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7 Most Instagrammable Spots in Chefchaouen, Morocco
Painted in shades of blue since at least the 1930s, Chefchaouen's hillside medina in Morocco's Rif Mountains has become one of North Africa's most photographed towns, and its steep, narrow lanes reward slow wandering as much as any single shot.
Sep 27, 2026 · BigTravel.in
Chefchaouen, a small city in Morocco's Rif Mountains, is known almost entirely for one thing: the blue wash covering most of its old medina's walls, doorways and stairways. The origin of the colour is debated locally, with explanations ranging from a Jewish tradition linked to refugees who settled here in the 1930s to more practical claims about keeping mosquitoes away, but the effect today is a genuinely unusual streetscape that has made the town a fixture of Morocco itineraries built around photography.
1. Plaza Uta el-Hammam
The medina's main square, ringed by cafes and dominated by the red-walled Kasbah and the Great Mosque's octagonal minaret, is the town's central gathering point and a natural first stop for orientation before heading into the narrower lanes.
2. The Kasbah museum and gardens
The 15th-century Kasbah fortress on the main square houses a small ethnographic museum and a garden courtyard, and its tower gives one of the few elevated views over the blue rooftops of the medina.
3. Ras El Maa waterfall
At the medina's northeastern edge, a small waterfall and stream at Ras El Maa has traditionally served as a communal washing spot and remains a popular gathering place, with the blue town rising steeply behind it.
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4. The stepped lanes below the Spanish Mosque
A short uphill walk out of the medina leads to the Spanish Mosque, disused but structurally intact, on a hillside that gives a wide view back over the whole blue town, best reached in the late afternoon for the light.
5. Outa el Hammam's souq lanes
The medina's covered and semi-covered market lanes sell wool blankets, leather goods and local goat's cheese, their blue walls and stacked goods making for some of the most layered street shots in town.
6. Bab Onsar gate
One of the older gates into the medina, Bab Onsar frames views both into the blue old town and out toward the surrounding hills, and is generally quieter than the main square.
7. Any staircase lane at midday
Beyond named sights, much of Chefchaouen's appeal is simply its everyday stairways and doorways, best photographed around midday when direct overhead light keeps the blue tones even rather than heavily shadowed.
Traveller tips
- Chefchaouen is roughly a 2 to 3 hour drive from Tangier or Fez, both common gateway cities with international or domestic flight connections.
- The blue paint is refreshed periodically by residents and shopkeepers, so its exact shade and coverage varies slightly street to street and year to year.
- Mornings and late afternoons generally have fewer crowds in the medina's main photographed lanes than midday.
- Modest dress is appreciated in this conservative, largely residential old town, particularly away from the main tourist square.
Where this is
Chefchaouen, Morocco