Do you need a blast of sun? Then yalla, get yourself to Essaouira. This crenellated city on the Moroccan coast is back on the budget-airline map, and it’s warm throughout winter. Flight schedules mean you’ve no choice but to make it a three-night weekend, but that’s fine: you’ve the atmospheric fishing port and the ramshackle old citadel to discover — not to mention the surf culture, the rooftop bars and the locals’ obsession with Jimi Hendrix.
SATURDAY
Evening
Essaouira is often touted as the chilled, shaggy-haired alternative to the mania of Marrakesh, but it was once a heavily fortified trading post — away from the jurisdiction of European powers and a haven for pirates and shadowy privateers. The main spectacle here is the collision of stoic desert ruggedness with military grandeur, and you’ll see it best on Moulay Hassan Square at dusk. As the call to prayer floats from the medina, silhouetted French turrets thrust up into a red sky while the North Atlantic pounds into salty black crags below. When it’s too dark for sightseeing, follow the ramparts round to Umia, a French-Moroccan joint serving filet de boeuf Wellington (mains from £15; 22 Bis Skala Street). Now you’re ready to rock the kasbah. Pick a roof terrace: Salut Maroc! for live gnawa folk music (salutmaroc.com); or trendy Taros for DJs and disco lights (Moulay Hassan Square).
SUNDAY
Morning
Start with breakfast at millennial-friendly Mandala, set up by a Moroccan-Icelandic couple. It has pretty wooden chairs, Jules Verne novels on the shelf and avocado on sourdough on the menu (from £6; mandalamaroc.com). Weave southwest between street porters and fruit-sellers to find the Citadel, a fortress built in the 1760s for Sultan Mohamed III. He wanted more trade, but not without protection from the Europeans, so he hired an insider — a French architect influenced by the mega-forts of Vauban — to build this desolate garrison. Look out for the neat rows of blue-painted boats tied up in the harbour as you enter the Port Scala fort to inspect its Dutch bronze cannons, and climb onto the battlements of Barmil Tower, where health-and-safety precautions are thrillingly absent (£5).
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Afternoon
Beyond the fort, the port is the lifeblood of the city. Gangs of men unload the latest catch amid a melee of tourists, fishermen and opportunistic cats. At the informal Port Essaouira restaurant, you can select and consume a gluttonous haul of sea bream, squid and sea urchins for £6. Or do what the port workers do: buy your own fish from a stallholder and have it grilled at the far end of the dock for £2. After lunch, stretch your legs with a trip to the ghostly Jewish Quarter, at the top of the medina. Jews once comprised nearly half the population of Essaouira, but they left en masse when Israel was founded. The area is now abandoned, “pending redevelopment”, so seek out the synagogues and centuries-old blue wooden doorways before it all changes.
Evening
Watch sunset with the crowds on Kasbah Scala, a gun platform that you may recognise from Game of Thrones — that gruesome bit with Daenerys, the slaves and the nipple removal. The real history is no less gory. A smashed bronze cannon marks the spot where a soldier was decapitated during a French naval assault in 1844; his missing head was later found in a nearby alley. You’re unlikely to lose your head these days, as long as you’re wary of the spice biscuits one chap sells from a tray — some are hash cakes.
Now look for the fairy lights of the Triskala restaurant and sit yourself in front of the Hendrix iconography for falafel with kemia, Morocco’s veggie tapas (mains from £6; instagram.com/triskalaessaouira). If you’re feeling adventurous, round off the night with a search for the (only) locals’ bar. Google Maps has it down as “Unknown but Cheap”; the Essaouirans simply call it alfatha: The Hole. There’s no sign above the door, but there is one inside warning you not to take photos. Don’t accept any opium on the way out (Rue El Ayachi).
MONDAY
Morning
Grab your sunblock and prepare to hang loose with the sandy-haired beach tribe: surf’s up all year round in this city. Book a beginners’ group lesson with Loving Surf Essaouira and a buff teacher will give you a wetsuit, then roar you down to the sheltered beach on a quad bike. The sea’s nippy, but by lunch you’ll be riding waves standing up (£25 for a 2½-hour lesson; lovingsurf.com). If that sounds unbearably cold, head to one of the hammams around Mosque Ben Youssef for a traditional (naked, in a room of naked locals) steam’n’scrub. It costs £8 if the staff wash you or £2.50 if you do it yourself. If that sounds unbearably awkward, book a private treatment at the Villa Maroc hotel (£50; villa-maroc.com).
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Afternoon and evening
Regroup in the centre of the medina with street food at Cafe Jalil. It’s no more than a couple of plastic tables and a charcoal grill in an alley, but the sardine tagine is delicious and you’ll have a front-row people-watching seat (£2.50; bit.ly/cafe-jalil). Time for some gift shopping: for something authentic, you want metal qraqeb castanets from the Africa Shop (Rue de Tanger); argan oil, hand-milled by women in the streets (Shop Argan Oil, Avenue Mohamed Zerktouni); or an inlaid thuya-wood chest from the carpenter’s workshop on Rue Skala.
You’ve not really been to Morocco until you’ve seen someone pouring tea from a pot that’s a clear foot above the cup: Restaurant Adwak will oblige (bit.ly/restaurant-adwak). Your nightcap is a double gelato scoop from the nearby Glacier Chez Said.
TUESDAY
Morning
There’s still time to go on a quest to see the Dar Sultan Palace, the half-buried castle in the sand that Jimi Hendrix supposedly snapped up after a visit in the summer of 1969 — his 11-day stay gave him legendary status in Essaouira. Take a taxi south to the village of Diabat (£4), turn your nose up at the Hendrix-themed cafe and boldly strike out into the dunes to find the eerily abandoned complex.
It’s an hour’s walk back to the medina, so stop off at the laid-back Ocean Vagabond beach bar for a beer and try to spot tourists tumbling off cantankerous camels (oceanvagabond.com).
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▶ Getting there
Ryanair flies direct to Essaouira on Tuesdays and Saturdays. It’s a 20-minute taxi ride from the airport (£12).
▶ Where to stay
Overlooking the sea, Salut Maroc! is an 18th-century riad with bright mosaic designs, a hammam and live gnawa fusion music in the rooftop restaurant (doubles from £105, B&B; salutmaroc.com). The luxurious Heure Bleue Palais works a colonial vibe, with palms on its lush central patio, a roof terrace with a heated pool and a grand piano in the lounge — expect jazz standards on Sunday nights (doubles from £146; heure-bleue.com).
Jules Cooper was a guest of Salut Maroc! and Ryanair
