I never dreamed that I’d lead a trip into an African country, taxi at night through the Moroccan mountains and explore the wonders that this unknown land had to offer… but there I found myself: alone with 7 of my college buddies, braving the land of Morocco with little money and next to no idea what to do! Here is my adventure and some hacks and travel tips for Chefchaouen, Gibraltar, Tangier, and Algerias that I learned along the way.
This page is usually solely dedicated to itineraries, tips, and ideas for how to travel the world. I’m not sure if this post fits into any of those categories, but I can’t help myself from sharing! Buckle up for this diary entry / crazy adventure to the Blue Pearl of Morocco and back again.
The Plan
While on a study abroad trip to Seville, my friends and I decided that we wanted to go to Morocco for our long weekend. Like most touristy people, we decided to go to Marrakech, which is probably the most frequently visited and famous city in Morocco. But yikes! Plane tickets were 600 euros for our three day weekend. As broke college kids, that simply was not an option. However, I could not be stopped. If you know me, you know that when I have an idea (especially if it’s reckless, seemingly impossible, and probably stupid), that I will never give up (not always a good thing). So I scoured the Internet and devised and schemed until I came up with the most insane trip with buses, trains, hours of walking, cable cars, ferries, and taxis to get us to our destination of Chefchaouen, Morocco.
P.S. I’m still not sure why I chose this city. It’s up in the mountains and is really hard to get to. But again, I had seen a TikTok about how cool this BLUE city was, and so I decided that I had to go. Again, I don’t give up easily.
I convinced six other students in my group to accompany me on this trip. I’m not sure that they knew what they were getting themselves into (thankfully, because otherwise they probably wouldn’t have come!!!!), but I can confidently say that our weekend in Seville/Gibraltar/Cordoba/Algeciras/Tanger Med/Chefchaouen/Tangier/Cadiz/Malaga will be a core memory and a favorite trip for all of us for years to come!
The silly and reckless (and honestly, very stressful) part about this trip is that it was like a very carefully crafted house of cards: except the house is made up of very set times for buses and trains, a bus station that we needed to get to but not sure existed, limited cell service, and the very important condition that we were on time to our 10+ pre-bought plane/bus/ferry/train tickets.
DAY 1
The Journey
After classes ended at 2 p.m. we booked it to the Santa Justa Station in Seville. Five of us hopped on the bus and headed to San Roque station in Cadiz, which is right next to Gibraltar. Our bus connected in Cordoba, so we hopped off TRAIN 1 and waited at the TRAIN 2 stop. But, surprise! Roadwork! TRAIN 2 is two hours late. We finally get on TRAIN 2 which then surprise! It dropped us off two hours from the San Roque station and directed us to a slightly sketchy BUS that we were told would take us to San Roque. We rode the random bus to San Roque along the most beautiful road! To my right, incredible mountains towered over us, and to my left, the ocean lay sparkling in the sunlight! We finally make it to the Cadiz San Roque station, which is in the middle of nowhere, and waited for our other two friends to arrive by a different train. We then took a TAXI to the Line of Conception (which is the border between Spain and Gibraltar. Fun fact: I 100% thought that it was called the Line of Contraception and proceeded to call it that all weekend until someone corrected me. Our taxi driver dropped us off on the side of the road next to the Spain/Gibraltar border. We wandered around until we found the border and customs station, and after showing our passports and getting a stamp (YAY), we proceeded across the line. We discovered a red phone booth and tried to stuff our whole group inside of one. (Yes, we are all 20+ years old. Yes, we are seriously children.) After asking around if there were taxis, cars of any types, Ubers, or electric scooters (which, apparently, there aren’t) we ended up WALKING an hour through the Gibraltar airport runways, through the dark streets, and also under some weird and sketchy tunnels. We finally got to the area (ish) where our Air BnB was; at this point, its 10:30 p.m., cars and motorcycles are zooming through the tiny cobblestone streets where we’re walking, and I am almost in tears from exhaustion. We ended up asking some very nice but not very helpful British people for directions and proceed to get even more lost. After an hour of walking up gazillions of stairs, we find our AirBnb and crash for the night.
