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Taza: A Quiet Hilltop City Between Two Mountain Ranges

Taza guards the pass between the Rif and the Middle Atlas: an old city on a hill, Morocco's oldest Almohad mosque, and forests and caves an hour away. Almost no tourists.

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SeniorTravelWithUs • 12 min read

Most travelers see Taza through a train window. The Fès–Oujda line runs along the plain below, and the old city sits high on its hill, ochre walls and a minaret catching the light, while everyone stays in their seats and carries on eastward.

Get off. Taza is one of the few Moroccan medinas where nobody will invite you into a carpet shop, because there are almost no carpet shops. What there is instead: a compact old town you can cross in twenty minutes, a mosque older than anything standing in Marrakech, ramparts with a view over olive groves and two mountain ranges, and, half an hour up the road, cork-oak forest and one of Africa's deepest caves, reopened to visitors in the summer of 2026 after ten years closed.

It is not a polished destination. Hotels are simple, English is scarce, and the old city is genuinely steep. But for travelers who have already done Fès and Chefchaouen and want a day in a real Moroccan town, Taza is a very rewarding detour — and, at around 120 km east of Fès, an easy one.

A little history

Taza exists because of a gap in the mountains. Here the Rif to the north and the Middle Atlas to the south almost meet, leaving a corridor a few kilometres wide — the Taza Gap — which for centuries was the only comfortable way between eastern Algeria and the Atlantic plains of Morocco. Armies, caravans and, later, the railway all funnelled through it.

Whoever wanted to rule Morocco from the east had to take Taza first. A settlement grew from a 10th-century military camp; the Almoravids took it in 1074, the Almohads in 1132, and the Marinids in 1248 — each dynasty pausing here before advancing on Fès. The Almohad caliph Abd al-Mu'min used the town as a base and founded its Great Mosque around 1142. The Marinids enlarged the mosque and built a madrasa; the 'Alawi sultans repaired the walls. The French took the town in 1914 and laid out a new quarter on the plain below, which is why Taza today is really two towns: the medina on its ridge at roughly 585 m, and the ville nouvelle about 140 m lower.

All of that history is still legible. The circuit of walls, the gates, the mosque and the old souk streets are essentially the medieval town, lived in rather than restored for visitors.

Restored ramparts at Bab Jemaa, one of the gates in the wall around Taza's old city.

Restored ramparts at Bab Jemaa, one of the gates in the wall around Taza's old city.

What to see

Taza's sights are modest in number and unusually easy to combine: the medina is small, and almost everything sits along one ridge-top spine.

The Great Mosque

Founded by the Almohads in the 1140s, this is the oldest surviving Almohad mosque in Morocco, extended by the Marinids in the 1290s. Inside hangs an enormous bronze chandelier given by Sultan Abu Yaqub Yusuf in 1294 — about 2.5 m across, some three tonnes, once holding more than five hundred oil lamps, and the largest of its kind left in North Africa. As almost everywhere in Morocco, non-Muslim visitors do not enter, but the street doorways are handsome and often open, and you can look along the arcades from the threshold. Walk the lanes around the outside to take in the scale of it.

The walls and Bab er-Rih

The medina is still ringed by its old ramparts, and the promenade along them is the real pleasure of Taza. At the northern end, Bab er-Rih — the Gate of the Wind — looks out over the valley, the olive groves and, on a clear day, the Rif on one side and the Middle Atlas on the other. It is flat walking once you are up on the ridge, with low walls to lean on and plenty of shade in the late afternoon.

Bab Jemaa and the southern viewpoints

Bab Jemaa is the gate on the southern side, where the wall drops away towards the new town. From Avenue Bir Anzaren nearby you get the town's best panorama: rooftops falling towards the plain, farmland beyond, mountains behind. The gate itself has a flight of stairs on its lower side — pleasant to look at, less pleasant to climb, so see the note in our advice section.

The souks, the Andalous mosque and the madrasa

Between the two ends of the ridge runs the old market street, with the Market Mosque, spice and grain sellers, and the bread ovens. Further along stand the Andalous mosque and a small Marinid madrasa. This is an everyday Moroccan souk: vegetables, olives, plastic buckets, mint. Thursday is the big market day, when villagers come in from the mountains — the liveliest morning of the week, and the busiest for walking.

One of the street entrances to the Great Mosque of Taza.

One of the street entrances to the Great Mosque of Taza.

A day trip nearby: Tazekka National Park

Half an hour south of town the road climbs into Tazekka National Park, created in 1950 and now the main reason many Moroccans know Taza at all. It is a different world from the plain: cork oak and cedar forest, limestone uplands, shepherds, and views that open suddenly at every bend.

Three stops make an unhurried day, all reachable on tarmac with a hired car and driver or a negotiated grand taxi:

  • Bab Boudir, a small hill village about 34 km from Taza, is the gateway to the park and a good place to stop for tea among the trees.
  • Daya Chiker, just beyond, is a broad flat-floored limestone basin — a polje — ringed by hills and planted with fields and poplars. In autumn the poplars turn gold; in spring the floor is green. Little walking is required, and the birdlife is excellent.
  • The Friouato cave, around 30 km south of Taza, is one of the deepest known cavities in Africa at close to 270 m. It was closed for a decade after a fatal rockfall and reopened to the public in late July 2026 after major safety works, with new lighting and guided visits for a fee.

Be realistic about Friouato. Even with the improvements, reaching the cave floor means a long, steep staircase descending into a huge open shaft, then climbing all of it back up. Plenty of visitors go only to the rim, look down into the mouth of the pit, and call that enough — which it honestly is. Ask your guide what today's conditions are like before you start down, and don't feel obliged to finish.

