The beauty of Chefchaouen's mountainous surroundings are enhanced by the contrast of the brightly painted medina (old town). It is this beauty and the relaxed atmosphere of the town that makes Chefchaouen very attractive to visitors.

The city was founded in 1471 as a small kasbah (fortress) by Moulay Ali ibn Rashid al-Alami, a descendant of Abd as-Salam al-Alami and Idris I, and through them, of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Al-Alami founded the city to fight the Portuguese invasions of northern Morocco. Along with the Ghomara tribes of the region, many Moriscos and Jews settled here after the Spanish Reconquista in medieval times. In 1920, the Spanish seized Chaouen to form part of Spanish Morocco. Spanish troops imprisoned Abd el-Krim el-Khattabi in the kasbah from 1916 to 1917, after he talked with the German consul Dr. Walter Zechlin (1879–1962).

When someday comes you'll need to get in.

When someday comes you'll need to be able to get around.