Callejón de mercado tradicional con textiles de colores colgados

Destination

Essaouira on the Atlantic

A walled port on the Atlantic where the wind never really stops, and the medina is laid out on a grid you cannot get lost in.

Routes

Itineraries that pass through Essaouira

2 routes go through here.

Torre Hassan y su explanada de columnas en Rabat

10 days

10 Day Morocco Itinerary

Ten days is the point where Morocco stops being a highlights reel — the blue city and the Atlantic fit in without anything else being cut short.

from $1,405 /person

See the route

Panorámica del ksar de Ait Ben Haddou rodeado de palmeral

12 days

12 Day Morocco Itinerary

Twelve days is the full country at a human pace: every imperial city, the blue north, the Sahara and the Atlantic, with guided days rather than drive-by stops.

from $1,760 /person

See the route

Visiting with Sahara Viajes

Essaouira is the opposite of Marrakech in almost every way, which is why it works well after it. The medina is UNESCO-listed and was laid out in the eighteenth century by a French engineer, so unlike Fez it is a grid — you cannot get lost, and after a week of medinas that is a relief.

The port is still a working one. The blue boats come in during the late morning, the catch goes straight onto grills at the end of the quay, and you eat it standing up. The ramparts are the Skala de la Ville, which is where the wind hits and why the town is full of kitesurfers between April and September.

Also the town where the Gnawa festival happens each June — the same music you hear around the fire at the desert camp, played by people who do it for a living.