What are the best things to do in Rabat?

Rabat is the imperial city travellers underrate, and I love sending people there precisely because it confounds expectations. As the modern capital it is orderly, green, and genuinely relaxed — the hassle that wears you down in Fes or Marrakech is almost absent. You can walk its sights at an easy pace, and the city has a quiet dignity that grows on you. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and for anyone who wants imperial history without the sensory assault, it is close to ideal.

Start at the Kasbah of the Udayas, my favourite corner of the city. This walled hilltop fortress above the mouth of the Bou Regreg river has been painted blue and white like a miniature Chefchaouen, with bougainvillea spilling over the lanes and an Andalusian garden inside. You wander down to a terrace café looking across the water to Salé, sip a mint tea, and it is one of the most peaceful, photogenic spots in any Moroccan city. Time it for late afternoon when the light goes gold on the walls.

Then the Hassan Tower and the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, which share a single dramatic esplanade. The tower is the unfinished minaret of a 12th-century mosque that was never completed — a forest of broken stone columns where the prayer hall would have stood, hauntingly grand. Facing it is the mausoleum, a jewel-box of carved cedar, marble, and zellij, guarded by ceremonial horsemen, that you can enter freely. The contrast of ancient ruin and pristine modern monument across one square is genuinely moving.

Save Chellah for last and you will leave Rabat charmed. It is a walled necropolis on the edge of the city built over a Roman town — you walk among Roman ruins, then Islamic tombs and a crumbling minaret, all of it overgrown, dotted with storks nesting on the towers, and quietly romantic. Add a stroll through the tidy medina for some low-pressure shopping and a walk along the riverfront, and Rabat earns its full day. Many of my clients tell me, slightly surprised, that it was their favourite imperial city.