Al Hoceima: A Gentle Guide to Morocco's Quiet Mediterranean

Most visitors meet Morocco through its great imperial cities — the tanneries, the medinas, the call of a thousand bargains. Al Hoceima offers something quite different: a small Mediterranean town of about fifty thousand people, built on hillsides above a crescent bay, where the busiest hour of the day is the one just before sunset, when everybody walks slowly along the seafront and looks at the water.

Our angle here is deliberately unambitious. Al Hoceima is not a city of monuments, and we think that is exactly its gift to travelers over 60. There is no list to conquer. There is a bay, a handful of beaches tucked under limestone cliffs, a fishing port, a national park of ospreys and hidden coves, and cafés where a mint tea can reasonably last an hour.

One honest word before you fall in love: the town is built on slopes. The views are magnificent precisely because the streets tilt. With a well-chosen hotel and a friendly taxi driver, that is a detail rather than a problem — and this guide is largely about how to arrange it.

A little history

Al Hoceima is young as Moroccan towns go. It was founded in 1925 by Spanish forces as Villa Sanjurjo, during the closing years of the Rif War, and much of the old centre still shows it: low whitewashed buildings with green shutters, a grid of short streets, arcades and a square that would not look out of place in southern Spain.

The Rif itself is far older and far prouder. The mountains behind the town were the heart of the short-lived Republic of the Rif, proclaimed in the early 1920s under Abd el-Krim, one of the most remarkable episodes in North African history. The bay was also where Spanish troops landed in 1925 in what is often cited as an early model of a modern amphibious operation. After Morocco's independence in 1956, Villa Sanjurjo became Al Hoceima.

Modern memory here is marked by the earthquake of February 2004, which struck the province and caused very heavy loss of life in the villages inland. Much of what you see has been rebuilt or built since. It is worth knowing, because it explains why the town feels newer than its neighbours on the Mediterranean coast — and why hospitality here is offered with a certain quiet insistence.

Al Hoceima, photographed in August 2004.

What to see

Think of these as places to sit rather than sights to tick off.

The bay and the seafront

The town's great set piece is the bay itself: a deep curve of blue with the Rif falling straight into it. The seafront and the terraces above it are where the whole town gathers in the late afternoon. Walking along the level stretches is easy and pleasant; the connections up into the town centre are where the gradients live.

Quemado beach

Quemado is the main town beach, a crescent of sand directly below the centre, sheltered, calm and backed by cafés. It is the most convenient swim you will find anywhere on this coast — with one caveat, which is that "directly below" means a real descent from the upper town, and a real climb back.

The rock of Nekor (Peñón de Alhucemas)

From the bay you will notice a small fortified islet barely three hundred metres offshore. This is the Peñón de Alhucemas, known locally as the rock of Nekor: one of Spain's tiny plazas de soberanía, garrisoned by Spain since 1673 and claimed by Morocco. You cannot visit it, and that is part of its charm — a whole disputed frontier sitting in the middle of your sea view like a paperweight.

The fishing port

Al Hoceima still lives on fishing, and the port is the most honest theatre in town: boats unloading, nets mended on the quay, crates of sardines moving fast. Go in the morning, stay on the flat, and buy nothing.

The beach of Al Hoceima with the Spanish-held rock of Nekor offshore.

Beaches at a gentle pace

The province's beaches are its real inventory, and they differ enormously in how much effort they ask of you.

Within easy reach of town are Sfiha (also written Asfiha), a long strand a short drive west, and a string of smaller coves such as Cala Bonita, Izdi and Timchdin. The sheltered coves are lovely and often quieter than the town beach, but several of them are reached by steps or steep paths cut into the cliff, and a few are shingle rather than soft sand.

Our practical rule: ask at your hotel which beaches have vehicle access right down to the sand, and take a taxi to those. A petit taxi ride within town is short and inexpensive, and it converts a twenty-minute uphill trudge into a two-minute conversation. Water is generally calm here in summer, but there is no lifeguard culture to rely on outside the main beaches, so stay where other people are swimming.

Timchdin, one of the small beaches at Al Hoceima.

A day trip nearby

Al Hoceima National Park, created in 2004, spreads west of the town along roughly 50 kilometres of coast and covers some 480 square kilometres, about 40 per cent of it marine. It is a landscape of white limestone cliffs, Aleppo pine, carob and dwarf palm, with one of the Mediterranean's important osprey colonies, dolphins offshore and — rarely, and famously — Mediterranean monk seals.

