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Salé is a historic city in northwestern Morocco on the right bank of the Bou Regreg river, facing the capital Rabat, with which it forms one metropolitan area. It is known for its walled medina, the Great Mosque and Marinid madrasa, its seaside shrines and bastions, and the new Mohammed VI Tower. The 2024 census counted about 1.09 million people.
Founded in the 11th century by families from al-Andalus, Salé grew into a busy merchant port. After a Castilian raid in 1260 the Marinids built the giant water gate of Bab el-Mrissa and the Borj Adoumoue, and in the 17th century the city became a haven for corsairs as an independent republic.
Visitors walk the lanes around the Great Mosque, the ramparts above the Atlantic and the shrines of the city's patron saints, then cross to the Bouregreg Marina below the Mohammed VI Tower. A tramway links Salé to Rabat, and the Exotic Gardens of Bouknadel are a short drive north.
The Great Mosque of Salé is the main mosque of the old city and, at 5,070 square metres, the third-largest mosque in Morocco. The Almohad caliph Ya'qub al-Mansur rebuilt it in 1196 on the site of an older mosque, and its present look comes from renovations in the 18th century.
The Madrasa of Abu al-Hasan stands beside the Great Mosque of Salé and was built by the Marinid sultan Abu al-Hasan between 1332 and 1342. Its small courtyard is paved with zellij around a fountain and framed by carved stucco, carved wood and painted ceilings with star patterns.
The Mausoleum of Sidi Abdallah ben Hassoun, just west of the Great Mosque, honours the patron saint of Salé, who was born in Fes in 1515 and died here in 1604. Its dome was built by Sultan Moulay Ismail, and it keeps the great wax candles carried in the Mawlid procession.
The Mausoleum of Sidi Ben Achir stands on the western point of Salé above the sea and dominates the large seaside cemetery of the medina. It honours an Andalusian saint who died in Salé in 1364, and it was restored by several Alaouite sultans and again from 2012 under King Mohammed VI.
Bab el-Mrissa is a huge gate in the walls of Salé, built for the Marinid sultan Abu Yusuf Ya'qub around the 1270s and one of the largest and oldest gates in Morocco. It was a water gate: ships sailed in through its arch along a canal from the Bou Regreg to a protected harbour and shipyard.
Borj Adoumoue, the Bastion of Tears, is a seaside fort of Salé built in 1261 by the Marinid sultan Abu Yusuf Ya'qub where Castilian raiders had landed a year before. Rebuilt in 1785 and lined with bronze cannon, it has held a museum of ceramics since 1994 and looks out over the Atlantic.
The Salé Aqueduct, known as Sour al-Kouass, runs about 14 kilometres from the Mamora forest to Salé and brought fresh water to its madrasas and Great Mosque. First built under the Almohads, it was restored by Abu al-Hasan in 1340 and raised to nine metres by Moulay Ismail.
The Zawiya al-Nussak, the Zawiya of the Ascetics, stands just outside the walls of Salé and was completed for the Marinid sultan Abu Inan in August 1356. Sufi students lived and prayed here, and it also lodged travellers who reached Salé after the city gates were closed.
The Mohammed VI Tower rises 250 metres and 55 storeys on the Salé bank of the Bou Regreg, facing Rabat, and is the tallest building in Morocco. Designed by Rafael de La-Hoz with Hakim Benjelloun and inaugurated in April 2026, it holds a hotel, offices and a panoramic observation deck.
Bouregreg Marina lies at the mouth of the Bou Regreg on the Salé bank, just downstream of the Hassan II bridge and facing Rabat. Open since 2008 as part of the Bouregreg Valley project, its basin of about four hectares shelters yachts, and its quays are lined with cafes and restaurants.
The Exotic Gardens of Bouknadel lie about 13 kilometres north of Salé on the road to Kenitra and were created from 1952 by the French horticulturist Marcel Francois. Paths lead through gardens inspired by Brazil, the Congo and the Antilles and through Andalusian, Chinese and Japanese gardens.
The Dar Belghazi Museum is a private ethnographic museum founded in 1994 by a family from Fes, in Sidi Bouknadel near Salé on the road to Kenitra. It shows Andalusian and Berber musical instruments, old weapons, traditional costumes, carpets, jewellery, zellij fountains, coins and Quranic texts.
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Log in to add photosPhoto: R Prazeres, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: R Prazeres, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Photo: Anass Sedrati, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Photo: Ismael zniber, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Photo: Ismael zniber, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Ismael zniber, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Photo: Ismael zniber, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
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Photo: Ismael zniber, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Ismael zniber, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Ismael zniber, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Ismael zniber, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Ismael zniber, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Ismael zniber, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Photo: Ismael zniber, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Ismael zniber, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Photo: Ismael zniber, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Photo: Ismael zniber, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Photo: Ismael zniber, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
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