Morocco
Asilah
Whitewashed ramparts covered in street murals where Atlantic waves crash against painted walls.
The medina walls are a gallery — every summer, artists repaint them in a rotating exhibition that turns whitewashed fortifications into canvases of colour. Between the murals, the town is impossibly clean and quiet, a grid of blue-shuttered houses and flower-draped balconies pressed against ramparts where Atlantic waves explode in salt spray. Asilah feels curated in a way that most Moroccan medinas do not — deliberate, artistic, and surprisingly peaceful.
Asilah is a small fortified town on Morocco's northern Atlantic coast, originally built by the Portuguese in the 15th century. The medina's walls and alleys are repainted each year during the Asilah Arts Festival, established in 1978, making it one of the longest-running cultural festivals in Africa. The town's Portuguese ramparts, whitewashed medina, and Atlantic setting have attracted a creative community of painters, musicians, and writers. The beach north of the medina stretches for several kilometres and remains relatively quiet. Asilah is accessible by train from Tangier in roughly 45 minutes, making it a feasible day trip or a quieter alternative base for exploring the northern coast.
Solo
The compact medina, gallery culture, and café life make Asilah ideal for solo travellers who want to slow down. Bring a sketchbook.
Couple
Mural-lined alleys, seafood on the ramparts, and an artistic atmosphere that feels Mediterranean in spirit. Asilah is a place where two people can be happily idle together.
Friends
The art festival in summer, beach days, and seafood dinners on the ramparts. Asilah is a relaxed group destination where the pace stays slow and the setting stays photogenic.
- The medina walls are repainted each year by international artists at the annual Moussem Cultural Festival.
- Portuguese-built ramparts from the 15th century face directly onto Atlantic breakers.
- The town is small enough to walk end-to-end in fifteen minutes.
- Gallery-cafés in the medina serve fresh seafood while you sit surrounded by rotating murals.
Grilled sardines and fried calamari at harbour-side tables with salt spray on your lips.
Freshly made msemmen with honey from the medina bakeries, still warm and flaky.
Jericoacoara
Brazil
Windswept dunes where the sun melts into the sea from a natural stone arch.
St Ives
England
Light so luminous it lured a century of painters to this harbour of turquoise shallows.
Tulpar-Köl
Kyrgyzstan
Alpine pools at 3,500 metres that mirror a 7,000-metre peak at dawn like shattered glass.
Philae Temple
Egypt
A temple rescued from rising waters, reassembled stone by stone on an island in the Nile.
Chefchaouen
Morocco
Blue-washed walls dripping with bougainvillea in a mountain medina where cats outnumber cars.
Fes el-Bali
Morocco
Nine thousand alleys where the smell of cedar, leather, and centuries of spice never fades.
Essaouira
Morocco
Atlantic gales rattle shutters on a fortified port where Hendrix once jammed with Gnawa musicians.
Erg Chebbi
Morocco
Saharan dunes taller than apartment blocks turning from gold to crimson as the sun drops.