Rabat, Morocco: What a difference a little recognition makes

PERSISMA – Travelers have long overlooked Morocco’s low-key capital, instead being seduced by the heady sights and sounds of Marrakech or beachside charm of Essaouira. That’ll change in 2013 with the elegant city in the northwest of the country having been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2012.

This means word is just starting to get out about what the UNESCO folks call Rabat’s “fertile exchange between the Arabo-Muslim past and Western modernism.”

Exhibit A: the historic old town featuring the magnificent twelfth-century Hassan Mosque and a picturesque medina overlooking the Atlantic with largely hassle-free shopping.

Exhibit B: Rabat’s charming French-built new town with wide boulevards and lovely cafes.

A shiny new tramway links the capital to its sister city Salé, while a new airport terminal means the city has become much more accessible. Rabat (area population 1.7 million) is hitting the proverbial travel radar, but it’s far from overrun — that makes 2013 the year to be there now.