When to visit
September 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.
September and October are the best time to visit Essaouira if you are coming for the town. They are the two warmest months of the year, with mean highs of 22.6 °C and 22.2 °C, and 11 then 8 days above 15 knots in the month. Rain returns in October, 33 mm on about 3 days, against 4 mm in September. April and May are cooler, at 19.5 and 20.6 °C, and windier. If you are coming to sail, the answer flips: July has 20 strong-wind days out of 31, and that is exactly why people come.
Essaouira is not a conventional beach destination. In this section, wind comes before temperature.
Wind comes first
On the 1991-2020 normals, Essaouira records 147 days a year above 15 knots, two days in five, for an annual mean of 13.6 knots. The wind never really stops. Even from October to January, the calmest months, the normals keep about 8 strong days a month. Where that wind comes from, and when in the day it rises, is explained in our Weather & wind section.
Two mistakes follow: booking a beach week in August and spending it behind a windbreak, or arriving in January with a kite and waiting. We suggest choosing your dates on the month’s number of windy days rather than on its high.
Season by season
Spring, March to May. 19.4 to 20.6 °C by day, the rain eases after March, 17 mm in April and 9 in May, 12 to 15 windy days a month. This is the window for walking the medina in the morning and sailing in the afternoon.
Summer, June to August. 21.4 to 22.4 °C and under 1 mm of rain a month. The wind peaks, with 20 days above 15 knots in July. It is also festival season, and the season when rooms run out.
Autumn, September and October. The wind drops to a 13.2 then 12.1 knot mean, highs hold at 22.6 and 22.2 °C, and the town empties. This is the season we recommend to anyone coming to walk, eat and look.
Winter, November to February. 18.4 to 20.5 °C by day, 11.1 to 14.4 °C at night. The four months bring 196 mm of rain, on 18 days. The rest of the time the sky is clear and the medina is yours. Not every riad is heated, and the question is worth asking before you book a week in January.
What the temperatures do not tell you
The sea does not follow the air. The cold current along this coast keeps it low even in August, and our own normals carry no reading for it. Our Beaches pages answer for swimming, beach by beach. A wetsuit is useful all year.
The Gnaoua and World Music Festival takes over the town for three days in late June. What that week does to room rates is priced up in Budget, and Riads says how to go about sleeping. Each edition and its confirmed dates live in the Festivals section of the agenda, not here.
Ramadan shifts the town’s hours: many cafés and restaurants close during the day and everything happens after sunset. The new moon falls on 6 February 2027, so the fast should begin on 8 or 9 February and end around 9 March, by our calculation. The Ministry of Habous sets the date the evening before, after the crescent watch. August is the month when Moroccan holidaymakers join the foreign visitors, on the beach and in the medina.
To decide, open the page for the month you have in mind under Weather & wind. It gives temperatures, rain, sunshine, the daily peak wind and days above 15 knots. The Wind page gives today’s knots spot by spot, the 7-day forecast covers the week ahead. Then Getting to Essaouira covers how to arrive and Budget what the season does to prices. If the wind drives you off the beach, Day trips and Distances from Essaouira save the day.
Frequently asked questions
When is the best time to visit Essaouira?
September and October for the town, the two warmest months: mean highs of 22.6 and 22.2 °C, and the wind down to a 13.2 then 12.1 knot mean. Rain returns in October, 33 mm. April and May are cooler, at 19.5 and 20.6 °C, and windier.
Is it windy in Essaouira all year?
Yes. The town records 147 days a year above 15 knots, with an annual mean of 13.6 knots. Even from October to January, the calmest months, the normals keep about 8 strong days a month.
Which month should I avoid in Essaouira?
No month is bad. August combines the crowds and the wind, while November and December carry most of the rain: 54.5 and 55.7 mm, on about 5 days each. Choose by what you are coming to do.
When should I come for kitesurfing or windsurfing?
April to September, with July at the top: 20 days above 15 knots out of 31, May and June about 15. The Kitesurfing and Windsurfing sections list the schools and the spots.
When is Essaouira least crowded?
November to February, outside school holidays and public holidays. September and October keep the summer temperatures. August is the month when Moroccan holidaymakers join the foreign visitors.
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.
- 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.
- 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.