Chefchaouen in February

February is still firmly Rif winter in Chefchaouen. Daytime highs around 15°C, near-freezing nights and frequent rain keep the town cold and wet, with snow lingering on the higher peaks. But the bright breaks between wet days lengthen a little, and when the sun does come out the blues of the medina glow against a backdrop of green, snow-tipped mountains. Crowds are minimal, prices low, and the famous lanes can be photographed in peace, deep and saturated under the soft late-winter light.

It remains a month for the sheltered, slow side of the blue city. Long, warming lunches, an afternoon in the Kasbah Museum and gardens, mint tea and Rif goat cheese on a covered rooftop, and unhurried medina photography all suit February. The steep, stepped alleys stay slick in the rain, so grippy waterproof shoes are essential, and the Spanish Mosque sunset hike is worth saving for a clear, dry evening — when the reward is the whole blue town spread out beneath a snowy mountain horizon.

February rewards travellers who want winter prices, deep solitude and dramatic snow-on-blue scenery, and who accept that the weather sets the agenda. Akchour Waterfalls and the longer mountain trails are best kept flexible — winter rain swells the rivers and chills the routes — so plan February as a town-and-rooftop month, with a hike pencilled in only if a settled, clear window appears.