Where to Go in 2026: Why Morocco’s Chill Capital Deserves Your Attention

This month on Unpacked, we’re diving into Afar’s just-released Where to Go list—but this year’s picks are different. In 2026, we want to lessen the burden on overtouristed destinations and expand visitation to other parts of the world. Our editors carefully selected 24 emerging regions and overlooked locales that will inspire your next great adventure.

For Rabat, that means looking beyond the well-trodden streets of Marrakech and Fes to discover what Morocco’s laid-back capital really offers—especially as Africa’s largest music festival transforms the city into an open-air stage each summer.

In this episode, host Aislyn Greene talks with Yulia Denisyuk, a travel writer and host of the podcast Going Places with Yulia. Yulia shares why this Atlantic coast city deserves a second look—from its free weeklong Mawazine music festival to a non-touristy medina, Andalusian gardens, Roman ruins, and dishes you won’t find anywhere else in Morocco. She also reveals what’s coming in 2026: new museums, UNESCO World Book Capital status, and a high-speed train connecting Rabat to Casablanca in just 35 minutes.

Transcript

Aislyn Greene: I’m Aislyn Greene, and this is Unpacked, the podcast that unpacks the world’s most interesting destinations and the deeper stories behind travel. This month, we’re diving into Afar’s annual Where to Go list, and this year’s list is a little different because in 2026, we want to lessen the burden on overtouristed destinations and help expand visitation to other parts of the world. And that’s why our editors carefully selected 24 emerging regions and overlooked cities that, I promise, will inspire you to start planning your next great adventure. We released the full list on December 4th, and on Unpacked over the next two months, we’re going to be exploring 15 of those destinations by talking with the writers who traveled to and shared our favorite new places.

Writers like Yulia Denisyuk, my guest today. In addition to her travel writing, Yulia also hosts the podcast Going Places with Yulia, and this past summer she traveled to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. She went from Mawazine, Africa’s largest music festival, which takes place every June and basically turns Rabat into this huge open air festival. It sounds amazing. While she was there, she spent time exploring the city in depth and she discovered that we travelers have been sleeping on Rabat. So today, Yulia shares the many reasons to go, including a refreshingly non-touristy Medina, food you can’t find anywhere else in Morocco. And the big news for 2026, which includes a high speed train that will connect the city with Casablanca.

Yulia, welcome to unpacked and thank you so much for introducing us to Rabat, because it’s not a city we talk about enough. So what brought you there?

Yulia Denisyuk: Exactly, and that’s actually exactly why I wanted to Rabat. So I’m familiar with Morocco. I’ve been coming for years but never made it to the capital, actually to Rabat. And this June I went there to attend the Mawazine Festival, which is the largest music festival in Africa.

Aislyn: Wow.

Yulia: That I think is quite off the radar in the United States, so I wanted to see what it’s all about.

Aislyn: What was it like?

Yulia: The festival was incredible. I am now a fan of this festival, and I tell all my friends to go there and check it out and it’s free to attend. It’s a week long 6 stages. Artists from all over the world African, Moroccan, American, European. It’s just such an incredible celebration of music. The city of Rabat is the stage to the festival and it’s just such a wonderful experience.

Aislyn: Yeah, and so did that festival provide like a lens, a way for you to explore the city?

Yulia: It was what drew me to the city initially. All the concerts start around sunset time, which is by itself so magical. And then you have the whole day to sort of see what the city is about and to explore, which I think is really smart on behalf of the city of Morocco, to host this festival, to have this draw to the city.

Aislyn: Why should people travel to Rabat? Aside from the festival, which sounds phenomenal.

Yulia: I think Rabat has called the capital effect, and you can see that in other countries around the world. Think of Ankara versus Istanbul. I’m from Kazakhstan. We have Almaty, which is the biggest city in the country, and the capital, Astana gets overlooked. And so I think it’s the same in Rabat. You know, it was the capital. It was kind of the bureaucratic center, but not really a cultural center like Marrakesh, like Tangier and some other places. But I think that’s starting to change because the city wants to be known on the international stage more. And there’s a lot of interesting developments that are happening in the city next year.

Aislyn: What are the ones that really stood out to you?

Yulia: Well, so there is a much anticipated talk about the Museum of African Culture and the Museum of Archaeology happening next year. And those, you know, there’s not that many details yet, but those are said to be some of the biggest cultural institutions in the country. Then also starting in April, the city will be the book capital of the world by Unesco. So, you know, for someone who loves reading and writing like me, it’s very exciting. There’s going to be a lot of events, a lot of publishers in the city. There is a book culture in the city. There’s people that you can find inside the Medina who sell books like Mohammed Aziz. He’s a very famous bookseller in the city, and you can come and talk to him. He’s read thousands and thousands of books, and he’s eager to talk to you about them. So it’s quite fascinating.

Aislyn: In terms of its history, what transformed it into such a literary city?

Yulia: If you think of sort of the big cities that capture our imagination when it comes to Morocco, it’s Marrakesh, right? It’s Fez, it’s these imperial cities. How Rabat differs from those cities is that it’s on the Atlantic coast. Traditionally, it has been a port city that, starting from the Phoenicians to the Romans and to the Islamic dynasties, they all used that city as a port to connect with other places on the continent. It’s laid back, less frenzied than Marrakesh, quite chill. It’s a very green city as well, which is also not something that you think of when you think of Morocco. Different vibe than more popular cities in the country.

