Internet & SIM cards
Buy a local SIM on arrival, passport in hand, from Maroc Telecom, Orange or inwi. At Orange the card costs 20 MAD and 50 MAD buys 11 GB for 30 days on promotion (October 2026). 4G across town, 5G in Essaouira according to Orange. A coworking space in the medina for meetings.
Buy a local SIM card on arrival, passport in hand, from one of the three operators: Maroc Telecom, Orange or inwi. Orange’s card costs 20 MAD with 20 MAD of credit on it, and its 50 MAD internet top-up gives 11 GB for 30 days on promotion, 5 GB without it (price lists read on 16 October 2026). 4G covers the town and the bay. 5G went live on 7 November 2025 with all three operators, and Orange lists Essaouira among the towns it covers. Your home plan does not follow you by default: Morocco is outside the European Union’s roam-like-at-home rules, and roaming is charged at your operator’s rates.
Three operators, one SIM card, one passport
Maroc Telecom is the historic operator, Orange and inwi the other two national networks. Any téléboutique in the medina sells the card and the top-ups. Every line must be registered. Law 24.96 obliges operators to record the subscriber’s name, first name and ID number (a ministry reminder carried by the press on 14 July 2023). Orange accepts a national ID card, a residence card or a passport (page read on 16 October 2026): for a visitor, that means the passport. Without it, no line.
eSIMs exist. Orange Maroc sells one in its shops and online, with a top-up or a monthly plan (page read on 16 October 2026). Our advice: take the 20 MAD physical SIM over a travel eSIM priced in euros per gigabyte. It tops up anywhere, in cash, and our money and payments section explains why you will be carrying notes anyway.
What a gigabyte costs, and how to top up
The price grids move often, and the promotions more often still. At Orange, the 20 MAD internet top-up gives 2 GB for 7 days. The 50 and 100 MAD top-ups give 11 and 24 GB for 30 days on promotion, 5 and 10 GB without it (price list read on 16 October 2026). Orange advertises top-ups from 5 to 1,000 MAD, from 500 MB to 200 GB. We could not read Maroc Telecom’s or inwi’s price lists online, so compare in their shops. Top-ups are sold as scratch cards in any grocer’s, or through the operator’s app. A family buys one card, not four: tethering covers the other phones.
Signal in the medina, in the villages and at the spots
In town the problem is not the mast, it is the wall. In a riad the router sits in the courtyard and the signal dies behind the stone walls. Ask for the room where the wifi reaches, or sleep on 4G.
Outside the walls, do not count on the same signal everywhere. Before a day at Sidi Kaouki, Moulay Bouzerktoune, Diabat or Imsouane, ask your host which operator works best there. Our rule: in a group, two operators beat one, and the offline map is downloaded before you leave. Our getting around pages say how to reach those villages without a car.
Working remotely from Essaouira
Yes, on three conditions. A coworking space for meetings. Noqta Space, in the medina, opens from 9:00 to 21:00 and rents its open space at 15 MAD an hour, 80 MAD a day or 1,360 MAD a month on weekdays (site read on 16 October 2026). A SIM with a large pass for the days the wifi gives up. And a room chosen for its socket and its signal. The laptop-friendly cafés in our cafés section close in the evening, just as the call with America begins. Our practical guides spell out Moroccan time and the offset from London and Paris.
If the stay runs to months, the question becomes one of housing: the lease, rent with or without wifi, the residence permit. Living in Essaouira is written for those readers. A card and one pass cover a week, so connectivity weighs little against the rest of the stay, which is priced in our budget pages.
Frequently asked questions
Which SIM card should you buy in Essaouira?
One of the three national networks, Maroc Telecom, Orange or inwi, all sold at medina téléboutiques. In a group, take two different operators. Orange’s card costs 20 MAD with 20 MAD of credit (page read on 16 October 2026), internet pass on top.
Do you need a passport to buy a SIM card in Morocco?
Yes. Every line must be registered, and law 24.96 obliges operators to record the subscriber’s name, first name and ID number. Orange accepts a national ID card, a residence card or a passport: for a visitor that means the passport, the original, not a photo of it.
How much does mobile data cost in Morocco?
At Orange, 50 MAD buys 11 GB and 100 MAD 24 GB, valid for 30 days, at the promotional rates read on 16 October 2026. Without the promotion the same top-ups give 5 and 10 GB, or 10 MAD a gigabyte. That is a fraction of what a travel eSIM charges, and Maroc Telecom and inwi are worth comparing in their shops.
Is there 5G in Essaouira?
5G launched in Morocco on 7 November 2025 with Maroc Telecom, Orange and inwi, in the big cities first. Orange lists Essaouira among the towns its 5G covers (list read on 16 October 2026). 4G covers the town and the bay.
Where can you work remotely in Essaouira?
In a coworking space for meetings. Noqta Space, in the medina, opens from 9:00 to 21:00 and rents its open space at 80 MAD a day or 1,360 MAD a month on weekdays (site read on 16 October 2026). For the rest, a local SIM with a large pass, and a room chosen for its socket and its signal.
This section is filling up
No page is online in this section yet. In the meantime, here is what is already published in “Guides”.
Other sections in Guides
- Getting to EssaouiraThere is no train to Essaouira: the 175 km from Marrakech are done by road. A CTM or Supratours coach takes 3 hours for 100 to 125 MAD (fares read on 16 October 2026), a car about 2 h 45. Mogador airport (ESU) is 17 km out, on seasonal routes.
- Distances & travel times from EssaouiraRoad distance, drive time, one option without a car and a day-trip verdict for 25 destinations from Essaouira, Diabat to Tangier. A ≈ marks a figure we have not checked yet. A figure without it carries its source and the date we verified it.
- Getting aroundThe medina is closed to cars and crosses on foot in about ten minutes, by our calculation: most visitors need no vehicle at all. Petit taxi for the new town, grand taxi or local bus for Sidi Kaouki and the villages, a bike for the bay, guarded car parks outside the walls.
- When to visitSeptember and October for the town, April to August for the wind. Essaouira records 147 days a year above 15 knots and its monthly mean highs never pass 23 °C. This section gives the climate month by month, the festivals and the crowds, from the 1991-2020 normals.
- BudgetThe bed sets the cost of a day in Essaouira, not the food. For a November 2026 night in the medina, a dorm bed runs 85 to 200 MAD, a double in a plain riad 360 to 440 MAD, a smarter riad 900 MAD and up. The bus from Marrakech costs 100 to 125 MAD.
- Health & safetyEssaouira is a safe town. The real risk is the ocean: rip currents, cold water, a wind that pushes anything afloat out to sea. Lifeguards in summer, in the bay only. A private clinic has run 24-hour emergencies since July 2024, and works are announced at the public hospital. Police 19, gendarmerie 177, fire 15.
- Money & paymentsCash first in Essaouira: the port stands, taxis, souks and small dining rooms take dirham notes only. Withdraw on arrival, in one go and in daylight, at the machines in the medina or on boulevard de la Corniche. At a card terminal, pay in dirhams. For Gnaoua, 24 to 26 June 2027, withdraw before it opens.
- Living in EssaouiraA month or a year in Essaouira comes down to four things. A lease in the new town, best looked for between October and March. Three months without a permit, then the residence card from the police. Wind above 15 knots on 147 days a year. And a single French school, 65 pupils. What is missing, we say.
The agenda and the wind, every month
One email a month, and you will know when this section opens.