Markets & souks

The one market worth planning around is Had Draa’s weekly souk, 30 km out by the Marrakech road and then the N1, by grand taxi from Bab Doukkala. The other rural souks rotate through the week, and the village name often gives the day. Fish has two addresses, at the port and in the Souk Jdid hall. This page explains how to read a souk’s day from its name, what is sold there and how to get there without a car. The dated calendar of the coming months is in our Agenda, and what to buy, and what it should cost, in Crafts & shopping.

Had Draa: the one souk worth the journey

Had Draa is a country souk, not a market laid on for visitors. Les Petites Expériences, an agency that runs visits there, describes its livestock market: cattle, donkeys, sheep and goats. The rest of the souk sells fruit and vegetables, dried fruit and olive oil. Trades work on site: a blacksmith, a welder, a cobbler, barbers under canvas. From Bab Doukkala it is 30 km and 26 minutes by road, by our calculation: the Marrakech road as far as the Ounagha roundabout, then 5 km north on the N1. Road figures for the other villages are in our Distances pages.

Without a car, the grand taxi leaves the Bab Doukkala rank when the car is full. We found no published fare for the trip, so ask the price of a seat before you get in. Lima Bus names no Had Draa stop on its nine routes (site read on 16 October 2026). Our advice: taxi out, early in the morning, and the first car that fills for the way back. Agencies sell the morning with an argan cooperative on the way, and our day trips say which ones.

The other souks of the week: the village name often gives the day

For many villages the souk day is written into the name. Had is Sunday, Tnine Monday, Tleta, or Tlet, Tuesday, Arbaa Wednesday, Khemis Thursday, Sebt Saturday. Hence Had Draa, which carries Sunday in its name, and the centre of Tlet El Hanchane, which carries Tuesday. No official source publishes the day of the Had Draa souk: confirm it the day before at the Bab Doukkala grand taxi rank. The days that circulate online for the other villages come from a 2012 list and from agency trips. We will publish them once we have recorded them on the ground. Ounagha, on the road to Had Draa, has no published souk day that we could find. You drive through it on the way to Had Draa.

These souks are smaller, and the stalls hold through the morning. Without a car, Lima Bus serves Smimou on its line 3 and Hanchane on its line 6. Its online timetable, undated and uploaded in 2022, has the first bus leave Essaouira at 06:45 for Smimou and at 06:30 for Hanchane. Check the day before on 06 61 21 34 26, the network’s number. The grand taxi covers the rest. How taxis and buses work here is in Getting around.

Fish, Souk Jdid and Bab Doukkala

Fish has two addresses. At the port, the quayside stalls sell what the boats landed in the morning. The auction hall sells to wholesalers rather than to visitors. Choosing, weighing, prices and timing are in Fish market.

In the medina, Souk Jdid sits where the two main axes cross, between avenue Mohamed Zerktouni and avenue de l’Istiqlal. It has four squares: fish in a tiled hall, spices around it, grain on the square that still carries the name, and the joutia, the second-hand market. It is 300 m from Bab Doukkala, a 4-minute walk by our calculation.

Our view: if your stay crosses souk day, go to Had Draa. If not, pick the village souk of the day, or Souk Jdid, which you can walk to in the medina.