Agadir Oufella Kasbah and cable car: seeing Agadir from above.

Agadir Oufella means “Upper Agadir”. Perched about 236 metres above the sea, the kasbah was once a small fortified town. What remains today is at once a viewpoint, a place of remembrance and a short visit, ideal with children.

A 16th-century fortress

The kasbah was founded around 1540 by the Saadian sultan Mohammed ech-Cheikh, to keep watch on the Portuguese settled at the foot of the hill. In 1541, from its heights, the Saadians bombarded the Portuguese fort and took back the town. For four centuries, the kasbah held ramparts and towers, a mosque, a hammam, mausoleums and a Jewish quarter with its synagogue.

The earthquake of 29 February 1960

On 29 February 1960, at 11.40 pm, an earthquake of magnitude 5.7 struck Agadir for around fifteen seconds. It killed between 12,000 and 15,000 people, more than a third of the population at the time. The Kasbah quarter was almost entirely destroyed; judged impossible to rebuild, it was abandoned, and the new town was built further south. That is why Agadir has no old medina.

On the hillside, large Arabic letters spell out the kingdom’s motto, “God, the Nation, the King”. Lit up at night, they can be seen from all over the city.

The restored kasbah

As part of Agadir’s urban development programme launched in 2020, the kasbah was excavated by Moroccan and Spanish archaeologists, then restored. The outdoor areas reopened in July 2022, and the interior on 3 February 2024. A visit takes around fifty minutes, on wooden walkways that follow the line of the old lanes, along the restored ramparts. Audio guides are available in Arabic, Amazigh, French, English and Spanish.

The opening hours posted at the entrance in 2025 were 9 am to 7 pm outside summer and 10 am to 8 pm in summer, with last entry one hour before closing. There is an entrance fee. Hours and prices may change: check them on site.

The cable car from the Tildi bridge

Opened in July 2022, it is Morocco’s first cable car. The lower station is near the Tildi bridge, at the foot of the hill, with a large car park; the cabins climb to the kasbah in about six minutes, over a little more than a kilometre and a half. Prices and times are not reliably published online: ask at the station ticket office.

Other ways up

You can also reach the kasbah by taxi, by shuttle or along a 2.8-kilometre marked footpath. The walk up is long and exposed to the sun: with children, the most pleasant option is to go up by cable car and, for the bravest, to walk back down.

The best time to go

Late afternoon and early evening bring the most beautiful light over the bay. In winter, the sun sets before closing time: that is the ideal moment. In high summer, it sets after 8 pm, so after the site closes; come in the late afternoon instead. The summit is very exposed: hats and water for everyone.

With children

The visit is short, the walkways are safe, and the dromedaries on the esplanade always go down well. The cable car ride is often the youngest visitors’ favourite moment. To round off the day, head down to the beach and the seafront promenade, or to the Marina close by. More ideas in our guide “What to do in Agadir”.

Header photo: Agadir beach seen from the Agadir Oufella Kasbah, by Abdeaitali, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Accommodation and car in a single booking: that is our apartment + car package in Agadir, from €63.50 a night. Full details in our Agadir prices.