Aislyn: Yeah, that is so interesting. I always think of port cities as kind of a place for humanity to kind of move through. So you get this diversity of ideas and people and foods and cultures. Do you feel like Rabat has that sense too?

Yulia: Yes. One of the coolest things in the city is Chella, and it’s this Roman settlement that’s been there since, I think, the first century. It’s also, by the way, one of the stages for the Mawazine festival, which is just incredible.

Right next to it, within walking distance is the Kasbah, which is the Islamic fort that was built in the 12th century. And then there’s even earlier settlements of the Phoenicians, and then also the Moors from Andalusia settled here when they were expelled in the 15th century. So there’s all these kind of Andalusian influences as well. And you see that reflected in the architecture of the city and also in the food of the city as well.

Aislyn: Oh, let’s hear more about the food of the city. I imagine being on the water. Is there a lot of seafood?

Yulia: There is seafood. Yes. Incredible shrimp. I’ve eaten so much shrimp when I was there. Also, the way they make typical Moroccan dishes, for example pastilla, which is you can find pastilla everywhere. But the Rabati pastilla is different. They call it the royal Rabati pastilla because it’s very thick. It has very thick layers of eggs, and it’s just this very royal way, I guess, to make a dish. It really has that influence of the Andalusian, the Moors from Andalusia that came and settled in this area. You know, they brought sort of that Andalusian style of cooking with them. And I think the the pastilla reflects that as well.

Aislyn: Yeah, that does sound different than other Moroccan food I’ve tried. Are there other dishes that felt different to you?

Yulia: So I have some Moroccan friends as well, and I was asking them about some of the dishes. You know, I found one dish which is called caftaric, and it’s like a meatball, but with particular kind of spices that they use in Rabat, and my other Moroccan friends have never heard of it, which just kind of tells you how regional dishes are quite regional. So for example, you can only find it in Rabat. I don’t think you’ll be able to find it in other cities even.

Aislyn: You mentioned that it’s kind of a more chill city, that the pace of life feels a little slower there, and it sounds very dreamy. Can you tell me a little bit more about what it’s like to be there? Is this kind of a place where you feel like people should spend more time, like lean into slow travel a bit?

Yulia: Yes. And for many years, tourists weren’t really coming to Rabat. It’s a relatively new thing. So when you come to the Medina of Rabat, it’s not a touristy place per se. It’s a place where people come to shop, to have tea or to have juice to, to peruse books. So it felt to me like really a place where I can come and see how people live, as opposed to Marrakesh, for example, because the Medina of Marrakesh that we all love is a touristy spot, right? It’s geared towards tourists. And so I really felt like in Rabat I could just come and talk to people. And it was more, I would say, natural, probably interaction between people, which I absolutely loved. I, you know, because that’s what I travel for. I travel for those kind of real interactions with people.

Aislyn: So we’ve talked about the fact that Rabat is a port city, but it’s interesting to me that it’s surrounded by both ocean and river. So how did you find that this shaped the city, and what were your favorite ways of exploring this side of Rabat?

Yulia: When I was there, it was summertime, end of June, when the festival typically happens. It was hot. Morocco is hot in summer, but because it’s on the ocean and because of the river, the breeze is constant as well. So it’s hot, but it’s not oppressively hot, if that makes sense. You know, I walked along the Casbah, which is the 12th century Islamic fort right on the ocean. The beach was filled with people. Everybody’s bathing, everybody’s chilling. The music is playing. The the international artists are starting to set up on the stage, and you can hear sort of the strums of the guitar. It’s just the vibe itself was just so everybody was just enjoying themselves and it’s so lovely.

One of my favorite things was to go to the Andalusian gardens in the Casbah. You walk along the waterfront, and all of a sudden you’re in this green space which feels like you’re back in Sevilla for a second, just so beautiful. And you can get a glass of mint tea, and you can wander around the gardens and find yourself in another café overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. And again, you see kids jumping into the river. The beauty of Rabat is that it’s everything that you would want to see. As someone coming to the city for the first time is very walkable because the Medina right next to the Casbah, the Casbah is right next to Chella. So in a couple of hours you can walk everywhere. And if you want to go just a little bit outside, there is literal forests of Rabat and a lot of green spaces. So it’s, uh, you know, if you’re a nature lover, if you love green spaces, it’s a great place.

Aislyn: I would love to close with your advice for how people should best plan a trip here. Are there good times of year to visit? Of course there’s the festival. Any other tips on booking a trip or staying?

Yulia: I am in fact, planning to go back with my friends next summer and visit the festival as well. But outside of the festival, spring and autumn are good times to see because it’s less hot. It’s going to be more fresh in the evenings if people like to do that.

One thing that we didn’t talk about is that next year, Rabat and Casablanca will be connected by a new high speed train line, which will reduce the journey, which is currently 2 hours by train from Casablanca to Rabat to 35 minutes. So yeah, I would say the spring fall time. But of course, if you have some time in the summer, come and see at least some performances of Mawazine because it’s quite an incredible experience.

Aislyn: Well, we will link out to that as well as to your podcast in the show notes. But Yuliya, it was so nice to meet you. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Yulia: Thank you so much, Aislyn, and thank you for this opportunity to talk about Rabat.

Aislyn: Thanks so much for joining this special episode of unpacked. In the show notes, you’ll find links to the full Where to go list, as well as to all of the places that Yuliya mentioned. We’ve also included Yulia’s social handles, her podcast, and her website, as well as other travel resources so you can jumpstart your 2026 travel planning. We’ll release more Where to Go episodes through December 19th, and then again starting on January 1st. Happy travels.