Seven Day Trips Worth Leaving Essaouira For

Essaouira is a place people come to slow down. But the coast and the hinterland around it are unusually varied, and the town makes a superb base: everything below is a day, or less, from the medina gates.

Key facts

• Getting out: shared grands taxis and coaches for longer runs; a hired car and driver for the coast road.
• Wind: constant and famous. It shapes every beach day here.
• Best months: spring and autumn. Summer is mild by Moroccan standards, which is precisely why Moroccans come.

1. Marrakech

Around two and a half to three hours inland by road, and the reason many people arrive in Essaouira in the first place. Buses run frequently. Doing Jemaa el-Fnaa, the Koutoubia and a souk crawl in a single day is tiring but entirely possible — leave early and accept that you will only skim it.

2. Sidi Kaouki

A wide, wind-scoured beach a short drive south, with a marabout shrine on the headland and very little else. It is the local answer to Essaouira’s busier sands: kitesurfers, horses, a handful of cafes and a lot of sky.

3. Diabat and Borj El Baroud

A small village just across the estuary, wrapped in a persistent local legend about Jimi Hendrix’s brief visit in the late 1960s. The real draw is nearby: the half-buried ruins of Borj El Baroud, an old fortification slowly being swallowed by the dunes. Reachable on foot, on horseback or by camel along the beach.

4. The argan road

The route inland runs through argan groves, and the cooperatives along it press oil the traditional way. Many are women-run and will show you the process. This is also the stretch where goats famously climb into the trees — genuinely a local behaviour, though roadside setups charging for photographs are best skipped.

5. Imsouane

Further south, and worth the drive for surfers: a fishing village whose bay produces one of the longest right-hand waves in Morocco. Even non-surfers get a working harbour, grilled fish and a spectacular coast road.

6. Iles Purpuraires

The island group visible from the harbour, historically linked to the ancient purple dye trade and now a protected reserve important for Eleonora’s falcon. Access is restricted and seasonal, so treat this as a boat trip around them rather than a landing — confirm what is permitted before booking.

7. Ounagha and the vineyards

The countryside east of town supports a small wine-growing area, an unexpected sight in Morocco. A tasting and a long lunch among the vines makes an easy half-day, and the drive there is prettier than the map suggests.

Tip: Negotiate a full-day car and driver rather than a per-trip taxi. It usually costs less than two separate return fares, and it lets you combine, say, Diabat and Sidi Kaouki in one loop with time for lunch.