Sunset over the Daya Chiker valley near Bab Boudir, with black poplars in autumn colour and a flock heading home.

Sunset over the Daya Chiker valley near Bab Boudir, with black poplars in autumn colour and a flock heading home.

Honest advice for comfortable travel

  • Sleep in the ville nouvelle, visit the medina by taxi. Hotels cluster in the new town around Place de l'Indépendance, on flat ground near cafés, banks and the food. The medina is a few kilometres away and a couple of hundred metres higher. Take an inexpensive petit taxi up to Bab er-Rih or the mosque, walk the ridge on the level, and take another taxi down. This single decision removes almost all the effort from a visit to Taza.
  • The old city is steep at the edges, flat in the middle. Along the ridge the walking is easy and mostly paved. The climbs are on the approaches and at the gates — Bab Jemaa in particular has a stair flight on its lower side. Ask a taxi to drop you at the top of whichever gate you want to see.
  • Surfaces are uneven. Cobbles, worn stone, occasional broken paving and no handrails in the lanes. Shoes with grip matter more here than in the big tourist cities; a walking pole is genuinely useful.
  • Two half-days beat one long day. Medina and ramparts in the late afternoon when it cools and the light is beautiful; mountains the following morning.
  • Avoid July and August. Taza summers are severe: average July highs around 36 °C, with 46 °C recorded in recent years and very little shade on the ramparts.
  • Little English, some French. Basic French, a translation app and a written hotel address go a long way. Tourism is thin here, which is the charm and also the practical challenge.
  • Bring what you need. Pharmacies and ATMs are in the new town, not the medina. Carry water, a hat and your medicines with you.
  • Consider hiring a car with a driver for the park day. There is no public transport to the cave or the lakes, roads are winding, and a driver who waits for you is far more comfortable than improvising.

The lower side of Bab Jemaa and its stairs; the old city stands on the hilltop, the new town on the plain below.

The lower side of Bab Jemaa and its stairs; the old city stands on the hilltop, the new town on the plain below.

What to eat

Taza is not a restaurant destination, and that is part of its appeal: you eat what the town eats, in simple places on and around the main square of the new town, at prices that will surprise anyone arriving from Fès or Marrakech.

Look for rfissa, a dish of chicken and lentils fragrant with fenugreek, served over shredded msemen pancakes — a regional favourite and, for many, the best thing on a Taza table. Tagines here lean on local produce: lamb from the mountains, chicken with preserved lemon and olives, quince or prunes in season. Harira, the tomato and lentil soup, is served in the evenings and is easy on a tired stomach.

The country around Taza is olive and bee territory. Olive oil is pressed locally and poured generously, and mountain honey from the Tazekka slopes is a genuine local pride — sold in the souk in recycled jars, thick and dark, and a good gift to carry home. Breakfast is bread, olive oil, honey, mint tea; that alone is worth waking up for.

One caution: Taza's kitchens are small and unhurried. Order simply, don't expect an English menu, and allow more time than you would at home.

Getting there

Taza sits directly on the Fès–Oujda axis, served by both the main road and the railway, which makes it one of the easier small Moroccan towns to reach without a car.
Nearest airports Fès–Saïss (FEZ), roughly 130–140 km west, about 1.5–2 hours by road. Oujda Angads (OUD) lies roughly 220–240 km east, about 2.5–3 hours. Casablanca is the main long-haul gateway, about 4–5 hours away by train plus a connection.
By train ONCF trains link Fès and Taza in roughly 2 to 2.5 hours, several times a day, continuing east to Oujda. The station is in the new town, on flat ground. This is the gentlest way to arrive.
By road About 120 km from Fès, roughly 1.5 hours by car on the N6 or the parallel motorway. CTM buses run the route in about 2 hours, and shared grand taxis leave when full.
Getting around Petit taxis are cheap and plentiful between the new town and the medina. For Tazekka National Park, hire a car with a driver or negotiate a grand taxi for the day.
Best months April to early June, and mid-September to November. October and November are lovely in the mountains. Winters are cool and wet, with snow on the high ground; July and August are punishingly hot.
How long to stay One night for the medina and ramparts; two nights if you want a full day in the national park.
Currency Moroccan dirham (MAD). Bring cash for the souk and the mountains; ATMs are in the new town, and cards are accepted only in a few places.

Distant view of Taza from the RN29 road approaching from the south.

Distant view of Taza from the RN29 road approaching from the south.

Our verdict

Taza will not give you the sensory overwhelm of Fès or the photogenic calm of Chefchaouen. What it gives is rarer: a Moroccan town of 150,000 people that has kept a medieval hilltop core, a mosque of real historical weight, and a wall walk with two mountain ranges on the horizon — and that treats a foreign visitor as a curiosity rather than a customer.

For travelers over 60, we would recommend it warmly with one condition: stay on the flat in the new town and let taxis do the climbing. Do that, and Taza becomes an easy, unhurried stop — a late afternoon on the ramparts, a plate of rfissa, a morning among the cork oaks of Tazekka — slotted neatly into the journey between Fès and the east, or the Rif coast.

Go now, while the cave is newly open and the souk still sells buckets rather than souvenirs.

View south over Taza city from Avenue Bir Anzaren.

View south over Taza city from Avenue Bir Anzaren.

“Taza keeps the pass, and the pass keeps Taza quiet.”

Photo credits

#Morocco#Taza#Fès-Meknès
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