Located in northern Morocco is one of its most famous cities, Chefchaouen. Known as “the blue pearl”, Chefchaouen has become famous specifically for one reason: the color blue. Travel from Tangier to Chefchaouen only takes a few hours, making it easy to reach this famous city.
Where is Chefchaouen?
Chefchaouen is located in the northern Rif Mountains of Morocco, about 2 hours south of Tangier. Tangier is also the closest major city to Chefchaouen, making it one of the easiest places to travel from to reach Chefchaouen. You’ll definitely want to add it to your Morocco Itinerary.
Why visit Chefchaouen Morocco?
The city of Chefchaouen is painted in different shades of blue, making it one of those “must visit” places in Morocco. It’s that blue paint that has made it kind of ledgendary on bucket lists around the world.
I will admit…it’s totally worth seeing in person! Just be sure to leave some breadcrumbs when you’re exploring because it’s not hard to get turned around and a little lost when you’re walking through the town.
How far is Tangier from Chefchaouen?
Tangier is located about 112km, or about 70 miles from Chefchaouen making it reachable in about 2 hours. Whether you plan on visiting for a few days or just want to take a day trip from Tangier to Chefchaouen, your options for travel are the same. You can only get there by bus or car.
Tangier to Chefchaouen by bus
Taking the bus from Tangier to Chefchauoen will be the cheapest way to travel and takes about 2 hours and 45 minutes. You’ll first have to take a taxi to the bus station but that should only cost a few dollars.
You can buy tickets on the CTM website or show up in person to buy them. Just remember if you’re traveling during the busy season you will want to buy your tickets ahead of time. From Tangier the price of the bus ride is only $10.
The photo below shows the times and prices of the buses that travel from Tangier to Chefchaouen.
The CTM bus station is about a 15 minute drive from the Tangier medina.
Tangier to Chefchaouen by Car
Your other option to get to Chefchaouen is to take a car. You can either rent a car and drive yourself or you can hire a private driver.
Hiring a private driver may seem expensive but it’s not. It’s very common to hire a private driver or taxi to get around Morocco.
We traveled to Chefchaouen from Tangier by hiring a private driver. We spoke with our host at the riad we stayed at in Tangier and she arranged everything for us. Our driver was a taxi driver and I know your first thought might be that this has to be expensive.
You’ll find that most hotels or riads know drivers so that is the best way to find one if this is the way you want to go. We had 5 people in our group and it cost us just $9 each for a one way ride to Chefchaouen. The drive to Chefchaouen will take about 2 hours by car.
We only arranged this the day before and had no issues. In fact, we didn’t arrange any of our travel in Morocco until we were there except for our train between Fez and Marrakesh. The nice thing about hiring a driver is that you can stop whenever you want for photos or bathroom breaks.
Traveling from Tangier to Chefchaouen
In just as little as a few hours, you can easily reach Chefchaouen by car or bus. Either rent a car and drive yourself, especially if you have multiple destinations in Morocco to visit or hire a driver to take you there. Driving is the quickest way to reach Chefchaouen.
The more budget friendly option (and no navigational skills needed) is to purchase tickets for the CTM bus and let someone else do the driving. Either way, you’ll be there in just a few hours.
