Chefchaouen, Morocco

Why go

Chefchaouen is in the Rif mountains, and it is blue. Not a blue door here and there, the entire medina, walls, steps, plant pots, the underside of arches. Nobody agrees why. Some say the Jewish community brought it in the 1930s, some say it keeps mosquitoes off, some say it is simply what the town does now. What matters is what it does to the light: the lanes glow, and photographs come out looking retouched when they are not. It is small, you can walk all of it in an afternoon, so the trip is really about slowing down. Climb to the Spanish Mosque for sunset over the rooftops, drink mint tea in Place Outa el Hammam, buy a blanket woven in the mountains.

Good to know

• Fly into Tangier (TNG) or Fez (FEZ), then roughly three hours by road
• Two or three nights, easily combined with Fez or Tangier
• Stay inside the medina, cars cannot get in and that is the charm
• Summer is hot at this altitude, spring and autumn are the sweet spots

Best March to May, and September to November.