Is Tétouan Safe for Solo Female Travelers?

Solo travel

Something that will give you a good impression of my time in Tétouan is the fact that it was very very hard for me to leave. I spent three nights there and to my surprise, I would have loved to stay longer! It was my first ever solo travel place, but not my first time in Morocco. I felt safe walking around alone, also at night, while being in the city. For being in morocco I use some strategies to keep male catcalling and unwanted attention to a minimum (sunglasses, no eye contact, resting bitch face, being "rude" (not staying polite Ben when I'm uncomfortable that is)), but I soon started to greet people I passed in the streets. Tétouan is a lot more layed back than bigger cities in Morocco. I did feel I was stretching what is safe to do as a solo traveler when I went hiking to Mount Bouanan - I stayed on the road where the cars drive along the mountainside and felt ok there, but more alert than in any city ever on Morocco. And I would have loved to go on the trails, but that's something one should only do with a guide. The things to do in Tétouan for me are: Take a stroll through the Medina of course I visited each gate to the Medina Go to place El Mechouar and then from there walk to Molay El mehdi Go to the Tétouan Modern Arts Center (right now they have a great temporary exhibition on comics downstairs!) Visit Green Olive Arts, if they happen to be open for visitors! See the Ethnographic Museum of Tétouan and think about all the stuff Europeans took away from Morocco, so that they have to work with little things to make a museum. While European museum have the most valuable things on exhibition. It's still a very well made museum with interesting pieces and in beautiful building with a garden :) Take a cab to the side of Mount Bouanan and enjoy a coffee or tea at one of the many places there. The view on Tétouan is beautiful (and if you can, find a guide or some people and go properly hiking there) Visit the Both El Hafa Café. Visit Camo Teahouse, they play live music every night, male a splendid mocca and the people there are just generally chill to hang out with. Go to the Medina Hammam :) I payed 3MAD for a generous scoop of the traditional black soap (usual price in morocco is 10mad for a kg of the black soap) at a Hanout in the Medina, 20mad for a nice hammam washcloth, then at the hammam 70mad - 20 for entry and 50 for a lady to guide me through the whole thing and scrub and wash me down. You can leave your valuables with the women working there, no problem :) I did a half-day trip to Martil, a beach town nearby. It works very well to take a grand taxi there, also I felt very safe the whole time. And the beach is nice, there are spots for food and tea next to the beach, I ate at restaurant seidi a bit more inside, and would recommend going there. The food you get for how much you pay is insane. The Tajine with crevettes was one of my absolute favorite meals in three weeks of morocco travel! I stayed at the Casa Marwan and felt very safe there, Fatima, Sara and Marwan were all lovely hosts. Walking, the bus, grand taxi or a cab are all good options. When taking a taxi make sure to insist on the meter (they all have a working one, don't let someone fool you), except if you know how much the price should be and can agree on it. So, yeah Tétouan was lovely, I could have spent more time there! I miss the old Medina in its hill a lot. It felt very safe to me, maybe also more so than other places in Morocco, because it's smaller? And the art scene there is so good. And hiking. And the views due to the mountains that you have all the time! Sigh.