What is the best time to visit northern Morocco?

The north is the greenest, wettest, most Mediterranean corner of Morocco, and that shapes the answer completely — its best seasons are different from the desert and the south. For Tangier, Chefchaouen, Tetouan, Asilah, the Rif mountains and the Mediterranean coast, I point clients firmly toward spring and early autumn: roughly April to June, and September into October. In those windows you get warm, comfortable days in the low-to-high 20s°C, reliably fine weather, and the whole region at its most beautiful and walkable.

Spring is the showstopper up here, and it is the season I most love in the north. The winter rains leave the Rif hillsides genuinely lush and green, wildflowers everywhere, the Akchour waterfalls above Chefchaouen running full, and the light soft and clear. April and May give perfect hiking and wandering weather and the most photogenic version of blue Chefchaouen against emerald slopes. The sea is warming for early swims by June, the imperial-edge cities of the north are mild and pleasant, and crowds are still moderate. For a first northern trip, late spring is my top recommendation.

Early autumn is the close runner-up and, for some, even better. September and October bring warm, stable, golden weather, the Mediterranean sea at its warmest after the long summer, the peak-season crowds gone home, and the olive harvest animating the Rif countryside. It is calmer and often cheaper than spring, with that lovely soft late-year light. The trade-off is that the hills are dry and golden rather than spring-green, and the first rains can arrive late in October — but for reliable warmth and tranquillity, early autumn is hard to beat.

My honest framing of the other seasons: high summer (July–August) is perfectly viable — the coast and the Rif altitude keep the north far cooler and more comfortable than the baking interior, which is exactly why Moroccans holiday here — but it is peak season, with busy beaches, crowded blue lanes and higher prices. Winter (December–February) is mild but genuinely wet and windy across the whole north, with cold, sometimes snowy spells up in Chefchaouen; it is atmospheric, empty and cheap, but the wrong choice if you want guaranteed sunshine and good hiking. So: spring first, early autumn a close second, and pack a light waterproof in any season because the north catches the rain.