Money & payments
Cash 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.
Cash runs Essaouira. The port grill stands, the petits taxis, the souks and most of the small dining rooms in the medina take dirham notes and nothing else. Anywhere else, ask whether they take cards before you order. The dirham cannot be bought before you leave home, so every stay starts at a cash machine on arrival. For scale, €1 changes for 10 to 12 MAD, £1 for 12 to 14 MAD and $1 for 9 to 10.50 MAD (Bank Al-Maghrib banknote rates for 15 October 2026, as published by CIH Bank).
Withdrawing: where, how much, and Gnaoua weekend
The banks sit in two clusters. In the medina, around Place Moulay Hassan and along avenue de l’Istiqlal. In the new town, along boulevard de la Corniche towards the beach, where BMCI has a branch that changes money (the bank’s site, read 16 October 2026). Prefer a machine inside a bank lobby to one in a lane: fewer failures, and someone to talk to if the card stays inside.
The cap per withdrawal and the fees vary from bank to bank, and we found no bank that publishes its charges for foreign cards. Our advice: take out what you need for several days in one go, in daylight, and read the screen before you confirm. If the machine offers to debit you in your own currency, decline. The rate on offer is the machine’s.
One week calls for planning ahead: the Gnaoua festival, from 24 to 26 June 2027, Thursday to Saturday. Before it opens, we advise withdrawing enough to last until Sunday night.
Exchanging, keeping the slips, leaving without dirhams
The Office des changes forbids importing and exporting dirhams, with a 2,000 MAD allowance in notes per traveller (official FAQ, read 25 September 2026). So you exchange here, at a bank or at a medina bureau de change, passport in hand. Keep every slip. It justifies, at the border, the foreign currency you take back out. Airport counters only buy back leftover dirhams up to 2,000 MAD per passport (same source).
If you land at Marrakech, the Menara counters cover the road and the first taxi. Our getting to Essaouira pages cover the journey, and OpenStreetMap shows two cash machines 200 m from the bus station, a three-minute walk. A shopkeeper who takes your euros counts them at his rate, not yours.
Cards, small change, tips
On a card terminal, the CMI network offers Visa and Mastercard holders the option of paying in their own currency. The rate is printed on the receipt. Choose the dirham, your bank will convert it better.
The real problem is not the card, it is the 200 MAD note. Cash machines hand them out, and a taxi, a stall or a porter cannot change one. Notes run from 20 to 200 MAD, coins up to 10 MAD (Bank Al-Maghrib). Break the big notes in a bank, a supermarket or a café. Keep coins and 20s on you: that is what pays for petit taxi rides and tips.
Tipping is not compulsory, it is expected. What we leave, as orders of magnitude: the change rounded up in a café, 5 to 10% in a restaurant. Then 10 to 20 MAD to whoever carries your bags to the riad, and 20 to 50 MAD to the person who scrubs you at the hammam. What a bed, a meal and the activities cost is priced in our budget pages. This one only says how to pay.
For a stay of several months, the bank account and the rent in dirhams are covered in living in Essaouira. The scams we see recurring are in health & safety. The date, the journey and the paperwork are in our practical guides.
Frequently asked questions
Where can you withdraw cash in Essaouira?
At the bank machines in the medina, around Place Moulay Hassan and avenue de l’Istiqlal. Or in the new town, on boulevard de la Corniche, where BMCI has a branch with an exchange counter. The cap and the fees vary by bank, and we found none that publishes its charges for foreign cards. Withdraw in one go, in daylight.
Can you pay by card in Essaouira?
Sometimes, with Visa or Mastercard. The port stands, petits taxis and souks are paid in cash, and anywhere else it is worth asking before you order. If the terminal offers to charge you in your own currency, choose the dirham.
How much should you tip in Essaouira?
It is expected rather than compulsory. We round up in cafés, leave 5 to 10% in restaurants, 10 to 20 MAD to whoever carries the bags and 20 to 50 MAD at the hammam. Keep coins and 20 MAD notes: nobody has change for 200 MAD.
Where can you exchange euros or pounds in Essaouira?
At the banks and the medina bureaux de change, passport in hand. Bank Al-Maghrib publishes banknote rates: on 15 October 2026 the euro changed for 10.09 to 11.73 MAD and the pound for 11.93 to 13.86 MAD. Keep the slip: it is what lets you convert dirhams back when you leave.
What do you do with leftover dirhams when you leave?
Spend them, or convert them back. Leaving Morocco with more than 2,000 MAD in notes is not allowed. Airport counters buy back only 2,000 MAD per passport, against your exchange slips (Office des changes, FAQ read 25 September 2026).
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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.
- Internet & SIM cardsBuy 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.
- 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.