There are several Atlantic beaches west of Tangier, which all offer a good alternative to the town beach. The setting of these beaches can be most attractive, with mountains on all sides, yet with a wide and clean beach with all necessary amenities.

Beach Walk

One of the main centres of afternoon and early evening activities in Tangier is along the beach walk. This photo is made from its very beginning, and at first old colonial houses dominated, but that is really before you get close to the beach.
Further on, modern houses dominate. Activities here are rather common, people walk up and down this avenue size street, looking at people and allowing others to look at them.

The Town Beach and the Trash

Tangier is very much a tourist town, serving everything from Moroccan families on 2 month holidays to Europeans on one-day African excursions. The town beach has a great setting: it makes up a several kilometer long curve with the white houses of Tangier as a frame before it ends in the barren mountains of which there is nothing further north than sea and the European continent.
The sad fact about the beach here is that it is practically never cleaned, and that the water is not very much better.

Falling in love with Tangier is not all that easy. While Moroccan tourist police in recent years have cracked down on unpleasant guiding, nothing has changed in Tangier, and the strong ties between the police, local authorities and the local mafia makes Tangier a difficult port for travellers with no earlier Morocco experience. Fortunately, Tangier is still less dangerous than the south of Spain, which is only an hour of ferry ride away.

The anarchy of Tangier has many faces: When the sun sets the city is turned into a city which can be unsafe, which is different to the rest of Morocco. And handicrafts in Tangier are far more expensive than elsewhere in Morocco, where things to a certain extent is under official control. The town beach is profoundly filthy, while other main beaches in Morocco has an administration which cleans the sand on a regular basis. Kids beg for money on every corner, and "official" guides pester you everywhere.

But if you are of the relaxed type, or if you have already been around Morocco for a bit, Tangier is definately worth a visit. There is a lot to see around here, the city is lively, and if you jump into a taxi clean beaches are 10 minutes away. And Tangier still carries the aura of being a a celebrities' magnet and of once having been under international administration.
And do not forget: Tangier is the real model for the famous American film "Casablanca" with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.