Day Trip to Ceuta from Tetouan

If you’ve been reading this blog for the last few months, you’ll be fully aware of my absolute love of whitewashed cities. In southern Spain, pueblos blancos were everywhere and I swooned at their clean lines and fresh coats of paint accented by potted plants and bright flowers. Well the city of Tetouan in Northern Morocco captured my heart for all the same reasons, and more! Mac and I also did a little day trip to Ceuta from Tetouan – more on that below!

Tetouan, Morocco

Like I mentioned, Tetouan is Morocco’s answer to Spains pueblos blancos. Though the medina is pretty chaotic (as is the norm in Morocco) I loved when I was able to find empty alleyways which eluded to an infrequent calm.

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It might have been the time of year, but we were pretty shocked that we hardly saw any other tourists. The late-February weather was pretty mild for these wimpy Canadians, so it feels like we hit the jackpot for “best time to go to Tetouan”! Our hotel did  have a basic kitchen, but you know those times when you really don’t feel like cooking? Well I was having one of those days weeks, so Mac and I opted to go out for dinner. A rarity for us. We found a cheap diner of sorts that had awesome falafel wraps and easily inhaled two of them, each. They were so good that the next night we went back for more!

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These are my memories of Tetouan: white buildings & falafels. haha.

Day Trip to Ceuta from Tetouan

Fortunately our time in this white city was memorialized by more than just deep fried chickpea batter. Our day trip to Ceuta from Tetouan was a real highlight and honestly a unique story of a whacky border crossing. Factoid: Ceuta is called Sebta in Moroccan Berber language. In case you’re wondering, Ceuta is one of two small Spanish autonomous cities in mainland Africa. It and the city of Melilla are situated along the coast and are separated by mainland Spain by the straight of Gibraltar & Mediterranean Sea, respectively. As is the case with political borders and disputed territories, there has been much controversy about Ceuta over the years. Morocco claims that it should be under Moroccan rule, but that doesn’t seem like it will happen anytime soon. Spanish is the official language of Ceuta and visitors must go through official border procedures to enter this peninsula. And that’s just what Mac and I did on our day trip to Ceuta from Tetouan!

After a convoluted series of taxis we ended up at the border gates. Paperwork was filled out, our passports were stamped (exiting Morocco) and after a long walk between high fences, we were in Spain! Borders are weird. (For more details about the border process, check out the Practical Information at the end of this post.)

There is a city bus that runs from the border to the downtown core, but it was such a nice day that we opted to walk along the coast! It didn’t take long for the culture shock to set in. We were quickly surrounded by gigantic grocery stores, clean streets, high buildings – all rarities in most parts of Morocco.

Our afternoon on Ceuta was spent roaming the city streets and climbing to the top of Parque de San Amaro for an epic view over the city and the Straight of Gibraltar. Given the haze, it was a bit difficult to see The Rock, but on clear days the 14km separating Europe from Africa doesn’t seem so long!

Ceuta is thought to be the southern post of the two Pillars of Hercules (the other being The Rock of Gibraltar). Although I’m not too informed on the story behind the legend, I can confirm that Hercules does make an appearance throughout the city streets.

We rounded out the day by relaxing on the beach and gawking at the young Spanish kids flaunting about – dressed totally opposite to what we had become used to in Morocco! Mac and I caught the bus back to the border and proceeded to reverse the steps we had taken earlier that day. Before we knew it, we were back amidst the chaos and headed back to our hotel in Tetouan’s medina. The day trip to Ceuta from Tetouan had been a success and we arrived back in Tetouan just in time for another falafel dinner.

Practical Information for a Day Trip to Ceuta from Tetouan

If you don’t have a car, the best way to get to Ceuta is by taxi. Before you go, there are two city names you’ll need to know: M’diq and Fnideq (don’t worry, I still can’t pronounce them correctly either). M’diq is along the coast, about 13km (30 minutes) from Tetouan. Fnideq is further along the coast from M’diq – another 23km (45 minutes).

Getting to Ceuta

In Tetouan there are two taxi stands, one with taxis for M’diq, the other with taxis for Fnideq (see map below). If you can snag a taxi to Fnideq, take that one, otherwise, grab a spot in one of the more frequent taxis to M’diq (7dh each). Note that all the taxis I’ll refer to in this section are Grand Taxis. They typically sit six passengers and don’t leave until all the seats are full. Most are vans, but some will be cars that still manage to squeeze in seven people.

Just around the corner from where you get dropped off in M’diq is the taxi stand for Fnideq (10dh each). In a confusing twist, Fnideq is actually located about 5km from the Ceuta-Moroccan border. We paid our taxi driver another 4dh each to drive us that extra 5km.

Border Crossing

As is the case with most things Moroccan, the border crossing was a vision of pure chaos. We filled out exit forms (purchased for 1dh by a random hawker near the booth – we also used his pen) and then waited not in an orderly line, but in a mob, for our spot at the window. We were stamped out of Morocco then followed the flow of people across the border. I mention the chaos because there seemed to be no order for who needed a passport stamp. Hoards of Moroccan’s walked across without a care in the world, and we even saw people jumping the fences from their cars into the pedestrian corridor.

We crossed into Ceuta – EU territory – and the border guards there barely glanced at our passports. We did not receive a stamp going into Spain and although tempted, we decided not to question it. I’m not sure what would happen if you stayed for more than one day…

On the way back we saw the same stuff – people jumping fences, walking through the border without showing passports, etc. We filled out the same paperwork and got stamped back into Morocco without any fuss.

Back to Tetouan

Just across the border, there is a HUGE taxi stand. We paid the same 4dh to get a ride back to Fnideq. It’s about a 10 minute walk from where we got dropped off to where the taxis to Tetouan are located. Here we paid 17dh each for the long ride back to the white city.

All in all we paid 42dh each (~$4.50USD) for transport for our day trip to Ceuta from Tetouan.

Tell me, have you ever heard of Ceuta? What’s the most convoluted border crossing you’ve experienced?

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