, you’ll be offered it SO MANY TIMES, and if you’re not interested, just saying, “No, thank you” doesn’t really cut it. You have to tell the person offering it that you do not smoke, and then if you’re lucky, they’ll leave you at that!
The town, and even surrounding area as a whole, really is truly mostly blue. You can tell you’re getting closer to Chefchaouen when tires, tables, chairs, and houses begin being blue… like literally, all along the road! But the “Blue City” of Morocco is really found when entering the medina of Chefchaouen.
Literally, everything is painted blue! Layers and layers of blue can be found where paint is chipping along the walls, alleyways that have the ground painted are around every corner, and doors, tables, chairs – you name it… it’s all painted in some shade of blue!
Arriving To Chefchaouen
Walking through the medina to our AirBnB, we both couldn’t believe how blue the blue city actually was. I mean, yes… we had seen so many pictures of the blue city, but most of them being over-edited, we didn’t think it could really be that blue! But man, it really was!!
Traveler’s Tip… There are cabs waiting at the bus station to give people lifts into the medina, but you should walk instead! It’s a pretty steep hill, but it will give you the chance to see how the locals in the area live!
After traveling for the past 24 hours from Merzouga we desperately need to clean up. We showered and were out the door in no time though, making our way to the central area of Chefchaouen Blue City to grab some dinner, before calling it an early night.
Traveler’s Tip… Meals in Chefchaouen are not actually too expensive, which we found really interesting with how touristy and far away from anything the city actually is. You can eat for less than 5 USD per person including an appetizer, main, and bread!
Is The Blue City Really Worth The Journey?
Our plan was to spend three nights in the Blue City. We were going to just wander around the streets the first day, buy some produce from the local market, and possibly walk up to the viewpoint for sunset.
Walking out of our AirBnB, we quickly noticed things were MUCH more touristy than they had been upon our arrival. Not sure if it was because of the timing or what, but shoot, the “streets” were covered with tourist gimmicks left and right, and there was hardly any room to walk through the alleyways.
We quickly discovered the Blue City wasn’t really what we had envisioned it to be. With how touristy the streets were, we had to get away. So we tried to escape it all by walking down the side alleys that didn’t have souvenir shops falling out of every open door and window.
Within the medina, all the streets are blue. Try and find your own picturesque alleyway instead of the picture you see on every magnet and postcard of Chefchaouen.
We began to get a sense of romance wandering through the alleyways. It really was a beautiful place — once we found how to get away from the tourist shops!
Escaping The Tourism Of The Chefchaouen Blue City
Though, honestly, we can’t say that we actually enjoyed walking through the medina. Although we had begun to feel a sense of romance wandering through the side alleyways, there were still just too many tourists trying to get the “perfect shot”. We couldn’t handle it and had to get away!
Knowing that outside the medina the streets weren’t entirely blue, we thought we could escape the tourism by getting anywhere outside this area. We stumbled across a local café, and knew this was the place for us.. the only problem was women are typically not seen in Moroccan cafes.
Jay asked the worker if it was okay that we had a coffee outside, and he let us both sit there enjoying our “café con leche”… yes, the common language between us was Spanish! The strangest thing!
We sat for a few hours, drinking not one, but two cups of coffee each, getting the stare down from some locals and friendly smiles from others, and in the end, just really enjoying our time. Assuming the local market wouldn’t be open for much longer, after finishing our coffee, we made our way to the main square and grabbed some produce for the upcoming days.
Traveler’s Tip… Staying at an AirBnB with a kitchen can save you some serious money on food. While it’s not too expensive going out to eat, you can buy produce/eggs for a couple days for under 2 USD! Definitely the way to eat healthier and stay on a budget!
Chefchaouen Gone Bad
Getting back to our accommodation, Jay was really beat. He wanted nothing more than to just snuggle up in bed, and relax until we were going to start making dinner. With a few more days left in the blue city, we decided, why not just relax for a bit.. no need seeing everything in one day!
After about an hour watching our favorite shows on Amazon, Outlander, Jay had the chills and just couldn’t get warm. Literally, nothing we did would shake his chills, so he jumped in the shower to try and warm up.
And that’s when he noticed it.
He had some sort of infection on his leg, it was really swollen and red. Jay had a temperature of 104F and an elevated heart rate causing more and more concern with how bad this infection really was. But could it have gotten that bad so quickly?
We talked to one of our nurse friends, who phoned a few of her nursing and doctor friends, and they all agreed we needed to get Jay straight to the ER. However, we were in a village in the middle of the Riff Mountains, Jay was on medication that could react really badly if given the wrong meds for the infection, and we didn’t speak a lick of Arabic to communicate these worries, so we had no other option but to head back to the U.K.
After what seemed like hours, we were on our way to the airport and waiting at A&E (the UK’s ER) to be seen. With a bit of antibiotics, an x-ray, and a few doctor’s appointments later – we’ve recovered from the biggest scare we’ve ever had while traveling.
How To Get To Chefchaouen
Leaving Chefchaouen so rapidly came with the realization at how far, yet close the Blue City is to major cities in Morocco. We took the long way to get to Chefchaouen, and the quickest way out, and both have their good and bad sides to them!
Chefchaouen is in the Riff Mountains, so accessing the Blue City means that you’ll be winding up and down mountain roads for quite some time. If you get car sick, prepare yourself for the trip.
Getting To Chefchaouen From Fez
From Fez, Chefchaouen is a 4-6 hour bus ride through orange tree groves and windy roads. A few people on our bus were feeling quite sick during this drive, so if you get car sick, taking this longer route may not be worth the ride! You do stop for a snack break, but we recommend bringing your own food and drinks for the ride!
You can look for CTM times and book a ticket here, or go to the CTM bus station, or main bus station a day before you leave, and book a ticket in person. If you book online, you can rack up the card points, so we suggest doing using that option!
Getting To Chefchaouen From Tangier
Tangier is a city in the very north of Morocco and is the closest place to fly into if wanting to visit the Blue City of Morocco. CTM offers a route from Tangier (Tanger) to Chefchaouen, that’s a bit shorter than from Fez to Chefchaouen. You can also take a local bus if you don’t have luggage with you, though obviously this will stop more frequently, and will not be as nice of a ride.
Alternatively, if you are in a pickle, you can take a cab from Tangier airport to Chefchaouen. Because we were in an emergency situation and had to get to the airport in the middle of the night, we took a cab from Chefchaouen to Tangier, and though it was a 2-hour taxi ride, it was relatively cheap at under 90 USD total. Obviously, we recommend the bus, as the bus is under 10 USD per person!
Enjoy your trip to Chefchaouen blue city! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. And do share your stories of visiting Chefchaouen with us, as we had to make a quick escape and didn’t get to take the place in as much as we would have liked.
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Recommended Gear For Visiting Chefchaouen Blue City
Travel Bag
We always travel with this backpack. It doesn’t really look like a backpacker’s bag, has so many compartments to store and hide your belongings, and the zippers can connect, making it difficult for someone to just unzip the bag while you’re walking around.
Camera Set Up
All photos in this post were taken with this camera using mainly this lens, and occasionally this one. You can check out a full list of our camera gear here.
Water Bottle
It’s actually safe to drink the water in Morocco, though you can buy water for extremely cheap prices if you buy the big bottles, and it tastes a bit better. Buying a big bottle and then refilling this water bottle each time you leave your accommodation will save you some cash!
And the best part is, this bottle keeps liquids cold for 24 hours and hot for 6 hours – so your water will stay cold all day, or you could fill it with hot Moroccan tea to go!
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