01Café
Café Hafa
Stepping down a cliff above the sea since 1921, Hafa is the city's most storied café — glasses of sweet mint tea, the Strait of Gibraltar below, and a guest list that ran from Paul Bowles to the Rolling Stones.
Tangier, MoroccoConcierge · 7 Days · 9–21H GMT+1
Things to do · Tangier
Things to do in Tangier
Tangier eats with one foot in Morocco and one across the strait. Fresh Atlantic fish, Spanish-tinged tapas, Rif honey and the city's deep café culture all meet here. From cliff-edge mint tea to the fish market grill, here is how to taste the White City.
8 experiences
The best of Tangier
02Seafood
Grilled fish at the port market
Tangier's catch comes ashore daily. At the fish market and the small grills around the old port and Grand Socco, you pick your fish by the kilo and have it grilled on the spot — the freshest, most honest meal in town.
03Café
Petit Socco café terraces
The cafés ringing the Petit Socco, Café Central chief among them, are less about the menu than the ritual: a coffee, a newspaper and an hour of watching the medina flow past in a square thick with history.
04Food
Tangier-style tapas
Decades as an international city left Tangier with a Spanish streak. Small bars and restaurants in the ville nouvelle serve tapas-style plates and seafood alongside Moroccan staples — a flavour found nowhere else in the country.
05Street food
Street food & msemen
Around the Grand Socco and medina, stalls turn out flaky msemen pancakes, bowls of bissara fava-bean soup, fresh juices and snails in broth — cheap, fast and thoroughly local eating on the move.
06Restaurant
Le Saveur du Poisson
A famous family-run fish house near the Grand Socco serving a fixed multi-course seafood feast from the day's catch, with no printed menu. A Tangier institution that rewards arriving hungry and curious.
07Café
Pâtisseries & mint tea
The ville nouvelle's old-school pâtisseries pair Moroccan almond pastries and Andalusian sweets with strong coffee or mint tea — a sit-down tradition that the city takes seriously at any hour.
08Market
Rif honey, olives & cheese
The markets below the Grand Socco carry the produce of the surrounding Rif: mountain honey, cured olives, goat cheese and herbs brought down by Jbala farmers. The best edible souvenirs in the north.
Frequently asked
What food is Tangier known for?
Tangier is known for very fresh Atlantic and Mediterranean seafood, grilled fish from the port, and a distinctive Spanish influence that shows up in tapas-style dishes — a legacy of its cosmopolitan past. Its café culture, especially mint tea at spots like Café Hafa, is part of the local identity too.
Why is Café Hafa famous?
Café Hafa has perched on a cliff above the sea since 1921 and became a legendary haunt of writers and musicians, from the Beat generation and Paul Bowles to the Rolling Stones. People come as much for the history and the strait view as for the mint tea.
Where can I eat fresh fish in Tangier?
Head for the port fish market and the small grills around the old harbour and Grand Socco, where you can choose the day's catch and have it grilled. Sit-down institutions like Le Saveur du Poisson near the Grand Socco serve a fixed seafood feast from the same fresh supply.
Does Tangier have Spanish-influenced food?
Yes. Decades as an international city under heavy Spanish influence left Tangier with tapas-style small plates and seafood preparations not commonly found elsewhere in Morocco, alongside the standard tagines, couscous and street food.
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