What is Rabat like in December?

December in Rabat is winter in the gentlest sense. The Atlantic keeps the capital mild — highs around 18°C — so even at the year-end you are looking at a jumper-and-scarf climate, not a freeze. It is one of the wetter months, with showers rolling in off the ocean, but they come and go quickly and the bright spells between them carry that crisp, low winter light I find so beautiful on the blue-and-white walls of the Oudayas.

I plan December days around the weather rather than against it. Indoor anchors — the Mohammed VI Museum of Modern Art, long lunches, the covered souks, a hammam to warm up — fill the wet mornings, and I keep the Hassan Tower, the Mausoleum and the Chellah for the clear afternoon windows. There is something wonderful about having these grand monuments almost entirely to yourself, which December reliably delivers.

It is firmly low season, with all the upsides: empty sights, no queues, easy restaurant tables, and the lowest hotel and riad rates alongside January and February. The city also has a quiet festive buzz toward the end of the month — Rabat is cosmopolitan and the cafés and riverfront feel warm and lively in the evenings, a nice counterpoint to the cooler, shorter days.

Pack properly for the cool and the wet: a real waterproof, warm layers, and shoes that grip on slick cobbles. Nights are genuinely chilly once the sun drops behind the river, so bring a warm layer for evenings out. I avoid the High Atlas this month — snow and cold close the passes — and instead pair Rabat with Marrakech, Fes or Casablanca for a comfortable, atmospheric winter loop.