What to see in Tangiers

The owner of La Maison Blanche, Aziz Begdouri, is a highly experienced and professional guide who can show guests around his native city. Aziz can also explain about everything from local customs and dress, to Islamic religious practices.

Some of the highlights of a walk around Tangiers are:

  • Exploring the Kasbah (fortified part of the old city), with its historic walls, beautiful carved doors and archways, and characterful palaces
  • Visiting a tile-making studio and a neighbourhood bakery
  • Eating a traditional Moroccan meal in an authentic restaurant
  • Seeing locations for the movie, the Bourne Ultimatum
  • Walking around the bustling souk (market) and seeing local fruit and vegetables on sale. Good buys include ceramics, lamps, and leather goods; don’t miss the famous colourful, photogenic spices, or gold and silver coffees, stopping for a coffee in atmospheric Petit Socco square. On Thursdays and Sundays the Berber market takes place, when women from this nomadic north African tribe bring their fresh produce into the city to sell
  • Escaping from the hubbub in the garden of St Andrew’s, an Anglican church from 1888
    • Taking in a movie at the Cinematheque on the Grand Socco
    • Learning about the golden days of the International Zone at the Old American Legation Museum, with photos of such literary greats as Paul Bowles, Tennessee Williams, William S Burroughs, Truman Capote and Noel Coward

You can also venture further afield – a short drive outside the city you can see

  • Upscale residences in the hillside “California of Tangiers”, including royal palaces of the King and his mother, and the governor
  • The cave of Hercules – a large seaside cavern whose walls are covered with interesting shapes and indentations. According to legend, the Greek god rested here after separating the African and European continents
  • Unspoiled Atlantic beaches
  • The point where the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean sea meet