What is the Fes-Chefchaouen-Tangier northern route like?

The north is the part of Morocco most first-timers skip, and I think they miss something special. From Fes the road climbs steadily north into the Rif mountains, about four hours of green, folded hill country that feels worlds away from the southern deserts. The landscape is wetter and more European-looking here — olive terraces, cork oak, the occasional cedar — and it builds anticipation nicely for what is coming.

Chefchaouen is the reason everyone makes this drive, and it lives up to the photographs. The entire old medina is washed in shades of blue, climbing a mountainside in a tumble of indigo lanes, cobalt doorways and cornflower steps spilling with potted geraniums. I always send guests up to the Spanish Mosque viewpoint for sunset, when the whole blue town glows beneath the Rif peaks. Two nights lets you wander without rushing and hike a little in the surrounding hills.

From Chefchaouen the descent to the coast is short — about two hours and 110 kilometres to Tangier, dropping out of the mountains towards the glittering Strait of Gibraltar. On a clear day you can see Spain across the water, and the change of mood is striking: from sleepy mountain town to a brash, cosmopolitan port that has been a crossroads of Africa and Europe for millennia.

Tangier rewards the curious. The kasbah and medina tumble down to the harbour, the Café Hafa has served mint tea on cliff terraces above the sea since 1921, and the literary ghosts of the old International Zone still cling to its cafes. I like to end the northern loop here because it offers easy ferries to Spain or a quick flight, and because finishing your Morocco trip looking across at Europe is a fittingly atmospheric full stop.