Everything in the medina is five or ten minutes on foot; most of Rabat’s sights are within fifteen. Here is the walk we send our guests on, and what lies further.
The medina on foot
01 · medina · 5–10 min on foot
Rue Souika
The medina’s main shopping street, lined with small shops where the R’batis — the people of Rabat — do their own shopping. Buy your spices here.
02 · medina · 5–10 min on foot
Rue des Consuls
The crafts street: leather, jewellery, painting and calligraphy, carved wood, carpets, fabrics and embroidery — the presents you take home. Antique shops sit just below it.
Leave the medina by any gate, follow the ramparts to the white-and-blue houses of the Oudayas, and keep the ritual: mint tea at the Café Maure above the Bouregreg estuary. From the esplanade: the ocean, the jetties, Rabat beach and its surfers.
Walk along the river, with cafés and restaurants facing the Salé marina. Salé, Rabat’s twin city, is a tram ride away and has an authentic medina of its own.
Rabat and beyond
01 · 2.1 km
Hassan Tower & Mohammed V Mausoleum
Avenue Mohammed V, 50 m from the house, takes you into the heart of Rabat — clean, airy, calm. The Mausoleum and Hassan Tower, the Royal Palace and the Chellah necropolis are all within reach.
See the kilns and the potters at work. The house’s traditional tableware comes from here, as do some of its carpets and most of its copper lamps and basins.
03 · Rabat beach 1.3 km
Beaches
South: Temara, Skhirat, Bouznika. North: the Plage des Nations, beautiful and still wild.
04 · Royal Golf de Rabat · 20 min by car
Golf, tennis, riding
The Royal Golf de Rabat is twenty minutes away by car; tennis and riding at many clubs.
By road from Rabat
Meknes1 h 30
Tangier2 h
Fez2 h
El Jadida2 h
Marrakech3 h
Oualidia3 h
Essaouira4 h
Agadir4 h
Rabat sits at the heart of Morocco’s motorway network. The limit is 120 km/h, and speed cameras are frequent.
