To the south of Tangier, on the Atlantic coast, Asilah is an artists’ town famous for its medina, its ramparts and its very lively cultural life.

It was not by luck that the Asilah medina won the Agha Khan architecture award. Its restored streets bordered by white houses with green and glue shutters are a pure marvel. The old Hispano-Moorish town is surrounded by ramparts dating from the Portuguese period (end of the 15th century) part of which gives onto the rocks overhanging the sea. Three monumental gates and a more discreet passage lead into the medina. On the Place Ibn Khaldoun stands the Al Kamra tower, a 15th -century Portuguese dungeon.

Quite quiet during the winter, the small town really comes alive from the spring and early summer, during its famous cultural moussem. Since the 1970s, the town’s cachet has attracted many artists including several Moroccan painters. Many of their works can be admired directly on the town’s walls. Other painters are exhibited all year round at the Hassan II Center in the heart of the ancient medina. The Raissouni palace rises up from a neighboring street. This beautiful Hispano-Moorish-style house is also home to a cultural center. More recently, the great Prince Bandar Ben Soltane Library was opened. Benefiting from the latest technologies, it is housed on two levels and includes, among other things, a 650-seat auditorium and a cybercafé.