Join RALF to share your own tips and traps
Tips & Traps
Insider advice from Local Friends and travelers. What to do, and what to avoid, city by city.
- TipA place or a move worth it
- TrapWhat to avoid, and how
- Every post is checked before it goes live
Insider advice from Local Friends and travelers. What to do, and what to avoid, city by city.
Join RALF to share your own tips and traps
New this weekPicks from our Local GurusCommunity picksrefreshed every Monday
Share a tip, or warn travelers about a trap. Every post makes your profile easier to find.
New post14 posts foundnewest first
For a first stay, choose between two areas. The Medina and the streets by the Kasbah are the most popular base, with riads, cafés and a more relaxed feel than the medinas of Marrakech or Fès, but they can get hectic and budget places fill up on some days, so arrive early. The Hassan district is quieter, close to the…
Built in 1912 in the Moorish style, the Tour Hassan Palace on Avenue Chellah is a piece of old Rabat you can sleep in. Its own site presents the building as a tribute to the splendour of Moorish architecture. Choose it for the setting rather than for a standard room, and ask the front desk what parts of the building…
Arriving at Rabat-Salé airport tired, it is easy to take the first ride on offer. A bus to the capital now runs every 15 minutes at a single fare and takes bank cards, and the app-based Wetaxi service has operated at the airport since January 2026, also with card payment. Look at both options and the information kiosk…
The high-speed Al Boraq train calls at Rabat-Agdal, a few kilometres south of the downtown Rabat-Ville station that sits next to the tram and a taxi rank. Travelers who assume every train stops downtown lose time on arrival day. Check the station name on your ticket, and plan a city bus or taxi into the centre, or a…
Long-distance coaches in Rabat often stop outside the centre: the CTM station is about ten minutes by car from the middle of town, while the Rabat-Ville train station is within walking distance of the medina, with the tram and taxis outside. Arriving by coach without a plan means an unplanned transfer in an unfamiliar…
At dusk the lit monuments of Rabat and Salé face each other across the Bou Regreg. Cross to the Marina Bouregreg boardwalk on the Salé side to shoot the glowing Rabat skyline over calm water, or stand on the bridge for both banks in one frame. Arrive about half an hour before sunset for the changing light, and bring a…
The Yacht Club of Rabat is based at the Bouregreg Marina on the estuary, beside the Rabat-Salé corniche, and offers water sports for all levels. In summer the marina is where young Rabatis come for sailing and surfing before the walkers arrive at sunset. Ask at the club what is running that day, go before the evening…
Small wooden boats carry passengers across the Bou Regreg between the Rabat quay below the kasbah and the Salé bank, a trip of a few minutes. It shows you the banks, medinas and monuments from the water. Look for the boats at the quay on Avenue al Marsa, agree the crossing with the boatman before stepping in, and pair…
The Rabat International Marathon is held in spring, usually in May, with a full marathon, a half marathon and a 10 km run through the city. Runners can enter any of the three, and spectators can pick a spot along the avenues to cheer. Confirm the date and route on the official race page before you plan, because the…
On the eve of Aid al-Mawlid, families of the Ben Hassoun brotherhood lead a procession of huge decorated candles through the medina of Salé to the mausoleum of Sidi Abdallah Ben Hassoun, a tradition tied to the Saadian era. The date follows the Islamic calendar, so it moves each year; in 2025 it fell on 4 September…
The jazz festival long known as Jazz au Chellah became Jazz à Rabat in 2025 and moved to the amphitheatre of Hassan II Park. The three evenings, in late September in 2025, pair European jazz musicians with Moroccan acts, and the 2025 shows were reported sold out. Watch for announcements in early September, buy tickets…
Inside the kasbah, a pavilion built for Sultan Moulay Ismail at the end of the 17th century now holds a museum of traditional Moroccan jewellery and adornment, with daggers, Quran cases and astrolabes arranged by region. It reopened in January 2023 after a long restoration, and the Andalusian garden sits right beside…
The Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art opened in 2014 as Morocco's first public museum for the field, on Avenue Moulay Hassan. It shows works by Moroccan artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, and recent rooms have followed a century of Moroccan art from 1920 to 2020. Give it a good part of a morning…
The Café Maure sits in the southern part of the Kasbah of the Udayas, beside the Andalusian Garden and the museum. Its terrace serves mint tea and almond cakes with a view of the river mouth, the Atlantic and Salé. Walk in through the narrow lanes rather than looking for a street entrance, and plan it as a slow stop…
Showing 14 of 14
