Bars & rooftops
Alcohol in Essaouira is served under licence, and licences are scarce: a few kasbah rooftops, some medina restaurants, the hotel bars on the bay. On four menus published online, a Casablanca beer costs 45 to 80 MAD. In summer go up at 19:00, not 17:00: the wind drops with the sun.
A drink with alcohol in it is served under licence in Essaouira, and licences are scarce. They sit on a few kasbah rooftops, in some medina restaurants and in the bars of the hotels on the bay and in Diabat. Every other roof in the medina pours tea and juice in front of the same view. On the menus four medina addresses publish online, a Casablanca beer costs 45 to 80 MAD. Expect 50 to 100 MAD for a glass of wine and 80 to 150 MAD for a cocktail.
Why so few places serve
Alcohol is legal in Morocco, sold and taxed. The 2026 finance bill expects 3.5 billion dirhams in alcohol duties (Le Nouvelliste, 28 October 2025). It is served under a licence governed by decree no. 3-177-66 of 17 July 1967. The text sets two categories: bars, and the restaurants and hotels where the glass comes with a meal or a room. No bar may open near a mosque or a cemetery, at a distance fixed locally. The same decree, in article 28, forbids serving a Moroccan Muslim. That is what the law says, and practice varies.
The medina is dense with mosques and zaouias, and we read that as the reason so few places serve inside the walls. Taros on Place Moulay Hassan, Ramsess on rue Iben Roched, La Table by Madada on rue Youssef el Fassi and Dar Baba on rue de Marrakech publish their drinks menus. Outside the walls the licence is the hotel’s. Our restaurants section gives the price of a licensed dinner: a main course and a glass of wine cost 125 to 350 MAD on the menus we read online in October 2026. Here we are talking about the glass on its own.
Two calendars weigh on service. For Ramadan we have read no published rule for Essaouira, and we advise you to call the place before going up during the month. For Aïd al-Mawlid, the walis suspend sales for one to three days depending on the city, under the same decree (H24info, 12 November 2019). We found no published decision for Essaouira itself. The dates are in our when to visit guide.
Where you watch the sun go down from
The medina faces west and the sun drops into the ocean all year round. What moves is the spot. In December it goes down in the west-south-west, to the right of Mogador island as seen from Place Moulay Hassan. In June it sets in the west-north-west, over open sea. It sets at 17:40 on 21 December and at 19:47 on 21 June, by our calculation. The rest of the evening, dinner included, is set to that hour on our eating and going out page.
Three views, three families of address. The rooftops of the kasbah around Place Moulay Hassan look over the port, the Skala and the island. Taros, on the square itself, is one of them. The bars on the bay and the beach road have the ocean straight ahead and the island to the right, with no rampart in the way. The bars of the new town have no view, but neighbourhood prices.
Our advice: the view costs little, the licence a lot. At Taros the menu lists a Casablanca beer at 60 MAD and mint tea at 35 MAD, 50 MAD from 19:00. An unlicensed tea rooftop in the kasbah gives you the same sunset.
The wind at 17:00, and the right hour
The thermal wind strengthens between 13:00 and 17:00 and drops with the sun: the curve is in our weather and wind page. The sun, meanwhile, sets at 19:47 on 21 June. A rooftop at 17:00 in summer is therefore in full wind, sand in the glass, with the sunset still nearly three hours away. In December the sun is down by 17:40. In summer, go up at 19:00. In winter, at 17:00.
On the roof itself the wind comes from the north-north-east. Look for the table with a wall to the north, or the floor below. The beach terraces take the wind head-on in the afternoon.
Places open after midnight are in clubs and nightlife. The online menus we quote carry no date: ask for the menu before you order.
Frequently asked questions
Can you drink alcohol in Essaouira?
Yes, in licensed places. That means a few rooftops and restaurants on Place Moulay Hassan and the bars of hotels in the medina, on the bay and in Diabat. Add the medina restaurants that publish a wine list, such as Ramsess or Dar Baba. Licences come under the decree of 17 July 1967. Every other rooftop serves tea and juice.
How much is a beer in Essaouira?
On the online menus of four medina addresses, a Casablanca runs from 45 MAD at Ramsess to 80 MAD at Dar Baba, and costs 60 MAD at Taros on Place Moulay Hassan. A glass of wine runs 50 to 100 MAD, a cocktail 80 to 150 MAD. You pay for the licence and the view, rarely for what is in the glass.
Where can you watch the sunset with a drink in Essaouira?
On a kasbah rooftop around Place Moulay Hassan, with the port and the island in front of you. In summer go up around 19:00, in winter around 17:00. Without alcohol, any tea rooftop in the kasbah gives the same view. At Taros, mint tea is 35 MAD, 50 MAD from 19:00.
Are Essaouira’s bars open during Ramadan?
We have read no published rule for Essaouira, and we advise you to call the place before going up during the month. For Aïd al-Mawlid the walis suspend sales for one to three days depending on the city (H24info, 12 November 2019), with no published decision found for Essaouira. Each year’s dates are in our when to visit guide.
What time should you go up to a rooftop in Essaouira?
In summer, around 19:00: the sun sets at 19:47 on 21 June and the thermal wind drops with it. At 17:00 the roof is in full wind. In winter, around 17:00, for a sunset at 17:40 on 21 December.
This section is filling up
No page is online in this section yet. In the meantime, here is what is already published in “Eat & drink”.
Other sections in Eat & drink
- RestaurantsFour ways of eating in Essaouira. The port grills sell by weight. The small medina rooms serve a tagine for 50 to 90 MAD. The Place Moulay Hassan terraces charge for the view, and the new town cooks for its residents. Pick the neighbourhood and the hour before the name.
- Cafés & breakfastA Moroccan breakfast is msemen, baghrir or harcha with honey, olive oil or amlou, and a nous-nous or a tea. Your riad serves it: ask whether it is in the room rate. The port opens first, then the medina, and the new town serves all year round. A laptop is fine in the morning, indoors, never on the square.
- Clubs & nightlifeClubs, beach clubs and parties: Essaouira after dark.
- Street foodEating on your feet in Essaouira rarely costs more than 30 MAD a plate. Sfenj and msemen in the morning, pavement sardines at midday, a bowl of snails at dusk, orange juice at any hour. One rule against a bad stomach: what comes off the fire in front of you, at the stall with the queue.
- Fish marketAt the port you buy fish from the display, by the kilo, and have it grilled next door. Kilo price and cooking charge agreed before the weighing, fish drained, no ice. We found no published prices: ask before you sit down. The best buy is sardines, the worst deal lobster on ice.
The agenda and the wind, every month
One email a month, and you will know when this section opens.