P.S. Because Gibraltar is technically a part of the United Kingdom, you can’t take any method of transportation over the border. Because of that, a taxi will only take you to the Spain side of the border, and a bus will only take you to San Roque. You then have to walk across the border and figure out your next means of transportation on the other side!
DAY 2
Early wake up call! I’m up around 7:30 when my friend Jay walks in the door and announces that he just finished his 10 mile fun. Way to go Jay. Could not be me.
The Hike
We left our lovely little AirBnb and headed to the Rock of Gibraltar! If you are unfamiliar with this place, it’s basically this huge rock sticking out of the ground that is covered in monkeys. It’s so cool! However, we didn’t know that 1.) there is no food anywhere near the Rock and 2.) you have to walk (or take a tour bus… not happening for the broke students) to get to the trailhead to hike the trail to the top of the rock. After starting to head up towards the trailhead, which is a solid hour walk up a mountain road, we had to backtrack to a small little market where we bought snacks for the day, bagels, and peanut butter and jelly. We loaded it onto our backs (bad idea… you’ll see why soon) and started, yet again, our walk to the top of the rock. We FINALLY make it to the trailhead and start the hike. I have two comments. 1. It is incredible. We started at the Pillars of Hercules and hiked the Mediterranean Steps. The entire hike, you have a view of the ocean. It feels like you’re on top of the world! The birds are soaring by you, there are tons of caves to explore, and the salty air is blowing in your face. It’s awesome. 2. It is HARD! I’m a pretty experienced hiker and was worn down by the end of this hike!
Attack of the Monkeys
We finally make it to the top, take the mandatory photos, get some water, visit the skywalk, and see some monkeys. I was excited for the monkeys at first. They’re hilarious, swinging around the trees or just chilling, gazing off into the distance. However, one thing that we weren’t told is how much monkeys like snacks, specifically the croissants and PB&Js that were in our backpacks. As we walked up towards the cable car and toward a group of monkeys, their heads slowly turn as they begin to stare us down. My friend Jay was their favorite: probably because he had a grocery bag full of our snacks attached to the outside of his backpack. A few monkeys, ignoring me at this point, started to stalk and circle Jay, eyeing the bag of my peanut butter and jellies on his back. It was both funny and terrifying. We eventually escape that pack (with the help of the employees who work at the rock #shoutout) and make it onto the cable car platform. I get trapped into a corner by two monkeys while my friend Ashlyn has a monkey hop onto her back and unzip her backpack in search of snacks. We were again saved by the employees. With a sigh of relief, we climb into the CABLE CAR and start the trek down. We then realize there is a baby monkey (!!!) on the top of the cable car (which indeed has an open window on the top). We hope and pray for no more monkey attacks.
The Sprint to the Ferry
After safely making it back to solid ground, I announced with confidence that we have one hour to make it to a bus station across the border (which is, at this point), a solid hour’s walk. However, I then announced with slightly less confidence that I’m not 100% sure that the bus station actually exists. I scoured the internet for any type of taxi or Uber service in Gibraltar and found almost nothing. Respectfully, Gibraltar, your public transportation is pretty mid.
I eventually find a phone number for some company that possibly maybe has a taxi. I called them four times. The first two, I got rapidly hung up on. The third time, I hear some lovely waiting room music and hang up. I eventually make it through to customer service, who tells me that they do have taxis (#win) but that she doesn’t know when the taxi will make it to us or how much it will cost. I ask her if she has an approximation on time and money, and she hangs up. Awesome. So we have a maybe-taxi and a probably-nonexistent-bus station on the queue to make it to our ferry in a few hours.
We search for another option of getting to the border, eat some more sandwiches, and eventually find a bus that will possibly take us to the border. However, when the bus arrives, we find out they don’t take card. At about this time, I get a call from the taxi company that tells me the taxi is waiting on me and is about to leave. We book it over the meeting spot only to find that he’s gone. We turn around to find that the bus is gone also. Stranded yet again. But wait! On this rollercoaster of emotions, we see our taxi driving down the road. We chase after him, yelling at him to stop, which he does! WOOHOO! We all pile into this guy’s van and head over to the border. We run across the runway, across the border, get our passports stamped again, and head off in search of the bus station. I haven’t yet told the group that this bus station maybe/probably doesn’t exist. Morale is dwindling.
