Sala el Bali · سلا
مدينة سلا العتيقة
The old city. Sala el Bali.
Salé lies off the tourist circuits. Its thousand-year-old medina, its whitewashed alleys, its Andalusian mausoleums, a few steps from the Atlantic.
Its crafts (weaving, leatherwork, pottery) existed before tourism and carry on without it. It is a medina that works, and that lets itself be watched living.
Salé, north bank of the Bouregreg, facing Rabat. Ten centuries of medina on the edge of the Atlantic.
Whitewashed alleys, low thresholds, cream plaster: the medina, day to day.
Salé and Rabat form a single conurbation, divided only by the Bouregreg. Two banks, two characters. Salé is the city that gave the other its name (Sala el Bali facing Sala Jdid) and that never needed to change its identity to survive. Across the river, Rabat became a capital: boulevards, embassies. Salé stayed itself. In the 17th century, the Moriscos expelled from Spain settled in Salé and founded, with the local corsairs, an independent Republic. The Andalusian quarter, still visible today, keeps the memory of that arrival. Even the stone is shared: the calcarenite used to build both cities has a name: the pierre de Salé, the Salé stone.
Between 1624 and 1668, Salé was an independent Republic.
Founded by the Moriscos (Andalusian Muslims expelled from Spain) and the local corsairs, the Republic of Salé broke free from the Moroccan sultans and governed itself. Its corsairs raided European ships as far as Iceland and Ireland. Its ambassadors negotiated treaties with France, England, the Netherlands.
Corsairs, ambassadors, treaties:
a State.
Bab Mrissa, the Gate of the Little Sea, is its most visible testimony. This 13th-century Marinid sea gate opened straight onto a naval arsenal: corsair ships came into the medina fully laden, unloaded, and set out again.
Across from it, the Borj Adoumoue, the Bastion of Tears, watched over the river mouth. The European fleets that tried to force the passage did not always succeed.
The line of ochre stone that closes the medina, raised in the 12th century and standing ever since.
Among the oldest in Morocco. Built in the 13th century, its minaret watches over old Salé.
The true patron saint of Salé. Protector of travellers, his mausoleum of blue-and-white zellige is a quiet place in the medina.
A potters’ village on the banks of the Bouregreg. Local clays, hand wheels, wood-fired kilns, and basketry and ironwork workshops within the same walls. Home to the Tajines Slaouis: the glazed red earthenware that has made Salé’s pottery famous across Morocco.
Qçatla, a corruption of Qashtala, Castile in Arabic. The old quarter of the Andalusian families, some present since the Marinid era, others arrived with the Morisco wave of the 17th century: Zniber, Fennich, Bensaid. No sign, no marker. Just alleys, worked doors, inner courtyards invisible from the street.
The Gate of the Little Sea. Marinid, 13th century. Corsair ships came in straight from the ocean to unload in the medina. The naval arsenal is now being restored.
Built in 1341 under Sultan Abu al-Hasan. Chiselled stucco, carved cedar, zellige underfoot: one of the few Marinid monuments open to the public in Salé.
An annual procession specific to Salé, listed as national intangible heritage and a candidate for UNESCO inscription. On the eve of Mouloud, Salé parades by the light of giant candles carried by the brotherhoods.
The Tijaniyya Sufi brotherhood radiates across all of sub-Saharan Africa from Salé. Closed to non-Muslims, but its silent presence shapes the whole quarter.
The oldest gate in Salé. Almohad era, 12th century. On the other side: the modern town. To turn around from outside and look back at the medina: that is the right gesture.
The medina of Salé can be visited year-round. The best period runs from March to November: the Atlantic tempers the summers, without the crushing heat of Marrakech or Fès. Winters are mild but the days are short.
Rabat-Salé Airport (RBA), a short taxi ride away: it sits on the Salé bank itself, so you land in the city. Recently expanded, it now serves a growing number of direct links with Europe. From Casablanca, the train serves Salé station directly. The Rabat-Salé tram connects both banks and serves the medina. The medina, mostly pedestrian, is explored on foot.
Almost all of Morocco’s landmark riads sit in inland cities: Marrakech, Fès, Meknès. Salé is an Atlantic medina.
The open sea is everywhere: in the air, in the morning light, in the name of the riad.
Dar El Mouhit, the house of the ocean.
Stay with us
Five rooms: the Borj Suite, and the Bahja, Zina, Lalla Fattouma and Zahar rooms.