How do you get from Chefchaouen to the Akchour waterfalls?

Shared grand taxis run from Chefchaouen to Akchour, about 30 km and roughly 45 minutes each way on mountain roads. Leave before 9am to be on the trail ahead of the day-trippers, and agree your return pick-up point when you are dropped off.

When should you walk up to the Spanish Mosque?

Late afternoon. The Spanish Mosque is a roofless 1920s building on the hillside east of the medina; the trail starts near Ras el-Maa and takes roughly 30–40 minutes uphill, so set off about an hour before sunset.

CHEFCHAOUEN · GUIDES

Chefchaouen in 2 Days

A walking day in the blue medina, then a hiking day at Akchour.

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Chefchaouenguides

Chefchaouen in 2 Days

A walking day in the blue medina, then a hiking day at Akchour.

The route

8 stops

1
Plaza Uta el-Hammam — start the first morning on the main medina square, lined with cafés under the Rif slopes.
2
Kasbah of Chefchaouen — mid-morning, cross the square into the walled fortress for the ethnographic museum, the Andalusian garden and the tower view over the rooftops.
3
Chefchaouen Medina — after lunch, wander the blue-washed lanes uphill from the square; the old town takes well under an hour to cross.
4
Ras el-Maa — late afternoon, follow the alleys east to the spring where the mountain water comes out at the medina's edge.
5
Spanish Mosque — about an hour before sunset, take the trail from Ras el-Maa up to the roofless 1920s mosque for the view over the whole blue town.
6
Lina Ryad & Spa — first evening, a hammam and scrub at this medina riad a few minutes' walk from Plaza Uta el-Hammam; the hammam takes non-residents.
7
Akchour Waterfalls — day two, leave before 9am by shared grand taxi and hike the Oued Farda gorge to God's Bridge and the cascades.
8
Talassemtane National Park — the same day: Akchour sits inside this park, created to protect the Rif's endemic Moroccan fir, with longer trails climbing above the gorge.

Chefchaouen is a small blue-washed town in Morocco's Rif Mountains, compact enough to cross on foot. This two-day plan covers Plaza Uta el-Hammam, the Kasbah, the medina lanes, Ras el-Maa and the Spanish Mosque viewpoint on day one. Day two leaves town for Akchour, a river gorge about 30 km away inside Talassemtane National Park, reached by shared grand taxi.

FAQs

Two days is enough for Chefchaouen. The first day covers the medina, the Kasbah, Ras el-Maa and the Spanish Mosque entirely on foot, and the second frees you for the Akchour waterfalls hike about 30 km away in the Rif Mountains.

From the journal