Morocco 2025/26

Marrakesh. Just the name itself holds some promise of an exotic adventure, a centuries old city close to the Atlas mountains and not far from the great Sahara desert. On our first trip to Morocco, we flew in to Marrakesh and were staying three nights before heading out to the coast. Marrakesh in July is a hot place, with a dry heat that makes you crave cold drinks and an ice cream like you wouldn't believe, this also led us to spend a day at a waterpark while we were there.

Taking a bus from the airport into the city center quickly made us realize that it is a rather large city, and we later got pretty good at navigating the local buses to get around. We stayed in an Airbnb apartment which was in an apartment complex with a great pool, a real blessing in the afternoon after exploring the city. The first night in the city we went to the large Jemaa el-Fnaa square which has seen travelers and tradesmen meeting for almost one thousand years, serving as a hub for trade and travel on the outskirts of the western Sahara desert.

While decidely a little "touristy", it still has a unique feel to it, as you walk around seeing Berber musicians, snake charmers, trained monkeys and entrances to endless souks that criss cross the old medina. The second day in Marrakesh we did find that it was easy to get lost, both literally and metaphorically in the thousands of different little shops in the souks of the walled old town. Selling anything from handcrafted artifacts to food, electronics, exotic pets and everything inbetween, wandering the souks is an experience in itself.

During the day and early afternoon we spent the third day at the Oasiria waterpark, Oda and Brage taking in all the waterslides and I partly in the shade watching people and life slowly floating past. There was a large wave pool and a "river" you could float on so refreashing fun for all ages. There was a free shuttle bus as well so all in all fun day out in the sun and water, even if we were almost in the Sahara.

On the morning of the fourth day we caught a bus heading southwest, just skirting the lesser Atlas mountains, taking us out to the modern coastal city of Agadir.

Practical Tips

If you are travelling with children, make sure your place has a pool if at all possible. While there are a lot of riads (old Moroccan houses with an open center) that will say they have a pool, it is typically a "tub-size" thing you likely don't want to cool off in. We stayed in a riad style place for one night at a later visit, but then we were more in and out of the city, not staying long. If going in the summer half of the year, plan for slow days with few things to do, taking in the city at a slow and unhurried pace. Anything else might soon become a hot and frustrated experience.

The souks are a maze and while it is great fun walking around, have a plan for what to do in the unlikely event you get separated. And watch out for people on motorbikes driving through the narrow allys like they were in a race, with little regard for their own safety, and absolutely no regard for anyone elses.

Leaving Marrakesh we took a bus around noon heading to the coastal city of Agadir. Compared to Marrakesh it is a more modern city, more comparable to European cities along the Mediterranean maybe. Part of the reason is it's grim history. In 1960 a devestating earthquake hit the city, killing more than 12.000 people, about a third of the population at the time, and naturally this also levelled a lot of buildings.

Being a favored holiday spot for Moroccans, and later foreigners as well, Agadir has been built back and developed into a thriving tourist city. There are a ton of resorts here, especially towards the northern part of the city, but elsewhere as well. However, they have a giant market that definitely feels very Moroccan, albeit having been built "recently" following the earthquake of 1960.

Where We Stayed in Agadir

We have been to Agadir twice, and stayed in two different areas when we were there, but not that far apart really. The first time we stayed quite close to the beach, in an Airbnb apt. which also had access to a pool. Basically, anywhere you are staying in Morocco, it's better with a pool! Not really knowing anything about Agadir, we were lucky to land in a nice area of town. It was a short walk down to the beach, and also within easy walking distance to the cafes, restaurants and stores in the Founty district.

For our second trip I thought I booked an apartment right in the center of the Founty district, but it turned out that the actual location of the apartment and the pin on the map in Airbnb didn't quite match. This was also the case in Essaouira for our first booking, so worth trying to double check, maybe from comments from previous visitors, when booking on Airbnb, that the location in fact corresponds with reality.

The Founty area has a great range of places to eat as well as some nice stores etc. while note being overly touristy, at least not in the sense that there are huge resorts everywhere. There are certainly lots of tourists there, but quite a few of them are Moroccan tourists as well as the mix of French, Brits and from other Arab countries, which seemed to me to be the three major tourist groups really.

The Beach

Even though you are right on the coast of the Atlantic, the beach isn't really that nice for swimming. There are often times a lot of waves, and surfers in the waves, and it is also known to have possibly dangerous currents and riptides. From Reddit and other reviews online I also found that a lot of people complain about pollution, and /or the beach being dirty, but I haven't seen anything to actually suggest that is true.

While you might not be swimming much in the ocean, you can just wade in to cool down a bit anytime you like. With some luck you could find a tidal pool for the kids to play in, and the beach is still a great place to hang out. Moroccans love soccer, and there are any number of games going on at any time along the wide 10 kilometer long beach. There is a wide walking boulevard along the beach where you'll find restaurants and small shops etc. for any immediate needs you have.