In the distance, I see the bus station! It exists! Biggest shocker ever. After walking inside, we ask the desk lady about the next bus to Algeciras. She tells us the bus is outside and leaving in two minutes. We run over to the bus (lots of running on this trip) where we again find out that it only takes cash. I have no cash. Neither do three other people in my group. Claire, Holly, and Judd have literal COINS in their wallets. We start dumping out purses and bags to find money while the bus driver is screaming at us that “we are very late” “we have to leave right now” “I’m going to leave you”. After compiling all of our spare change, we end up with 18.90 (the total price for our tickets) and, smirking at the bus driver, waltz onto the bus with all the time in the world. The people on the bus burst into applause as we took a bow, very proud of ourselves for the humiliating five minutes that we spent scraping for pennies in our bag.
45 minutes later, we made it to Alergicas!
P.S. Algeciras is the city across the bay of Gibraltar. It’s the port where our ferry left from. The only way to get from Gibraltar to Algeciras is to take a bus or a taxi.
This was the first moment on the trip where I felt a little uncomfortable in my shorts and tee shirt. As we walked by a few outside tables full of only men, my skin started tingling as they all began to stare down my female friends and I. It was 100% safe, but it was very unsettling. With my red-blonde hair and blue eyes, walking down the street in my Patagonia shorts, I began to feel pretty freaked out as over 50 men turned to stare at me. Thankfully, we had three boys in our group (shoutout to Judd, Jay, and Arnav!!!); having them walk next to me was very assuring!
We quickly hopped into a cute cafe, changed into long pants and tee shirts, and waited for our ferry.
P.S. As a woman, I do not recommend traveling to the very tip of Spain or cities where a ferry heads over the border if you are alone or with one or two other girls. Always stay in a group (preferably with at least one boy). Don’t walk around at night. Wear long and loose pants or skirts or dresses and a shirt that covers your shoulders! You may still get some stares, but you’ll feel a lot less uncomfortable.
We headed to the port and checked in downstairs in order to get our ferry boarding pass. At the Algeciras port, there’s a cafe upstairs with food, drinks, and outlets, which is a lifesaver! However, my friend Judd’s ticket was booked through a different company, so he ended up on a different boat than us.
Travel Tip: If you’re traveling in a group, consider buying your ferry tickets all together to ensure you’re on the same ferry! My friend Judd bought his ticket through the same link, for the same time, and from the same ports but was on a different boat!
Saying Goodbye to Anita’s Plan
We made it onto the ferry, got some chocolate croissants, and passed out on the couches for about an hour. When we woke up, we realized the ferry was about two hours behind schedule. This was pretty concerning since we had booked a bus ticket for 8:15 p.m. from Tangier to Chefchaouen. It was the last bus of the night. Here’s where it gets tricky. Our ferry dropped us off at Tanger Med port. In order to catch our bus, we would have to get a taxi and drive 45 minutes to get to the city of Tangier where the CTM bus stop was. We would then hop on our bus and arrive in Chefchaouen around 10:15 p.m.
Obviously, like pretty much everything else on this trip, things did not go according to plan. Our ferry was quite late, which meant that we inevitably missed our bus. We were now stranded at a port in Tanger Med, 45 minutes from the closest big city. And the sun was rapidly going down, increasing my stress/terror of being in the dark in an unknown place in Africa where none of us spoke the language. Don’t tell my mom any of this.
The OG plan is below:
BUT because of our late ferry, we were then left with these options:
- Find a hostel or AirBNB in Tangier; take a taxi, crash for the night, and get up at 6 a.m. the next morning to catch a different bus to Chefchaouen.
- Take the slightly dangerous and unpredictable Grand Taxis to Chefchaouen.
However, these were our problems.
