Rabat

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.

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The Moroccan capital Rabat is a pleasant and neat city, that is large and varied enough to warrant at least half a day’s visit. Its overall feel is fairly modern, but not as harsh as Casablanca, and – as stated in its OUV - the 20th-century French town planners handled it with respect for the existing heritage. I walked its streets in a loop of about 11km: railway station – Medina – Kasbah – city walls - Hassan Tower – railway station. I skipped the Chellah (much further away) which I knew was closed for renovations, and also the Habous neighbourhood which seemed not to be worth a detour being a normal residential area with modernist influences.

I arrived by train from Casablanca, and then immediately found myself in the early 20th-century Ville Nouvelle. Notable buildings along Boulevard Mohammed V include the Post Office (photo top left) and the Railway Station. There’s lots of greenery as well, the roads are lined with palm trees.

Because I visited on a Friday morning, the Medina was deserted. That was an excellent opportunity to get some unobstructed pictures of the wooden balconies of the shops (photo top right).

The Kasbah is a major landmark of the city, but I found it a bit disappointing. The gate Bab Oudaya is said to be one of Maghreb’s most outstanding, however, the decorations did not hold my attention for long. I did enjoy the Andalusian gardens next door, hidden behind a wall (photo …

WHS#44

Rabat was one of the most memorable short city visits I made in my trip to Europe and Morocco in May 2017. My family and I took a side trip from Spain to see Marrakesh, so we made our way to Tarifa, took the ferry to Tangier, and managed to strike a deal with a taxi driver to take us to Rabat. After driving by the "King's palace" and the famous Hassan Tower, he dropped us at a hotel, where we decided, due to our very small time budget, to take the night train to Marrakesh instead of staying the night. My family was content to laze around at the train station while waiting for the time, but I sure wasn't. I wasn't gonna have this WHS slip completely through my fingers. With the very little time I had, I decided to visit the one place I had wanted to the most: the Kasbah of the Udayas. Before the tight schedule had been implemented on Morocco, I had planned to visit Chefchaouen, so when I saw pictures of the Kasbah in Rabat, I figured it would be quite similar, with its picturesque old lanes covered in blue. Obviously, I can't say if it actually was similar, but it was a great experience. Just riding that taxi was a great experience in itself, with our talkative taxi driver pointing out another, much less convincing "King's palace."

While I imagined Chefchaouen to be like an idyllic fantasy, the Kasbah …

I visited this WHS in April 2018. I used it as my base to cover another 2 WHS along the Atlantic Coast together with Casablanca tWHS before heading towards Tetouan.

I felt that unlike the other medina WHS in Morocco, Rabat's OUV lies more in a series of separate outstanding buildings which help to understand the evolution of Rabat from "historic times" to nowadays. My hotel was situated right next to the Oudaias Kasbah which is best enjoyed at sunset. Sunrise over the neverending hills of tombs leading down to the coast, just behind the kasbah, is very worthwhile if you have time. After sunrise another view worth your time is the view of the kasbah and medina from the right bank of the Bou Regreg river in Salé.

Apart from the medina itself, the true highlights during my visit were the unfinished Hassan Tower juxtaposed with the modern Mausoleum of Mohammad V with its splendid fountains and the interesting Chellah. Sunset is the best time to visit both sites. The Chellah is quite far away from the medina so its best to visit on your way in or out of Rabat. It is a medieval fortified Muslim necropolis with Phoenician, Roman and Muslim elements. The recently restored entrance gate to the Chellah necropolis is already an impressive sight to behold from outside the remparts. Inside the walled necropolis, the ruins of the Chellah sanctuary stand side by side with the Roman ruins of a basilica, walls, traces of mosaics …

I don't think Rabat is one the usual tourist trail but it is worth a day or two. There's a good mix of places here that are part of the official WHS listing.

The mosque that was never finished is fascinating - it looks like it could be ruins but the tower is complete, which should be a clue that actually it is just unfinished.

The Kasbah is beautiful and great to explore. I would recommend going at sunset because it's at its prettiest then.

And the old fortress of Chellah is also really interesting. There's not much left standing but you can get a good sense of what it was like.

I would recommend staying in the medina and there are some really nice riads here. It is much quieter than the big medinas in places like Fez or Marrakech and you can easily spend some time exploring what it has to offer.

I travelled to Rabat by one of the frequent trains from Casablanca Port.

The contrast between the old and new was most pronounced here, with the ancient Kasbah des Oudiadas on its rocky promontory only a short tram ride from the stark white structure of the Cathedral of St Pierre.

Rabat may not be everyone's cup of tea but we ended up really enjoying our trip there. The official title of the WHS is a little cumbersome but does actually reflect the qualities of the site, highlighting the continuation of the urban landscape from the roman period to the present day.

While some new towns in North African cities can seem sterile or lacking character, the one in Rabat doesn't just fall into being this sort of dead, commercial space - it is a living, essential part of the whole city. It was our introduction to the city, as we came in through the lovely train station being surprised by the cosmopolitan atmosphere and the hurry of bureaucrats heading off to their offices; it was almost like being back in London and I must admit this sense of home was welcome after a bit of time in the labyrinths of Fez. After admiring some of the architecture and some Italian food we headed off to see the more monumental sites.

The Chella was our first stop, and on reflection was our favourite spot in the city. The drive there gave us great sweeping views of the city walls and once inside the mixture of Roman and Islamic ruins proved to be very entertaining. Perhaps our favourite part though was the gardens at the bottom where we sat listening to the trickling fountains whilst watching the storks fly back and forth from their comically large nests.

A shared taxi took us …