Chefchaouen “the Blue Pearl” of Morocco!

I recently took a ladies trip to Chefchaouen, Morocco for the weekend.  Chefchaouen is famous for being the blue city of Morocco, and for anyone with any possibility or tiny bit of interest in going, I HIGHLY recommend it! We booked our tour with an incredible guide named Abou who organized a ferry for us from Tangier, Morocco then handled the van drive (about 2 hours each way) to the city, along with all meals and the hotel.  If you want his details I’d be happy to share, leave me a comment!

The city was absolutely gorgeous!!! We spent most of our time devouring tasty Moroccan food and wandering around taking pictures of all of the incredible colors of blue and interesting architecture.  I’m a huge fan of doors (yes, so “basic” of me, I know!) and this place was doorway haven!

The streets were bustling with people: children running around, vendors selling colorful blankets, scarves, jewelry...you name it, lots of tourists snapping pictures, and the occasional brave delivery person, driving a tiny car packed to the brim with supplies through the narrow streets.  No way could I ever do that job!

Just a heads up for anyone visiting, Morocco is primarily Islamic and you will hear their calls to worship five times a day.  This can be a bit jarring at first if you’re not expecting it, as you hear sudden loud chanting from all over various Mosques in the city but it’s absolutely amazing to witness!  This also means that most locals don’t drink, so if you’re looking for somewhere to get turnt... this is not it!  There was actually only one bar in the city and they only served beer and wine.

As far as the shops go and bartering, I’ve been told a few things, in Tangier at the street markets I was told to offer 1/4 of the price that the vendor quotes you and to feel good if you can get them to about half of the original price.  In Chefchaouen we were told to only barter for things over €10 (roughly 100 Moroccan Dirham).  I felt much better about shopping in Chefchaouen though, the prices were all very reasonable and the vendors weren’t aggressive like some of the vendors in Tangier can be (we were once followed by a vendor through the market and into the van because we didn’t buy a teapot from him).

We spent most of our time wandering around the city and popping into the various pottery, jewelry, leather, and perfume shops.  However, we did venture outside of the city on a short hike up to the hilltop mosque that overlooks the city.  We saw tons of other tourists and many animals along the way, and reveled over the gorgeous view of the blue city from a distance!

We also tried a Hammam bath while we were there.  I had been to a Hammam spa before, and was expecting a warm sauna with a variety of baths for lounging in.  I shortly learned that this Hammam was NOT going to be that sort of experience.  The four of us were shuffled into a small, tiled room, asked to strip naked, and dry-scrubbed until we were nearly bleeding.  They then dumped buckets of water over us to wash away all of our sloughed off skin, gave us a full-body mud mask, then water boarded us under shower heads to rinse us off.  While two of the ladies enjoyed the experience, the other two of us felt as though we'd been tortured!  To each her own I guess!  It was definitely an experience!

All in all, the city was absolutely gorgeous and everyone we met was very friendly and helpful!  I wouldn't recommend going on your own though, I definitely felt much more taken care of, and safer with a guide to escort us and help translate.