Essaouira is an eighteenth-century walled port laid out by a French architect for a Moroccan sultan, and it feels quite unlike anywhere else in the country. The ramparts are Portuguese in character, the medina is a grid rather than a labyrinth, the fishing harbour still works for a living, and the wind almost never stops.
On a short itinerary this is the single best day trip in Morocco. Two and a half hours each way on good road, five or six hours in a town small enough to see properly, and back in Marrakech for dinner - it delivers more per hour invested than anything else within reach of the city.
It is also the coolest place within striking distance of Marrakech. The Atlantic trade wind holds the town near 22C while the interior sits above 40, which for visitors used to Singapore's humidity is a genuinely different kind of relief. Every booking is private and the rate is agreed in advance.
Why hire a driver here
- At two and a half hours each way, the single best day trip from Marrakech
- Walled and pedestrian, the medina halts vehicles at the gates
- Through summer it holds about twenty degrees below Marrakech
- Its grid layout makes this the easiest medina in the country to walk
- The coast road south to Agadir earns the drive on its own
Included in every booking
- Fuel, tolls and the driver's fee for the agreed route
- Marrakech hotel, riad or airport pickup
- English-speaking drivers as standard on the Singapore site
- Photo stops at the argan trees and co-operatives
- Surfboard, kite and extra luggage space on request, at no charge
