What can you do in Rabat in one day?

Rabat is the capital, and it surprises people by being the most relaxed major city in Morocco — leafy, orderly, low-key. With one day I start at the Kasbah of the Udayas while it's quiet, a small fortified quarter of blue-washed lanes spilling toward the Bou Regreg river. There's an Andalusian garden tucked inside and a café on the ramparts where you sip mint tea with the ocean on one side and Salé across the water on the other. It's the loveliest hour of the Rabat day.

From there it's a short walk or taxi to the Hassan Tower and the Mausoleum of Mohammed V — an incomplete 12th-century minaret standing over a field of broken columns, with the royal mausoleum opposite, guarded by mounted soldiers and open to visitors. The contrast of medieval ruin and pristine modern marble tells you a lot about how Morocco holds its past and present together.

Lunch belongs in the medina, which is gentle and genuinely un-touristy compared to Fes or Marrakech — you can browse the carpet and textile stalls without the relentless pressure, and eat a simple, good tagine for very little. I always tell first-timers nervous about Moroccan medinas to start here; Rabat's is the easy on-ramp.

Save the late afternoon for the Chellah, my favourite corner of the city: a walled necropolis where Roman ruins, a crumbling Islamic complex, storks nesting on the minaret and overgrown gardens all blur together. The light at the end of the day there is extraordinary. One day in Rabat is enough to see it properly, and it pairs beautifully as a stop between Casablanca and the north.