With lots of open space, whole families trek to the beach for a great day out, and especially in the evening you will see multi-generational families coming to have supper on the beach. Our first evenings in Agadir we were surprised by the number of people trakking to the beach to play and eat. There were lots of large families setting up with barbeques and going on well into what in Norway would be far past the kids' bedtime.

What We Did on Two Trips to Agadir

Surfs up! As in on both our trips to Morocco, Oda and Brage took surfing lessons while we were in Agadir. With a nice climate in the summer and smaller waves and calmer seas most days, its a popular spot for first time surfers to learn. Later in the year, or if you go a little north of the city, towards the village of Taghazout you find a lot of experienced surfers to, in surf camps chasing their endless summer.

When we were there I had achillis tendonitis in both calfs and really didn't feel like jumping anywhere so I enjoyed it from the beach. It was great fun to see the progress both Oda and Brage had in just a few days though, and then again from our first trip to our second trip. From being pushed around in the water by waves they had no connection with, on our second outing they were able to paddle out, recognize a good wave and paddle hard and fast enough to "catch it", and ride it to the end. Pretty awesome, and something I have to try at some point.

Mostly by dumb luck we also stumbled into finding the best surfing instructors in Agadir, at least if you are to believe Oda and Brage. We were sitting at a local cafe one morning, playing cards after a sugar infused pancake breakfast, and we noticed an SUV with a lot of surfboards on the roof. I left a note on the windshield and got a message back on WhatsApp a few hours later. The kids had their first lesson the day after with Ismail and his partner from Poki Surf.

Souk El Had

Having spent almost a week in Agadir, over two visits, we have had time to experience quite a lot of what there is to do, maybe especially so if you are travelling with kids. For anyone visiting Agadir, a trip to the giant market Souk El Had is a must. Souk El Had is said to have more than 3000 shops, and it is one of the largest markets in all of Africa. The whole giant market area is enclosed behind imposing 6 meter tall walls, making it look quite ancient, yet those walls were built sometime after the 1960 earthquake.

Walking around in the souk, sellers from any number of shops will see you as a potential customer and will more or less eagerly try to get you to visit their shop. While they expect people to just walk around, I would advise never to actually ask about the price of something (like it's a clear purchasing signal) unless you actually are interested in buying. It will for sure set in motion a negotiation which in the seller's head might lead to a sale, while you might not have thought much about actually buying. If you do see something you like, good natured bargaining will for certain be a part of the sale, unless you are happy with overpaying and just accept whatever price they initially offer you. Typically it's fair to aim to haggle the price down by one third, to one half of what you are first offered, it's something you just have to feel out and part of the fun :-)

While nowhere near as crazy as in the medina in Marrakesh, some people might still be driving past on mopeds so do keep an eye out, especially if you are walking around with small children.

Agadir Crocoparc

On our first trip to Agadir we went to visit the Crocoparc and had a blast doing so. There are hundreds of crocodiles there, and there is also a desert habitat you walk around in with lots of large Green Iguanas, tortoises and some other excotic animals. 

While you are there you should definitely catch one of the feeding times when the crocs are fed pieces of chicken (and maybe some other meats). Seeing how they react to the food, you soon understand that they can both be quite fast, and quite aggressive when needed to secure dinner. 

There is a nice little restaurant there with a view to the crocs, a great souvenir shop and for the brave at heart, there is a zipline that runs the length of the dam over all the crocs. 

The park is open from 10:00 to 20:00 and when we were there, the price was 100Dhs for adults and 70Dhs for children up to 12. There is a candy shop in a "cave" there as well, just as a warning to any parents reading this :-) To avoid the midday heat, I’d be there right when they open, or come at around 17:00, planning to spend 2-3 hours there.

Karting Agadir

Another fun activity for young and old thrill seekers, racing around a go kart track, chasing your own best time, or trying to lap your family members. The go kart track is located just outside of the city center and we went on both our trips there. The first time Oda and Brage drove the kids karts on a smaller track of about 300 meters. Then on our second outing they advanced to drive the adult karts that are a little faster, and on a track that was about 900 meters long.

I can't remember how many laps they did, but quite a few, and you could see their lap times decrease as they got more comfortable in the karts, and got more familiar with the track. I joined them for acouple of the last laps and have to admit I found it great fun, your ass is like 10cm over the track, and the little karts can do 60-70 km/h so you are definitely going fast enough.

Private Kickboxing Lessons

Oda has been doing kickboxing for a couple of years now, and when we were in Agadir the last time, she had found a gym online that got rave reviews for the one on one lessons they offered. Convincing Brage this would be a character building experience for him as well, both Oda and Brage took two double lessons with coach Issam at Kick Boxing Morocco. With the one on one training, Oda said she he lifted her skills in just two sessions, challenging her at just the right level, pushing her to try more advanced combination, and some K1 style kickboxing as well. It was reasonably priced, and in the end both Oda and Brage had great fun.

Last Thoughts on Agadir

We have been back twice, and I think we will visit Agadir again in the next year or two, so I would obviosuly recommend a trip to anyone. It's a great place to unwind in city large enough to have something to offer most people, yet small enough to to be easily navigated. It's also new'ish and with a great choice of places to eat, relax or shop, if you want to indulge yourself.

The climate is typically mild, there is a reason why people from the interior trek out to the coast in the summer months. We haven't been to the Souss-Massa national reserve yet, so that might be something we check out on a future trip there. We also haven't really done much travelling in the interioer, so maybe we'll cut through a mountain pass in the Atlas mountains next time, and stop in one of the mountain villages on the way from Marrakesh to Agadir.

Taghazout is a little village about 45 minutes north of Agadir. On our first trip to Morocco we had planned a stop there since it came recommended by my parents. It is a nice little town, but unless you are planning to surf, I would skip it and keep going north towards Essaouira. It's not so much that it isn't charming and that the little restaurants right along the cliffs lining the beach aren't great, there just isn't much to do there, besides surfing that is. The beach is tiny, the town is as well, and it's naturally quite touristy as it has grown into a surfspot for twentysomthings.

The below image, taken at low tide, captures about half the town, with a few of the restaurants along the beach.

As a surfers' paradise, Taghazout has a lot of little surf shops and and also amenities like laundry places etc. Due to a "laundry-conflict" one morning, with all our cloths basically still stuck and we on our way on a trip out of town (to Agadir to surf), Oda and Brage got new t-shirts.

The fact that we actually left Taghazout for Agadir twice in the two nights/three days we stayed there probably says it all... Do go for surfing though, if you are an intermediate to advanced surfer!

Being Norwegian, one thing struck me immediately as we got the to walls surrounding the old medina of Essaouira, "This is just like Kardemommeby" I told Oda og Brage. It's a well known children's book written by an author who himself travelled around Morocco in the 1940s and 1960s. In the book there are a number of illustrations and it is very easy to see where the author found his inspiration as you walk around the old town of Essaouira. The brown city walls, white brick buildings, wooden blue shutters and roof details and the occasional palm tree is all very Kardemommeby :-)

Essaouira is an old Moroccan city sitting on the Atlantic coast with an awesome walled old town. The medina is nestled in behind high fortified walls and very walkable ramparts, mostly built in the 1760s. The medina was planned by French architects if my memory serves, and is pretty easy to walk around in, yet with myriad small cafes, restaurants and little shops it is equally easy to lose yourself and walk around there for a few hours without noticing the time passing.

Getting to Essaouira and where to stay

Essaouira is about three and a half hours north when you travel from Agadir like we did both times we visited, and three hours or so to Marrakesh which was our next stop both times. We took the bus every time we traveled between cities in Morocco, but you can easily book a minibus or go rent a car if you prefer. The buses are fairly cheap and mostly on time though so that has been our preferred mode of transportation. For longer haul journeys like these, they usually make pit-stop on the way to fill up on refreshments and maybe find a bathroom.

For both our visits we relied on Airbnb to find the accommodation which worked out great, albeit with a bit of a surprise for our first stay. That first time I found a nice little villa with a pool, and if I was to believe the map placement I saw on Airbnb, it was right in the middle of the city of Essaouira. It was only weeks later I realized from some comments about the place that is was infact a twenty minute car drive outside of town. I decided on just rolling with it, and even though the cab was a little costly (there is a big price difference between taxis inside the city and ones taking you outside) the house was nice, the view was nice and the pool was even nicer.

On our second stay we booked an apartment in an old house inside the walls of the medina. The house was not in the riad style you often find in Marrakesh, but a more narrow building nestled in between its neighboring old buildings in a little side street off of the main thoughfare that runs through the medina. To Oda's delight, the apartment basically came with a cat that didn't seem very interested in leaving, and a rooftop terrace with a view of the city and ocean.

What to do in Essaouira

For both our visits we really wound down as we came to Essaouira. I'm not quite sure what it is, but it is just so easy to relax, pick up that book you brought, or maybe go out to some cafe and play games. So, on our first trip, the kids and I spent time playing in the pool and reading, in between trips into the city for exploring and lunch or dinner.

On our second trip there it was pretty much the same. We didn't chase any big excurions or activites (all though wind surfing or kiting is all the rage in The Windy City), instead we slowed down and spent time living slow. That was particularly easy at a place we visited a few times, with great breakfast and an even greater view out over the ramparts from its rooftop terrace.

On our first trip there though, Oda managed to convince Brage to come along on a short trip on the back of a camel. While everyone probably have an idea of what a camel is a looks like, it's quite something to be up close to one. They are kinda funny looking, and the way their hind legs bend "the wrong way" makes for quite the rocky start when you are sitting on top of one and it gets up off the ground.