The classic outing is west to the cove of Cala Iris and the village of Torres de Alcalá, roughly 55 to 60 kilometres from town, about an hour's drive on winding coastal and mountain roads. Cala Iris is a small fishing harbour with an island just off the beach and some of the clearest water in northern Morocco; Torres de Alcalá, a few minutes further, has a broad pebbly beach and simple places to eat fish.

Hire a car with a driver or negotiate a grand taxi for the day, leave in the morning, and treat it as one destination rather than three. The road is beautiful and the bends are constant — if you are prone to motion sickness, ask for the front seat and plan a stop.

Landscape in Al Hoceima Province, which stretches along the Rif coast.

Honest advice for comfortable travel

• Choose your altitude, not just your hotel. Al Hoceima is built on slopes, and the difference between a room near the seafront and one in the upper town is a daily climb. Ask specifically: how far, and how steep, to the promenade? Is there a lift?
• Use taxis without guilt. Rides within town are short and cheap, and they remove almost every hill from your day. Agree the fare or ask for the meter before setting off.
• Avoid August if you can. Summer here is warm rather than fierce — August averages around the mid-20s Celsius — but the town fills up with Moroccan families returning from Europe, and beaches, restaurants and hotels are at their busiest and dearest.
• Sun, not heat, is the issue. The Mediterranean light is strong even in spring. Hat, sunglasses, water, and shade between roughly noon and four.
• Mind the beach access. Steps and steep ramps are common. Firm, grippy shoes for the walk down, and something soft for shingle.
• Journeys are longer than the map suggests. Mountain and coastal roads here average well under highway speeds. Break any drive over three hours.
• Bring your medicines with you. There are pharmacies and a provincial hospital in town, but for anything complex the larger facilities are in Nador, Tétouan, Fes or Tangier. Travel insurance that covers repatriation is sensible.
• A word on language. The mother tongue of the Rif is Tarifit Berber, alongside Moroccan Arabic. You will also hear Spanish more than French in shops and cafés — a legacy that is genuinely useful if you have a little of it.

What to eat

Eat fish, and eat it simply. The signature plate of this coast is sardines, cleaned, brushed with chermoula — garlic, cumin, coriander, paprika, lemon — and grilled whole over charcoal, served with bread and a chopped salad. It costs very little and tastes like the reason you came.

Beyond that, look for fish tagine cooked slowly with preserved lemon, olives and tomato; brochettes of fish or swordfish from the grill; and the small Spanish inheritance that survives here in seafood rice dishes and in the habit of coffee taken standing up. In the mountains inland the cooking turns heartier: lentils, chicken, bread-based dishes such as rfissa, and bee-keeping country producing excellent honey.

Portions are generous and oil is used freely. If you prefer lighter eating, ask for grilled rather than fried, order one shared starter instead of the usual parade of salads, and remember that almost every café will make you a plain omelette and bread. Tap water is best avoided; bottled water is everywhere. Alcohol is served in some hotels and a few restaurants but is not part of ordinary life here.

Getting there

Our verdict

Al Hoceima will not overwhelm you, and after a week in Fes or Marrakech that may be precisely what you want. It is a place for readers who like a sea view from breakfast, a short flat walk to a café, one good excursion, and fish for lunch.

It suits you well if you are reasonably steady on your feet and happy to use taxis for the hills; it suits you less well if you need consistently level ground, step-free beach access or metropolitan medical care close at hand. Wheelchair users and those with serious mobility limits will find the terrain genuinely difficult, and we would rather say so than let you discover it on arrival.

For everyone else: come in late spring or September, book a room low on the hill and facing the bay, and give yourself permission to see almost nothing. The rock of Nekor will still be sitting out there in the blue, keeping its old argument going, while you finish your tea.

Nekor Island, held by Spain, off Al Hoceima.

“Here the Rif walks down to the sea, sits on the sand, and stops hurrying — and so, at last, do you.”

Photo credits

• Al Hoceima Beach: Smartyzs, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
• Al Hoceima Morocco: Westonmr, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
• DSC02882 a sight of al hoceima beach and the island of NEKOUR Spanish colony: SAMI AZAROUK, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
• DSC03782 a beach in al hoceima twon called Timchdin: SAMI AZAROUK, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
• Al Hoceima Province 741: MONUMENTA, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
• Nekor: Saber tayebioui, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons