Rabat is where Asian visitors on official or corporate business spend their time, and where leisure travellers consistently underestimate how much they will enjoy the city. Most of the Asian diplomatic missions are here alongside the ministries, and Rabat carries a measured, orderly feel a long way from Marrakech.
It rewards a proper visit. The Hassan Tower is the unfinished minaret of a mosque begun by Yaqub al-Mansur in 1195 and abandoned at his death - had it been completed it would have been the largest in the world. Beside it stands the mausoleum of Mohammed V. The Chellah, further out, is a Roman town that became a Merinid necropolis and is now half garden and half ruin.
By Moroccan standards the driving here is undemanding, yet the embassy quarter, the government district and the medina all lie well apart, and space near the kasbah is at a premium. A driver takes the friction out of it. Every booking is private and the rate agreed beforehand.
Why hire a driver here
- The embassy and ministry quarters lie scattered across the capital
- Near the kasbah and medina, parking is scarce and attendant-managed
- Most arrivals are actually into Casablanca, an hour down the coast
- The tram covers the centre but not the sites visitors want to reach
- Rabat is forty minutes from Casablanca by fast train
Included in every booking
- Fuel, tolls and the driver's fee for the agreed route
- Airport, hotel, embassy or Rabat-Ville station pickup
- English-speaking drivers as standard on the Asia site
- Waiting time between appointments at no extra hourly charge
- Prayer and halal meal stops planned into the day
