The Medina

Tetouan's medina is UNESCO-listed and, unlike the larger medinas of Fes or Marrakech, has barely been touched by mass tourism. Narrow whitewashed lanes climb gently from Place Hassan II toward Bab el-Okla, branching into specialist souks for leather, jewellery, fabric, and silver. The trades are still organised by guild; you will walk through a street of tinsmiths, turn a corner, and find yourself among carpenters.

An official guide from the tourist office on Rue Mohammed V costs little and is genuinely useful — both for navigating and for keeping the more persistent touts at bay. Allow at least half a day. The medina is most atmospheric in the late afternoon, when the sun reaches the white walls at an angle and the call to prayer ricochets around the stone.

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Tetouan's medina was rebuilt in the late 15th century by Muslim and Jewish refugees expelled from Granada after the Reconquista. The street plan, the courtyard houses, and the wrought iron balconies are unmistakably Andalusian — a fragment of medieval Spain preserved in North Africa.

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