Tangier, Morocco, is a popular tourist destination, but there are plenty of places that are still well off the beaten path.
Make sure to check out these places to eat, see, and walk on your Tangier’s visit.
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Salon Bleu
A visit to Tangier wouldn’t be complete without a walk through the Medina, the ancient part of the city that was once enclosed by a six foot thick stone wall.
You can see parts of the old wall once you work your way up the labyrinthine streets to a plaza in front of the Kasbah museum.
You’ll also find Salon Bleu, a charming café that overlooks the port and the thousands of terraces of Tangier.
Serving coffee, tea, and pastries as well as traditional Moroccan dishes with a modern flair, Salon Bleu is a lovely place to take in the views and the flavors of the city.
It’s located in a converted medina house, giving you the option to sit on the terrace or in one of the cozy rooms below.
The tiny place can get crowded, especially during the summer, so make a reservation if you’re set on eating there. It’s worth it.
Le Saveur du Poisson
Ask a Tanjawi what their favorite food is, and you’re likely to get a similar answer from many: fish.
Tangier is perfectly positioned at the meeting point between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, and its inhabitants take full advantage of the abundant seafood.
Grilled sardines, shrimp tajines, deep-fried squid, fish soup – it’s all delicious, and Le Saveur du Poisson is one of the best at serving up multi-course lunches and dinners with the city’s freshest fish.
The set menu includes a starter of fish soup, followed by your choice of charcoal grilled fish, skewers, and fried shrimp and squid. Dessert includes seasonal fruit or barley with honey.
At 200 dirham per person, it’s a little pricey by Moroccan standards and an absolute steal compared to European menus.
The atmosphere is warm and intimate – it seats no more than 25 in a room covered in decorative tiles and paintings and accented with traditional clay cups and baskets.
Le Saveur du Poisson is just off one of the main streets in Tangier, but somehow makes you feel like you’ve stepped back in time and out of the city.
Restaurant Bachir
Just two blocks off the grand Avenue Pasteur but way off the tourist track, Restaurant Bachir serves traditional staples like creamy bisara (fava bean soup), succulent grilled skewers of beef, liver, and chicken, ground beef cooked in a flavorful tomato sauce, savory lentil stew, chicken tajine with olives, and crispy fried fish.
It’s open late and always busy, full of locals grabbing a meal or a quick snack.
White-shirted waiters race back and forth to deliver piping hot clay bowls of soup that arrive at the table still bubbling.
Despite the hubbub, the wait staff are always friendly and turnover is high, so if it’s full when you arrive you’ll only have to wait a few minutes before a new table opens up and is quickly covered with fresh paper and a basket of bread.
You won’t find a better deal, either: most entrées range from $1-3 (10-30dh).
St. Andrew’s Church Garden
Tucked into the corner of a large block between busy street in the Tangier city center is St. Andrew’s English Church, built in 1894 on land donated by King Hassan I, and still offering weekly services.
The small church is surrounded by a lovely walled garden and cemetery with graves of several WWII airmen who died in combat, as well as ex-pats who spent their final years in Tangier.
The church is located just up a narrow street from the Grand Socco. Facing the Cinematheque, a large café in the Grand Socco, walk to your right.
There are two streets, one lined with electronic and motorcycle repair stalls, and the other, up the flight of stairs, lined with traditional shoe vendors.
Both lead to the intersection where the church sits, behind a whitewashed wall. Also at this intersection is Grand Hotel Villa de France, where the painter Henri Matisse spent several years.
Rue Mexique
Rue Mexique runs parallel to the main boulevard for several blocks, beginning in the Iberia area. It is packed with shops and street vendors selling clothes, scarves, perfume, electronics, beauty products, and shoes, as well as bakeries, restaurants, and juice bars.
It’s fun to walk down this street in the evenings, when it’s full of locals shopping and relaxing. Given its proximity to the center city, it’s surprisingly not touristy, catering to everyday shopping and dining needs rather than souvenirs and the like.
Particularly recommended are the ice cream at café/restaurant Pistache, patisserie and boulangerie Florida, and the multiple juice and snack shops along the street, all advertised by large bunches of fruit hanging in front of the windows.
Scarves on display at one of Rue Mexique’s many street vendors
Rue Mexique, Tangier
Parallel to Rue Belgique from Iberia to Avenue Pasteur
Café de Paris
Tangier is famous for its hundreds of cafés, where many an evening has been spent sipping sweet mint tea or milky coffee and watching the night unfold.
The city is also well known for its vibrant ex-pat community of artists and writers, and the Café de Paris was a favorite of Paul Bowles, an American writer who spend over 50 years in Tangier.
The large café, situated on one of the busiest intersections in the city, is the perfect place to relax and soak up the true Tanjawi culture.
Bringing a snack to accompany your tea is welcomed, so stop by the bustling bakery Al Andalous next door for traditional Moroccan cookies, crispy palmiers, or a creamy custard filled croissant.
Corniche Walk
Heading east from the port brings you to the Corniche, a long, winding boulevard that hugs the waterfront below the old city.
The wide paved path offers comfortable walking and beautiful views of the coastline, and across the road you can see sheep and goats grazing on the grassy hill that slopes down from the Kasbah and Marshan neighborhoods.
In the spring, it’s a riot of pink, purple, and yellow wildflowers blooming against a vibrant green backdrop.
You can turn around and head back towards the center city by way of the port, or continue along the path as it turns away from the coast and back into the city. Catch a taxi or ask for “Centre Ville” or “Boulevard” and people will point you in the right direction.
Parc Rmilate
Park Rmilate is a large wooded park laced with walking paths overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The stunning coastal views and relaxing arboreal surroundings make this park very popular with locals.
On weekends, it’s full of couples, groups of friends, and families with kids walking along the paths or picnicking in the grass. As with any other popular spot, there are small restaurants serving mint tea, bisara, and simple grilled meat and fish.
How to Get There:
You can take the small teal green taxis or large tan taxis to the Rmilate stop, which is right outside the park. You can flag down a small taxi almost anywhere. The large taxis are shared, and operate like mini-buses.
They run to Rmilate from a stop near the Iberia roundabout, on the side of the Grande Mosque. Ask for Rmilate.
The view of the Mediterranean Sea from Rmilate
Ashakar
Tangier is edged with beaches of many kinds – wide, narrow, flat, sandy, big, small, calm, rough – and nearly all of them are packed on weekends during the warm summer months.
They tend to be less crowded during the rest of the year and on weekdays, so plan your visit accordingly.
Ashakar is a long string of beaches on the Atlantic side of Tangier, about 20 minutes out of the city center.
Most are wide, flat, and sandy, perfect for swimming and walking, and some are narrower strips of sand backed by rocky cliffs with a much more private feel.
Nearly all have cafés serving mint tea and grilled fish, and the largest has shower and changing facilities.
Far in the distance, you’ll see tiny fishing boats bobbing out to sea for the night, glowing cruise chips, and slow moving cargo vessels bound for Mediterranean ports.
How to get there:
You can get there with the small (teal green) or large (tan or camo green) taxis. You can flag down a small taxi almost anywhere.
The large taxis are shared, and operate like mini-buses. They run to Ashakar from the taxi stand behind the large mosque at Iberia.
Ask for directions to Iberia, then for the taxi to Ashakar. You can pick them up on the way back at Plage Sol and near Grotte d’Hercule (Hercules’ Cave), and sometimes in between in they have a place free.
A summer afternoon at Plage Sol
