Asilah

Asilah is a small Atlantic coastal town 47km from Tangier, with a walled Portuguese medina that becomes an open-air gallery every summer. The annual Asilah Arts Festival (Moussem Culturel) transforms the whitewashed medina walls into rotating murals by international artists. Combined with excellent beaches and fresh Atlantic seafood, it's one of Morocco's most pleasant surprises.

One of Morocco's oldest cities, founded by Phoenicians and later occupied by Carthaginians, Romans, and Visigoths. The Portuguese built the current ramparts in 1471. The pirate Moulay Ahmed er-Raisuli terrorized the region in the early 20th century, kidnapping American and European citizens for ransom from his palace here. The Asilah Cultural Festival, begun in 1978, reinvented the city as a cultural destination.

The murals covering the medina walls are renewed annually at the August arts festival — international and Moroccan artists paint directly on the walls, making the medina a living gallery. The tradition of painted houses with blue, green, and purple accents (different from Chefchaouen's blue) is distinctly Asilahi.

• ✓August is the arts festival month — most atmospheric but most crowded.
• ✓Day-trip from Tangier (45 min train) is easy and rewarding.
• ✓The medina is tiny — you can walk it entirely in 30 minutes.
• ✓Trains from Tangier stop at Asilah — one of Morocco's best train journeys along the coast.

Train from Tangier (45 min), Rabat (2.5h). CTM bus from Tangier (1h). The most scenic option is the coastal train.