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VisitEssaouira comes in four blocks. The medina inside its walls, half a day. The port, an hour in the morning. The beach, at low tide. The villages and beaches around, a full day. One monument is on the ministry’s ticketing site: the Skala du Port, 60 MAD. Museums and galleries wait for the windy hours.
ActivitiesEssaouira is a wind town: kitesurfing, windsurfing and wing foiling from April to September, surfing from October to April, 147 days a year above 15 knots. In the morning, horses and camels on the beach. When it blows, quad, hammam, yoga, cooking and day trips. This page helps you choose by wind, season and who you travel with.
EventsFour festivals set Essaouira’s year: the Printemps des Alizés in late April, Gnaoua in late June, MOGA in early October, the Andalousies Atlantiques in autumn. Between them, the weekly Had Draa souk, then concerts, exhibitions and sport week by week. The calendar below shows only dates published by organisers, from today across the next three months.
StaySleep where your days will happen. A riad for the medina, a hotel or surf camp for the water. An apartment for a month, a guesthouse for quiet, a campsite for the van. In Essaouira the date sets the price more than the category: book months ahead for Gnaoua week, 24 to 26 June 2027.
Eat & drinkFish is a lunch, eaten when the boats come into the port. A drink is taken on a roof at sunset, at 17:40 on 21 December and 19:47 on 21 June. The night ends early, except in summer and Gnaoua week. Nearly everything fits inside a 100 MAD note, alcohol excepted.
NewsEssaouira news that changes a date, an opening time, a price or an access: festivals announced, openings, closures, works, official decisions. Every article is dated, signed and cites its source. No press release reproduced as is, no rumours.
GuidesPlanning a stay in Essaouira comes down to four decisions, in this order. The dates, because the wind blows hard two days in five. The journey, with no train from Marrakech. The budget. Then the paperwork: passport, dirham and the country’s clock. The dates, the journey and the budget each have their own section, with dated figures.
Weather & windIn Essaouira you read the weather in knots. The northerly trade wind blows mostly from April to August, and mostly in the afternoon. Winter is calm and the sea stays cool all year. Here: the 7-day forecast, today’s wind for the bay, Moulay Bouzerktoune and Sidi Kaouki, and the climate month by month.

Sport

Kite and surf competitions, races, tournaments: Essaouira’s sports calendar.

Windsurfer in the spray in the foreground at Essaouira, more sails and a kite backlit behind — Windsurfing at Essaouira© Lars Curfs (Grashoofd) · Wikimedia Commons

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Had Draa souk
Had Draa souk comes round every week, 30 km and 26 minutes by road from Bab Doukkala. Its name carries Sunday (Had), but no official source publishes the day or the hours, so check the evening before at the grand taxi rank. Leave early and keep the morning free. Entry is free.
Sunday 13 SeptemberHad Draa

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