An Asilah day trip from Tangier is the gentlest introduction to Morocco we run. The town is 46 kilometres down the Atlantic coast, forty minutes on the motorway, and it could hardly be less like the intensity of a big medina: whitewashed walls, blue doors, sea ramparts you can walk along, and almost no hassle at all.
Asilah was Phoenician, then Roman, then Portuguese. In the twentieth century it fell into decline, and then in 1978 two local men started an arts festival that has been painting the old town every summer since. An Asilah day trip from Tangier gives you a small white town that doubles as an open-air gallery.
We start with a guided walk through the walled medina: the Bab el-Homar gate, the Krikia bastion looking straight out over the Atlantic, and the Palace of Raisuli — built by a bandit-governor who kidnapped an American businessman in 1904 and made headlines across two continents.
After the guided section you have free time, which most people spend on a rampart café terrace or on the beach that runs north from the walls. Lunch is by the fishing harbour, where the catch comes in each morning and the grills start around midday. Every Asilah day trip from Tangier runs privately for your group alone.
The Asilah medina murals are the reason the town looks like nowhere else in Morocco. Each summer during the Moussem arts festival, artists are invited to paint directly onto the whitewashed walls of the old town, and some of them have since become well known.
The paintings are repainted or replaced year on year, so the Asilah medina murals you photograph are genuinely specific to the season you visit. Come in late summer and you may watch them being painted; come in spring and you see the full set at its brightest before the Atlantic weather starts to fade them.
The Portuguese ramparts walk is short, flat and one of the most photogenic ten minutes on this coast. The walls were built in 1471 and still ring the medina completely, with the sea directly below on the western side.
The Krikia bastion at the southwest corner is the classic viewpoint, and it faces west — so a Portuguese ramparts walk in the late afternoon catches the sun going down over the Atlantic. There are no steps of any consequence, which makes this one of the few old-town routes in northern Morocco that suits limited mobility.
| Destination | Asilah and Cape Spartel, Morocco |
|---|---|
| Departure | Tangier hotel, riad, port or airport |
| Departure Time | 09:00 |
| Return Time | Around 17:00 |
| Duration | 7–8 hours |
| Group Size | Private 1–16 · Small group maximum 8 |
| Languages | English, Spanish, French and Arabic |
| Included |
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| Excluded |
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| Format | 1–3 people | 4–7 people | 8–16 people |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private (total) | €150 | €200 | €300 |
| Small group (per person) | €45 | ||
Summer is busiest — the festival runs in July and August and Moroccan families fill the beaches. Spring and autumn often give you the walls to yourself. Winter is quiet and windy, and the Atlantic is spectacular from the bastion. The town’s festival is covered by the Moroccan National Tourist Office, and its history on Wikipedia.
An Asilah day trip from Tangier is the one we recommend for first visits to Morocco, for families with small children, and for anyone travelling with a wheelchair or a walking frame. The old town is flat, compact, free of steps and almost entirely free of the pressure that can make a larger medina exhausting.
It also suits a short stay. If you have two days in Tangier, spend one in the city and one on an Asilah day trip from Tangier — that combination covers the coast, an old town and a beach without a single long drive.
46 kilometres, about forty minutes each way on the A1 motorway.
The Asilah medina murals painted during the annual arts festival, and the Portuguese sea walls that have ringed the old town since 1471.
No. It is flat, short and step-free, which makes an Asilah day trip from Tangier one of our most accessible options.
Several. The main town beach begins just north of the walls, and Paradise Beach lies five kilometres south — wider, quieter and reachable only by track or boat.
You can, and it is cheap. The trade-off is a fixed timetable, a station outside town, and no Cape Spartel on the way back.
Small, flat and free of hassle, an Asilah day trip from Tangier is the one we suggest to first-time visitors and to anyone travelling with children. For the coastal stops alone, see the Caves of Hercules tour. For a one-way journey, take the Tangier to Asilah transfer, and for the emptier sand south of town, Paradise Beach.
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