What is Chefchaouen like in summer?

Summer is when Chefchaouen's mountain setting really earns its keep. While Marrakech and Fes are baking past 40°C, Chaouen, perched high in the Rif, stays noticeably cooler — daytime highs usually sit somewhere around 28 to 33°C, and crucially the nights drop back into the high teens, so you actually sleep well and the evenings on the plaza are delightful. I often describe it to clients as Morocco's natural summer air-conditioning, and it is a real reason the blue city features so heavily on warm-weather itineraries.

That said, midday in July and August is genuinely hot, and the steep blue lanes climb relentlessly, so I coach people to do their wandering in the cooler morning and late-afternoon hours and to retreat for a long lunch or a rooftop tea when the sun is high. The hillsides that were so green in spring have turned dry and golden by now, which changes the look of the place — the blue medina against tawny summer slopes rather than emerald ones — but the photography is still wonderful, especially in the golden hour from the Spanish Mosque.

Summer is also peak season, and you feel it. Chefchaouen is one of the most photographed towns on earth right now, and the most famous blue staircases and flowerpot corners get genuinely busy with day-trippers and Instagram queues from mid-morning to late afternoon. My standing advice is to stay overnight rather than day-trip: in the early morning before the buses arrive and in the evening after they leave, you get the magical, empty, soft-lit medina that everyone hopes for. The Akchour waterfall hike is also a brilliant summer escape — a cool, shaded river canyon and natural pools to swim in.

My honest verdict: summer Chefchaouen is comfortable and beautiful, a proper relief from the southern heat, and it slots perfectly into a northern circuit with the Mediterranean beaches. Just go in with realistic expectations on crowds, do the hard climbing early or late, carry water and sun protection, and book your riad ahead because the good ones fill. For travellers who must come in high summer and want somewhere that does not melt them, the Rif's blue city is one of my first recommendations.