Very few remains of the early settlement of Agadir, but the site Youssef ben Tachfine occupied during his blockade of Agadir has now become the Mechouar (entry is on avenue Cdt Ferradj).

A citadel was constructed over the camp in 1145 and has been one of the town's attractions ever since. The Zianide ruler Yaghmorassen moved his house inside the Mechouar walls in the early fourteenth century and a mosque was constructed in the 1310s. The Ottoman admiral Barbarossa used it as his fortress in the sixteenth century and the French followed suit after the fall of Tlemcen, using it as a barracks and sanatorium.

Today the Mechouar offers a place of peace inside its enormous walls and across its broad boulevard. The Moorish mosque, renovated in 2003, is presently closed. One of the vital buildings houses the Chambre de l'Artisanat et des Métiers, where local handicrafts, including embellished camel saddles and hand-woven covers, are on sale at predetermined prices.