Rabat, the capital

Facing onto the Atlantic, Rabat is an attractive city of domes and minarets, sweeping terraces, wide avenues and green spaces. It is markedly more pleasant than some other Moroccan cities and is also undergoing fundamental change. Facing Salé, its ancient rival, across Wadi Bou Regreg, Rabat is the political, administrative and financial capital of Morocco, the country’s main university town and its second-largest metropolis after Casablanca.

Imagine a white city rising up majestically at the estuary of a river, a city whose history goes back to the Antiquity, whose beauties have been enhanced over the centuries, a city chosen to be the capital of the Almohades Empire in the 12th century, then of present-day Morocco: that city is Rabat, the Royal city.  Rabat is the setting for the Royal Palace of his Majesty Mohamed VI. It is the seat of government, and of the ministries.  Rabat boasts the biggest university in the country and the city abounds in shops, bookshops, cinemas and theatres. 

... Rabat, the Royal city, gives its visitors a royal welcome.