Travel Guide Asilah

Just 40 kilometers from Tangier, this small seaside resort has kept its charm intact, with high walls, immaculate white streets, street art on walls overlooking the sea, a Thursday souk, a superb Arabo-Andalusian palace, a small fishing port and relaxing beaches. The medina is one of Morocco's most beautiful and impeccably clean. It's so tranquil that when you stroll through it, you can hear the sound of the waves as they come in, so close is the ocean. According to some researchers, the history of Asilah goes back more than 3,600 years. Formerly known as Zilis, it was one of the most important Carthaginian cities in the Mauritanian Tingitanian era, before being successively occupied by the Byzantines, Romans and Portuguese. After the Islamization of the country, the town, then called Asilah, was rebuilt in 844 in a territory belonging to the El-Ouata tribe governed by El-Kacem ben Driss Chafi. From that time onwards, the town was the object of bloody conflicts due to its strategic position. Taken in turn by the Moroccan, Portuguese and Spanish armies, it has forged an identity for itself over the centuries. Today, Asilah is a peaceful town of almost 32,000 inhabitants, living from agriculture and fishing, where donkeys roam the medina instead of mopeds. At the start of avenue Mohamed V, the town center features banks, pharmacies, telestores and a beautiful white church. Place Moulay Ismail is surrounded by restaurants and hotels, and the post office is located to the east of the town. Overrun in summer by European and Moroccan tourists, Asilah fills up like an egg. The town also hosts the Moussem, a cultural festival held in October. Asilah is well served by buses, trains and shared cabs.