- The hostels in Tangier were sketch. We would finally find one that seemed ok, but then the reviews were exploding with “unsafe”, “dirty”, “no locks on doors”, etc. Claire and I sat on the floor of the port and scoured the Internet for other options. I thought I finally found one! We were about to book it until we read a review about a girl who stayed at this hostel, and a man dressed in all black broke into her room and terrorized her. Awesome. Bye bye hostel in Tangier.
- We had no idea if grand taxis were safe. The drivers didn’t speak English, and when we walked outside, looking very obviously clueless, the group of male taxi drivers started LITERALLY FIGHTING and pushing each other to see who would drive us. Alarm number one. Second alarm was that we would have to split into two groups since the taxis only could take 6 people at a time. Third alarm. We had about thirty minutes of sunlight left for a drive that would take around 3 hours.
- This was probably the scariest moment of the trip. Looking back, it was totally safe, but in the moment, it was very concerning.
The (sus and scary) Decision
We split up and got into two taxis which took off into the darkness heading towards (hopefully) Chefchaouen! Thankfully, we soon realized that our driver spoke Spanish, so we were able to communicate with him. He ended up being kind and pleasant! We made it safely to Chefchaouen for only 25 euros a person!
The next goal was to find our hostel. It was around 11 p.m. at this point, and we started wandering the streets in search of Hotel Souika. We at last made it, as there were many signs leading us there! The man at the front desk spoke wonderful English and was very kind and helpful! Safe and sound at last.
Travel Tip: If you’re ever in Chefchaouen, I highly recommend Hotel Souika. It’s a hostel where I only paid 7 euros a night. You can get breakfast for around 3 euros, and the employees speak wonderful English! You can head over to Kayak to book your hostel here!
Travel Tip: CTM buses in Morocco are extremely reliable, safe, and helpful! If you decide to travel by bus, I highly recommend using this bus company!
Travel Tip: There are two different types of taxis in Morocco. First, there are petite taxis. These take you around inside a city (for example, a few miles through Tangier). Secondly, there are grand taxis. These are taxis that hold six people and go much further distances between bigger cities.
DAY 3
Exploring the Blue Pearl
Saturday morning! In Chefchaouen! My friend Claire and I headed to the rooftop terrace where we got Moroccan “pancakes” and orange juice. The rest of our group joined us, but Claire and I, itching to get out and play, downed our food and went out to explore the city. We were a little nervous at first. You hear stories about Morocco and Africa being generally dangerous, but let me tell you, I have never felt safer! There were definitely quite a few people shouting at us from their stores and restaurants trying to get us to buy things and quite a few people calling us Sharika or various random American women names, but everyone else was so welcoming, pleasant, and inspirational! We would walk into a store and the owner would come shake our hand, tell us “welcome to chefchaouen! We’re so glad you’re here! We are so proud to be from this city!” I thought at first this was some kind of ploy to get us to buy things, but after their little speech, they would show us around their store and then welcome us again and tell us to have a great day as we walked out without buying anything!
The very first place we walked into was this beautiful small building with an elderly Moroccan man sitting outside. He invited us in and then told us we should go to the roof! My first thoughts: we’re either going to get kidnapped on this roof or he’s going to charge us 100 euros. I asked him how much it would be to go to the roof, to which he laughed and responded “a million dollars!” and then hobbled up the stairs. Glancing at each other, Claire and I reluctantly followed him. The stairs opened up to the roof where we had an incredible view of the entire city center, the mosque, and the mountains! My jaw simply dropped. The man proceeded to tell us the history and culture of “his city”, where he had been born and raised. All fear abandoned, Claire and I peppered him with questions, to which we discovered that he used to be a tour guide for Americans. He told us about him and his buddy, Martha Stewart, to whom he had given a tour back in his day. He then told us about how his store was actually a place for women to get an education and learn to make things like carpets and towels in order to make an income. I was simply flabbergasted. Ten minutes before I thought I was possibly walking into my death, but this was the definition of judging a book by its cover (or its Instagram status). Shoutout to Abdullah, our new Moroccan friend!
