One of the greatest joys of Europe for travelers is the ease with which you can cross borders. Unlike almost anywhere else in the world, the European Union allows frictionless, passport-free crossings from one member country to another, making journeys around Europe smooth and hassle-free. Indeed, in plenty of cases you may not even be aware you’ve crossed a border at all! Catching a train from Paris to Berlin or heading off on a road trip from Brussels to Amsterdam can feel as normal as visiting the next state over. There are plenty of people in the EU who live in one country and work in another, commuting across international borders without a second thought.
This seamless travel from one country to the next makes it “easy to throw a change of scenery and culture into your European itinerary,” according to renowned European travel expert Rick Steves. The countries are relatively small, the distances between cities are short, and European public transport is generally excellent. There’s something incomparably exciting about having breakfast in one country and lunch in another, which makes border-crossing excursions one of the most enjoyable ways to take a day trip.
Rick Steves highlights several excellent country-spanning day trips, including the border-busting Eurostar train journey from London to Paris and the breathtaking drive across the Balkans from Dubrovnik to Mostar. But the trip that Rick Steves highlights as “the most exciting day trip in Europe” isn’t just crossing borders and moving countries. This excursion takes you to a whole new continent, from Spain across the Mediterranean to the bustling North African city of Tangier.
A vibrant tangle of sights, sounds, and smells
The journey from Spain to Morocco is incredibly short considering you are leaving Europe and entering Africa. Ferries leave Tarifa in southern Spain to cross the straits of Gibraltar, a distance of about 17 nautical miles which takes 35 minutes to an hour. Tarifa is about half an hour’s drive from Algeciras, just over an hour from Cadiz, and just under two hours from Malaga.
Tangier is an ideal day trip from Spain for so many reasons. As Rick Steves points out, it offers “a legitimate taste of North Africa and an authentic slice of Islam.” It is a wonderful city, with its warren of winding streets that snake their way up and around the medina, its den-like souks, and its charming air of picturesque decrepitude. Tangiers overwhelms visitors with its combination of sounds and smells, with the aromas of spices and charcoal grills filling the air alongside the calls of artisans and trinket vendors.
It offers a diverse, vibrant, exciting, and incredibly different experience for travelers based in southern Spain, but there are also a number of overlaps that can provide a fascinating insight into the history and culture of the region. North Africa and southern Spain share a rich and complex past, and as you explore Tangier, you will be able to see how much of the Al-Andalus, the Islamic Empire which once stretched as far north as Pamplona and Narbonne, remains in Spanish cities like Granada and the vibrant southern city of Seville.
From faded Art Deco beauty to Beat Generation debauchery
