Best Cafes In Tangier: 12 Beautiful Coffee Spots For Mint Tea, Views, And Local Atmosphere

Best Cafes in Tangier: 12 Beautiful Coffee Spots for Mint Tea, Views, and Local Atmosphere

Alissa Walker

Travel writing based on first-hand experience

May 21, 2026

Tangier is one of those cities where café culture is not just part of daily life—it is daily life. We quickly noticed that here, cafés are everywhere: tucked into medina corners, lined along grand boulevards, facing the port, perched above the sea, or hidden behind old wooden doors where only locals seem to know to stop.

What makes Tangier especially enjoyable is that each neighborhood changes the café mood completely.

Some cafés are worth visiting for the history alone. Others win because of the terrace, the pastries, the strong coffee, or simply because they give you that rare feeling that nowhere else is more urgent than the chair you are sitting in. If you are wondering where to pause between sightseeing, where locals actually linger, or where to drink mint tea with one of the best views in the city, these are the best cafes in Tangier worth knowing.

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Good to know before settling into a café in Tangier

A few practical notes before we claim a table and start ordering coffee after coffee.

First: do not expect alcohol everywhere. In fact, expect the opposite. Most cafés in Tangier do not serve beer, wine, or spirits, and the handful that do are very much the exception rather than the rule.

Second: smoking is common. Very common. Nearly every café allows it, which sounds dramatic on paper, though in practice it does not mean everyone around you will instantly light up and turn your afternoon into a fog machine.

Third: in some cafés, especially those frequented by long-time regulars, tobacco is not always the only thing being smoked. The Rif region lies roughly 100 to 150 km southwest of Tangier, and the scent of kif drifts through certain parts of the city often enough that it barely registers after a while. In some cafés, it is simply part of the background atmosphere.

Fourth: football reshapes the city. On nights when the Moroccan national team, Real Madrid, or Barça are playing, Tangier seems to empty out. People gather around televisions with total devotion, ready to debate a pass, a touch, a sprint, a tactical move—every detail suddenly matters.

Best Cafes in Tangier

Gran Café de Paris: Art Deco charm and some of the best people-watching in town

Set on Place de France, Gran Café de Paris is one of Tangier’s great survivors—a café that has watched the city change while somehow keeping one polished shoe planted in the past.

For decades, it has been a meeting place for writers, artists, intellectuals, drifters, and yes, allegedly spies too, because of course Tangier would have a café like that. The interior still carries that old-world Art Deco elegance, and the terrace is one of the best places in town to sit still while the city performs around you.

Come here for coffee, for atmosphere, and for that lingering cosmopolitan mood Tangier does so well. Even now, the place still feels steeped in stories.

Address: Place de France, Tangier, Morocco

Rooftop Macondo: sweeping views and an artsy Kasbah hideout

If we had to choose one place to sit for hours doing almost nothing but staring into the distance, Macondo would be a strong contender.

Tucked into the Kasbah, this cultural café unfolds across several levels, with cozy corners, an artsy feel, and enough character to keep you lingering longer than planned. But the real reason to come is the rooftop terrace. From up there, the view stretches across the old city, the port, the newer parts of Tangier, and the hills beyond. It is broad, layered, and quietly hypnotic.

This is not the kind of place where you rush in for one quick espresso and leave. This is the kind of place where one coffee becomes two, then maybe a juice, then suddenly the afternoon is gone.

Address: Place du Tabor, Medina, Tangier, Morocco

Cafe in Donabo Gardens: a green detour on the road to Cap Spartel

On the mountain side of Tangier, in the direction of Cap Spartel and its lighthouse, Donabo Gardens offers something the city occasionally makes us crave: space, shade, and a little breathing room.

Let us be honest, the botanical garden itself is not one of Morocco’s grand garden stars. It is not Majorelle, not Anima, not the Secret Garden in Marrakech. But the café, tucked among the greenery, is exactly why this place is worth the detour.

There is a sea breeze, tree shade, roomy terraces, and a slower rhythm that feels worlds away from the busy streets of the Medina. It is less about botanical spectacle and more about the pleasure of sitting somewhere leafy, airy, and pleasantly removed from the city buzz.

Address: Route du Cap Spartel Km 10, Tangier 90000, Morocco

Café Cherifa: a cultural café with rooftop views and real soul

Some cafés feel staged. Café Cherifa does not. It feels lived in.

Perched on the heights of the Kasbah, this is one of those places we seem to arrive at half by luck, half by instinct. The terrace spills across several levels, and a handful of chairs near the front open onto a sweeping view of the Medina rooftops and, farther off, the modern city.

Inside, the place leans creative without becoming pretentious. Arabic calligraphy, arrows, organic pop-style wall art, books to flip through, music in the background—it all works together in a way that feels loose, personal, and inviting.

And then there is the atmosphere. On a rainy day, the big windows make it dangerously easy to stay glued to your seat, watching the horizon soften in the mist. On a quiet afternoon, if you are sitting alone, there is a good chance someone may simply start talking to you. Not to sell you anything. Not to drag you somewhere. Just because Tangier still allows that kind of small human poetry.

Café Hafa: legendary terraces above the Strait of Gibraltar

There are cafés you visit, and then there are cafés you make a small pilgrimage to. Café Hafa belongs firmly in the second category.

Clinging to the cliffs of the Marshan district, this Tangier institution has been open since 1921, and its terraced setting above the Strait of Gibraltar is still one of the city’s most iconic views. Blue-and-white mosaics, stepped platforms, sea air, and that endless watery horizon—yes, it is touristy, but also yes, it is still worth it.

