What is Chefchaouen like in February?

February is still firmly winter in the Rif, and I treat it much like January when I am setting expectations — cold, damp and changeable. Daytime highs sit around 13 to 16°C, the nights stay cold enough to want heating, and the rain keeps coming, with mist often hanging low over the slopes for days at a time. The peaks above town can still wear snow, and a February cold snap can be properly raw. This is a mountain town doing what mountain towns do in late winter, and anyone expecting a warm North African escape will be caught out.

The compensation is that the surrounding landscape is at its lushest. All those winter rains turn the Rif slopes a deep, almost Alpine green, terraced with olives and threaded with little streams running full — the very greenest the hills get all year, even greener than mid-spring in a wet winter. Against that emerald backdrop the blue medina looks magnificent, especially in the soft, washed light after a shower. It is a photographer's month if you have patience for the weather, because when the cloud breaks the colours are saturated and the air is crystalline.

Crowds are essentially nonexistent, which I love about February. You get the famous blue corners and flowerpot staircases to yourself, the cafés on Plaza Uta el-Hammam are quiet and welcoming, and riad prices remain at their winter lows. The same heating caveat from January applies in full — book a riad with a real fire or proper heating and pack warm, waterproof layers and grippy shoes for the wet cobbles. The Akchour waterfall hike is often muddy and the higher trails can be closed by snow, so I plan around the medina and short, lower walks rather than ambitious trekking.

By the last week of February you can sometimes feel the season turning — a run of milder, brighter days, almond blossom appearing on the terraces, the first real warmth in the midday sun. That hint of spring on top of the deep green hills and empty lanes makes late February a quietly rewarding time for travellers who do not mind a gamble on weather. My honest steer: come in February for atmosphere, greenery, solitude and value, not for guaranteed sunshine, and dress for a cold, wet mountain town.