Rabat Essential: The Hassan Tower, the Mohammed V Mausoleum, the Chellah Necropolis, the Kasbah of the Oudaias, the Royal Palace, and the Moroccan Capital Character
The Rabat essential circuit covers the Hassan Tower as the most symbolically powerful single monument in the Moroccan capital, the Mohammed V Mausoleum as the most sacred single royal tomb in Morocco, the Chellah as the most romantically ruined single archaeological site in any Moroccan city, the Kasbah of the Oudaias, and the Royal Palace as the most actively guarded single Moroccan royal residence.
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Hassan Tower: The Unfinished Almohad Minaret
The Hassan Tower (Tour Hassan), the unfinished minaret of the Hassan Mosque begun by the Almohad Sultan Yacoub al-Mansour in 1195 and abandoned at 44 meters height (the planned height was 80 meters, which would have made it the tallest single minaret in the world at completion) after the Sultan's death in 1199, is the most symbolically resonant single unfinished monument in Morocco and the landmark that most completely defines the Rabat skyline. The Hassan Tower esplanade, where 200 surviving marble columns from the original mosque prayer hall are arranged in the most geometrically regular single archaeological landscape in Morocco, provides the most dramatically scaled single open-air monument site in the Moroccan capital.
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Mohammed V Mausoleum: The Royal Family Tomb
The Mohammed V Mausoleum (completed 1971), the most sacred single royal tomb in Morocco containing the remains of Sultan Mohammed V (the independence leader, died 1961), King Hassan II (died 1999), and Prince Moulay Abdallah (died 1983), is the most architecturally elaborate single Moroccan building completed in the 20th century with the white onyx interior, the carved stucco, the zellige tile, and the cedar carved ceiling representing the most comprehensive single Moroccan craft vocabulary applied to a single building. The two Royal Guard soldiers standing motionless at the mausoleum entrance in the most ceremonially precise single Moroccan royal ceremony are the most photographed single military guards in Morocco.
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Chellah: The Roman-Islamic Necropolis Garden
The Chellah necropolis, the walled garden complex south of the Rabat medina enclosing the Roman Sala Colonia ruins (1st-3rd century AD, the most extensively visible single Roman street plan in Morocco) and the Marinid necropolis (14th century, with the minaret and the mosque ruins most beautifully overgrown by the ficus, the oleander, and the stork nests), is the most romantically atmospheric single archaeological site in any Moroccan city. The Chellah combination of the Roman column stump, the Marinid prayer hall, the stork nests on the minaret, and the wild garden is the most unexpectedly beautiful single Moroccan historical site.
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Kasbah of the Oudaias: The Atlantic Clifftop Fortification
The Kasbah of the Oudaias, the 12th century Almohad fortified citadel on the Atlantic cliff at the Bou Regreg River mouth, is the most atmospherically complete single Moroccan coastal kasbah with the Almohad Bab Oudaias gateway (the most elaborately carved single Almohad gate still standing, 1195 AD), the Andalusian garden with the most fragrant single citrus and rose planting in any Moroccan medina garden, and the terrace overlooking the Atlantic and the Sale medina and the Bou Regreg estuary. The Kasbah Oudaias blue and white painted houses are the second most photographed single blue and white medina in Morocco after Chefchaouen.
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Royal Palace: The Active Royal Residence
The Rabat Royal Palace (Dar al-Makhzen), the most actively used single Moroccan royal residence (King Mohammed VI divides his time between the Rabat, the Casablanca, and the Marrakech palaces), covers 48 hectares in the Mechouar district south of the medina with the most elaborate single royal gate complex in Morocco. The palace grounds are not accessible to the public but the ceremonial gates (the most elaborately zellige-decorated single palace entrance in Morocco) and the regular Royal Guard change ceremony at the palace entrance are the most visible single royal presence activities available to the Rabat visitor.
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Rabat Character: The Most Livable Moroccan City
Rabat is the most livable single Moroccan city for the expatriate, the diplomat, and the international civil servant with the most complete single European urban infrastructure (wide boulevards, public parks, Ville Nouvelle French city grid, modern tram system), the lowest single tourist commercial pressure in any Moroccan imperial city, and the most developed single international restaurant scene in Morocco outside of Casablanca. The Rabat character - the most French-influenced single Moroccan city in its daily rhythm, the most politically charged single Moroccan city as the seat of government, and the most undervisited single Moroccan UNESCO city - makes it the most complex single Moroccan capital in the international travel imagination.