Over the years, the café has attracted a wildly photogenic list of admirers: writers, musicians, artists, and assorted legends, including Paul Bowles, members of the Beat Generation, Sean Connery, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones. Not exactly a modest guestbook.

People come for mint tea, coffee, juice, lemonade, and the pleasure of doing very little in a beautiful setting. Breakfast, pancakes, salads, and sandwiches are also available.

The service can be slow, and locals are often served first, so patience helps. But that is part of the ritual. We come here for the view, the mood, and the old Tangier mythology that still hangs in the air.

Address: Hafa Street, Marshan district, Tangier, Morocco

Café Baba: small, storied, and wonderfully bohemian

Hidden in the upper part of the Medina, Café Baba has been around since the 1940s and still carries itself with the easy confidence of a place that knows it is already part of Tangier lore.

It is smaller and more intimate than Café Hafa, with a simpler setting and an unforced bohemian mood. The décor is straightforward, the atmosphere is calm, and the view over the old city gives the whole place a quiet pull.

Like many legendary Tangier cafés, it has attracted its share of famous visitors, including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, who used it in Only Lovers Left Alive, his dreamy vampire love story.

Mint tea is, again, the obvious order. Sit, sip, and let the place do the rest.

Address: Zaitouni Street, Medina, Tangier, Morocco

Café Tingis: front-row seats on Petit Socco

If your ideal café experience involves watching the city stream past like an endlessly shifting theatre performance, Café Tingis is a very good place to park yourself.

Set on one corner of Petit Socco, one of the most touristy and most animated squares in the Medina, it gives you a front-row view of daily Tangier in motion. Locals rushing somewhere, tourists with backpacks and maps, children flying through the square after school, street performers trying their luck, vendors circulating with pastries, trinkets, stones, or something vaguely mysterious—it is all happening, all the time.

This is not a café for privacy or silence. It is a café for observation, for absorbing rhythm, for sitting still while Tangier refuses to do the same.

Address: Place du Petit Socco, Tangier, Morocco

Bayt Tarab: simple, local, and perfectly placed

Right across from the striking Sidi Bouabid Mosque sits a humble little café that may not even have a clearly established official name, but that hardly matters. Tangier runs just fine on places like this.

There is nothing fancy here, and that is precisely the appeal. With a terrace overlooking Grand Socco, it makes an easy stop before entering the Medina, after leaving it, or frankly whenever your feet start filing complaints.

The atmosphere is local, low-key, and refreshingly free of performance. It feels like part of neighborhood life rather than something arranged for visitors.

Address: Place du 9 Avril 1947, Medina, Tangier, Morocco

The Buena Vista Tangier Club is the kind of place that feels slightly improvised in the best possible way.

You enter from a street corner in the historic center, head upstairs, pass a stage known for karaoke nights, catch a few smiles, order something to drink, and then keep climbing until you reach the rooftop. The view is not especially dramatic, but that is not really the point.

The point is the energy. Musicians sometimes gather here with guitars, songs start up casually, and the evening can drift into something unexpectedly memorable. It is less about spectacle and more about spontaneity.

Address: 40 Almohades Street, Tangier

The café at Riad Dar Sultan: one of Tangier’s loveliest secret corners

In the category of places we almost hesitate to mention because they still feel slightly hidden, the café at Riad Sultan Cultural Space is one of Tangier’s quiet treasures.

It overlooks the lush garden of the Kasbah Museum, where banana trees, ficus, flowers, and medlar trees create one of the most beautiful green pockets in the city. From the terrace, the garden seems to spread out below like a private sanctuary.

This is one of those rare café settings that can alter your mood on contact. Sit down with coffee and a small almond pastry, and suddenly the whole day seems to slow into focus. It is peaceful without being sleepy, cultured without being stiff, and genuinely one of the nicest café terraces in Tangier.

The cultural space also hosts concerts and performances, some of them free.

Address: Rue Ahmed Ben Ajiba, Tangier,

Café du Cinéma Rif: culture, charm, and a terrace that is always full

A sturdy white building presides over one of Tangier’s most beautiful squares, and inside it sits one of the city’s most enduring cultural institutions: Cinémathèque Rif.

Tangier has long had a love affair with cinema, and the café attached to the cinema feels like an extension of that romance. The screening rooms may at times seem quiet, but the café is usually full—locals, artists, students, cinephiles, remote workers, curious visitors, all mixed together in one lively, slightly worn, very appealing scene.

The terrace is broad and spacious, which matters in a city where tables can sometimes feel packed too tightly together. Inside, tables are covered with photos of actors and actresses, film posters line the walls, and the whole place has that wonderful patina of somewhere that has been used, loved, and not polished into blandness.

The mood is good. The Wi-Fi is good. And yes, this is absolutely the kind of place where we can end up staying longer than intended.

Address: Grand Socco / Place du 9 Avril 1947, Tangier, Morocco

Cafe Métropole: old-world elegance on Boulevard Pasteur

If most Tangier cafés lean casual, smoky, and wonderfully unbothered, the Salon de Thé Métropole moves in a different register.

Located on Boulevard Pasteur, this elegant tea room is known for its vintage, slightly old-fashioned charm. It occupies the ground floor of a former synagogue, which already gives the place a more layered presence than your average city café.

The décor is classic, refined, and faintly nostalgic. It is a good place to pause when you want a quieter, more polished setting—somewhere that feels a little removed from the Medina’s whirl without losing Tangier’s sense of history.

Address: 27 Boulevard Pasteur, Tangier, Morocco

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