Rabat Day Trip from Casablanca: Hassan Tower, Udayas Kasbah & Chellah

Rabat, Morocco's capital, is calm, green and elegant, and its historic centre is listed by UNESCO. Only an hour from Casablanca, it is an easy and rewarding day trip. Your private driver-guide first takes you to the Hassan Tower, the unfinished minaret of a 12th-century mosque that was meant to be the largest in the world, and the Mausoleum of Mohammed V beside it, with its royal guards and richly decorated interior. Next you walk through the Kasbah of the Udayas, a fortress above the mouth of the Bou Regreg river, where blue-and-white lanes lead to a viewpoint over the ocean and the Andalusian Gardens; stop for mint tea and almond pastries at the Café Maure. After lunch you visit Chellah, a walled site where Roman ruins and a Merinid necropolis are overgrown with fig trees and home to nesting storks. You also pass the Royal Palace gates and the medina before returning to Casablanca in the late afternoon.