Things to Do in Bouregreg Marina

Rowboat crossing to Salé

Skip the bridge. Take one of the blue-and-white wooden barques that shuttle between the marina quay and Salé's old port. The boatmen pole and row in shifts, the crossing takes maybe four minutes, and you'll arrive smelling of river and fish at a stone landing that's been in use since merchants were trading wax and leather here in the 1600s.

Sunset walk along the Oudaias kasbah ramparts

The Kasbah of the Udayas rises directly above the marina's western bank, and its ochre walls catch the last light in a way that feels almost theatrical. The lanes are whitewashed. You'll wander past cats sprawled on doorsteps and lanes painted blue at knee-height before emerging onto the platform that looks straight down the river mouth to the Atlantic.

Hassan Tower and Mohammed V Mausoleum

A ten-minute walk from the marina takes you to the unfinished 12th-century minaret that was meant to be the largest in the world. It's surrounded by a forest of stubby marble columns where the prayer hall never got built. Across the way sits the mausoleum. Morocco's last three kings rest there, and guards in red cloaks stand motionless for hours, somehow making it feel like the most reverent open-air space in the city.

Coffee at the marina-front cafés

Cafés line the eastern quay, with Le Dhow's converted boat the most photogenic. The standard Moroccan repertoire applies: mint tea, café noir, and surprisingly competent pastries. Claim a terrace seat. You'll get the full sweep: yachts, fishing skiffs, the tram crossing overhead, and the white silhouette of the Grand Théâtre by Zaha Hadid looming on the Salé side.

Chellah necropolis excursion

Twenty minutes by petit taxi from the marina drops you inside the walled ruins of a Roman city the Merinids later turned into a royal burial ground, now thoroughly colonised by storks nesting on every minaret stump. Broken columns. Flowering oleander. The constant clack of stork beaks gives the place an unhurried, slightly haunted feeling that the marina itself lacks.

Kasbah of the Udayas area. Atmospheric, walkable to the marina, with small riads tucked into the blue-and-white lanes.

Hassan district. Close to the tower and mausoleum, midrange hotels and quieter evenings.

Rabat Medina. Proper old-city stay with souk noise included, ten minutes' walk to the water.

Agdal. Modern, leafy, business-hotel territory if you want predictable comfort over character.

Salé Medina. Cheaper, scruffier, more authentically lived-in, with the tram for easy marina access.

Bouregreg riverfront apartments. Short-let flats with marina views, good if you're staying more than a couple of nights.