Medina & Metropolis

While it’s not as Instagrammable as Marrakesh, there’s still something about it: Tangier, the port city on Morocco’s northern coast.

The city’s location at the crossroads of cultures is unique. Its location at the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar has made it a key point of contact between North African, European and Mediterranean civilizations. The area has been settled by people from various cultural backgrounds, including Carthaginians (who are believed to have been the first), Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Portuguese, Spaniards and French.

In the mid-20th century, the city was governed by European allies as the Tangier International Zone, semi-independent of Morocco. This status lasted for more than two decades, leading to the city’s reputation as a libertarian haven for Western nonconformists. Eccentrics such as Barbara Hutton, Paul Bowles, William S. Burroughs, Tennessee Williams, the Rolling Stones, Yves Saint-Laurent and many others made the city their home, whether temporarily or permanently.

From the 1980s onward, Tangier experienced a steady influx of people from rural northern Morocco and other inland regions. Over time, this transformed the city from a relatively compact port town into a larger, more socially diverse metropolis of more than a million people. At the same time, Tangier lost some of the urban refinement that had once characterized it.

Today, the typical Western visitor is a day-tripper taking a break from beach vacations on Spain’s southern Atlantic coast, the Costa de la Luz. The ferry ride from Tarifa, Spain, to Tangier takes just one hour.