Where to Sleep in Essaouira on Every Budget

Essaouira is a small town with an unusually good hotel scene, largely because a generation of restorers got to its old houses early. The choice is really between three worlds: inside the walls, along the beach, or out in the wind south of town.

Key facts

• Inside the medina, cars cannot reach your door. Porters with handcarts meet guests at the gates — pack accordingly.
• The wind is constant. Sea-view rooms are wonderful and can also be loud; ask.
• Rooftop terraces are the local currency. Almost every riad has one, and it is where you will spend your mornings.

The medina riads

The heart of the offer. A riad is a traditional house built inward around a courtyard, so rooms face a calm central space rather than the street — usually three or four storeys, a dozen rooms at most, and a roof terrace for breakfast. Essaouira’s versions tend to be whitewashed and blue-shuttered rather than the deep jewel tones of Marrakech, with thuya wood, raffia and Gnaoua-influenced art.

Villa Maroc is the town’s pioneer, one of the first houses in Morocco converted into a guest riad, and it remains the reference point for the format. At the top end, Heure Bleue Palais is Essaouira’s landmark address: a Relais and Chateaux property near Bab Marrakech with a courtyard, a rooftop pool and a level of service the rest of the medina measures itself against.

The beachfront

If you want a pool, a spa and a lift, the strip of larger hotels along the bay is the answer. The best known is the beachfront MGallery property, a thalassotherapy hotel where seawater treatments are the main draw — an easy walk from the medina but with resort infrastructure the old houses cannot offer. This is the sensible choice for families and for anyone travelling with mobility considerations.

The mid-range

Between the two sits a large field of small guesthouses and boutique maisons d’hotes, both inside the walls and in the quieter quarters just outside them. Expect a courtyard, breakfast on the roof, six to ten rooms and an owner who will arrange a driver, a surf lesson or a table at dinner. Value here is genuinely strong, and the standard is more consistent than in most Moroccan towns.

Budget and surf

Simple hostels and family-run pensions inside the medina keep prices very low, and they are perfectly pleasant — look for a roof terrace and check whether hot water and heating are reliable, since Atlantic winters are cooler than visitors expect. Down the coast towards Sidi Kaouki, surf and kite camps offer bed, board and lessons as a package, right on an almost empty beach.

Choosing

Medina for atmosphere, food and walking everywhere. Beach for facilities and quiet. Sidi Kaouki for wind, waves and nothing else at all.

Tip: Ask for a room off the courtyard’s upper floors rather than beside it at ground level. Riad courtyards funnel sound beautifully, which is charming at breakfast and less so when someone checks in at 1am.