Asilah, Morocco

Time of Visit: October 30 - November 1, 2022

Continuing my journey up the Atlantic coast of Morocco, my next stop was the resort town of Asilah. To get there, I had to transfer trains at the grimy industrial town of Sidi Kacem, where I met a college student studying Mandarin and industrial engineering at a Chinese university - all remotely due to China's COVID policies. He was overjoyed to meet someone with whom he could practice his Chinese and offered me about two pounds of food, a portion of which I accepted and ate with him, and the the rest of which I gracefully rejected by showing him my very full backpack.

Waiting at Sidi Kacem station.

The wonderful view outside the station.

The Asilah train station is about two kilometers from the town center, but I decided to just walk and enjoy the sea breeze.

Train and sea.

You can get a huge apartment in the off season for just $30/night.

The old part of town is a neat collection of blue-accented buildings housing art galleries, antique stores, and coffee shops, and can be explored fully on foot in an hour or two. It's incredibly chill and completely free of the scammers and touts that plague so many other parts of Morocco.

It's hard to overstate how pleasant the town is during the off season.

The new town comes alive at night with families, gossiping old ladies, and children playing in the parks.

Moroccan cyberpunk?

A public indoor bounce house - how I would have loved this as a kid...

10/10 graphic design skills.

Looking back, I'm struggling to recall what I actually did in Asilah for three days and two nights. But that's precisely where its charm lies: Asilah is an excellent place to do nothing.

That's why it's my favorite place in Morocco.