There’s not even much I can say to capture this city in words. The whole city is blue. There are stray cats everywhere. There are crazy shows going on in the city center (for example, blindfolded children standing on each other’s shoulders juggling knives for money #terrifying). LOTS of orange juice. You’re surrounded by mountains, as old as the old Chefchaouen wall. We spent the day wandering around. That’s the best thing to do! Every street and corner holds a different appeal and different excitement!
For lunch, there’s a great little rooftop restaurant in the center of town with an incredible view of the city and the mountains! It’s not expensive at all, and the service is awesome. You HAVE to try the Moroccan mint tea, which they jokingly nickname “Moroccan whiskey”. I had a bomb falafel plate (which was vegan!).
For dinner, head to Casa Aladin. It’s also in the city center and a great place to watch the sunset.
One thing you absolutely must do is watch the sunset over the city at the mosque. You hike up about 20 minutes to the top of the city toward the white mosque. It’s easy to spot, and there will probably be a crowd of people walking the trail to the mosque. It’s an incredible view of the blue city nestled in the mountains as the sky turns from blue to yellow to pink to gray!
The Student and the Storm
This next part was my favorite part of any trip I’ve ever taken in my life. We sat around near the mosque and talked to the Moroccan people and learned a ton about culture, religion, and just everything about Morocco! We started talking to this guy who was selling a few trinkets. I soon realized that we had been talking for three hours! I found out that he was a high school student who had taken his last high school exam that day! He was making and selling bracelets and magnets in order to fulfill his dreams of traveling through Asia! As he began to delve into topics like religion, philosophy, and ethics, my mouth dropped. This kid is BRILLIANT! We literally stood in a circle until it was far past dark as he told us about his love for Morocco, his religion, and his family. It slowly began to thunder and lightning as it got later and later, which we ignored. All of a sudden, we turned and looked at my friend whose hair was standing straight up. In case you didn’t know, that is a surefire sign that you’re about to get struck by lightning. We immediately took off down the hill as it began to POUR! It must have been the funniest sight… 7 Americans and 1 Moroccan sprinting through the streets of Chefchaouen through the pouring rain at 11 p.m. As we got back into the city center, our new friend XXX invited us into his home to meet his family! This night was just getting cooler and cooler. We followed him up a gazillions of stairs into a small blue apartment building where we took off our shoes, climbed some more stairs, and entered a teeny tiny door into a three room apartment. He invited us to sit on the couch; we all squeezed together as he asked us if we wanted coffee or tea. Dumbfounded, none of us answered, not wanting to inconvenience this obviously selfless, kind, and generous kid! He assured us that we were in no way a burden and that this was just Moroccan hospitality! We got to meet his family, and his mom came out with a tray of small glass cups and a huge teapot! She made us all Moroccan “whiskey” (tea) which was SO GOOD! This kid was awesome. His family was awesome. We sat enraptured as he told us about a girl he had met while selling goods on the street who he was now dating! He told us about how he met Obama’s daughter on the road also! We learned how he wanted to go to the Philippines, how he spoke 4 languages, and how he and his family slept on the floor on mats in this one room. In all this, he spent four hours talking to and getting to know 7 American strangers! This was a core memory for sure; nothing will ever top this experience! Moroccan hospitality is truly the most incredible thing.
Around midnight we thanked him and his mom over and over again, headed back to our hostel, and crashed!
The next day we went on the most INCREDIBLE hike, which will be described in a future post (along with everything you need to know before hiking it).
The Lessons
- Moroccan hospitality. It’s legit.
- Africa as a whole is underrated. The beauty that it holds, not only in its rivers, waterfalls, and mountains, but also in the hearts of the people there, is indescribable.
- Moroccan tea is now my new favorite drink.
- If you’re a budget traveler, this is PERFECT for you! I only paid 7 euros a night for accommodation and 2-5 euros per (big) meal!
- The nature in Morocco is insane. The mountains and waterfalls! UNBELIEVABLE
- Men will call you Sharika, regardless of what you look like. Get used to it.
- Lots of goats
- If your hair is standing straight up, you are probably about to get struck by lightning,
- I’m a lot smaller than I realized. The world is a lot bigger.
- Go to Morocco. Because it’s worth it.