Surf & kite camps
A camp sells bed, gear, lessons and transport in one price. Surf at Sidi Kaouki from October to April: three camps, from €380 for six nights to €920 for seven (the camps’ sites, 16 and 25 October 2026). Kite from April to September, in a riad or villa. Independent riders and medina lovers: sleep elsewhere.
A camp sells you a week, not a room. The bed, the board or the kite, the lessons and the ride to the spot come in one price. Surf camps are at Sidi Kaouki, 26 km south, and they sell the winter. Kite packages put you up in a riad or a villa, a walk or a drive from the water: they sell the summer. We have recorded three camps at Sidi Kaouki. The first lists €380 to €550 for six nights in a private room, with lessons or a guide, gear and the transfer from Essaouira airport included. The second lists €580 to €920 a person for seven nights, with lessons, gear and full board included (the camps’ sites, read on 16 October 2026). The third, Mogasurf, charges €550 for a surf week and €750 for a kite week until the end of February 2027, then €790 and €890, for seven nights on full board with lessons and gear (the school’s site, read on 25 October 2026). If you already ride on your own, or if the medina is half the reason you are coming, a camp is the wrong tool.
What is in the price, and the two lines to reread
The first camp we recorded at Sidi Kaouki gives the model of a package. Six nights in a private room, breakfast and a packed lunch, board, wetsuit and leash. Twelve hours of lessons at 2 hours a day, no more than five students per instructor, and a free transfer from Essaouira airport. Dinner is not in it. From Marrakech or Agadir the transfer costs €80 extra according to the camp’s packages, and €70 from Marrakech according to its FAQ.
Two lines change everything. “Lessons” or “guiding”: the cheapest package at the first camp puts a guide in the water with you, not an instructor. Transport: at Sidi Kaouki you walk to the beach, in town the camp has to drive you to the spot every morning. Ask whether that is included.
Sidi Kaouki in winter, the bay in summer: two products under one word
The surf season is the kite season in reverse: swell from October to April, wind from April to September. A camp that advertises “surf & kite” is selling two different weeks, and you are only buying one. Choose the month before the camp.
Sidi Kaouki is where the surf camps cluster. An open beach at the end of a tarmac road, and nothing after sunset, no bar, no taxi. That is the promise: sleep, surf, sleep. Imsouane, 99 km south, does the same thing around a longer wave.
Kite packages are not camps. NaneaKite’s course puts you up at Riad Beldy, in the medina, a 7-minute walk from the beach. Mogasurf, which also sells a surf week, houses its guests in two villas with pools, Sunset and Zephyr, 10 minutes by road from the airport. The school drives them to the spots every day (both schools’ sites, read on 16 and 25 October 2026). Moulay Bouzerktoune, 29 km north, lets a handful of seafront houses by the week or the month. These lessors’ sites show no rates: write for the price and the dates.
What a week costs, and two customs to know about
NaneaKite’s kite course costs €299 to €499 a person, from group lessons to private ones. It lasts 4 days and 3 nights, with 8 hours of lessons, breakfast and one dinner (the school’s site, read on 16 October 2026). Set that against a lesson bought on its own and a room on its own in our hotels on the bay.
At one camp whose terms we read, the deposit is paid online and the balance in cash on arrival (16 October 2026): bring the notes. And no wind does not mean a refund. One school swaps the kite lesson for surfing or an outing and keeps the money (terms read on 16 October 2026). Our advice: a kite camp in June or July, a surf camp in October or November.
Who should not book a camp
The independent rider: they are paying for lessons they will not take. For them we suggest an apartment in the new town and kit hired by the day. The couple where one of them does not surf: at Sidi Kaouki the other one waits on a windy beach. Anyone who wants the medina at night: the camp is 26 minutes away by road, by our calculation. There are no taxis after sunset. The van has its own answer, a campsite, without the lessons.
All places
Surf camp
Surf Twins (Surftwins Essaouira)
Surf Twins, the school run by twins Mouhssin and Yassine, is at Sidi Kaouki, 26 km south of Essaouira. Six nights in a private room cost €380 with a guide, for those who already surf, €450 with 12 hours of lessons, €550 with yoga. Breakfast, packed lunch, gear and Essaouira airport transfer included (rates checked 25 October 2026).
Sidi Kaouki
Surf camp
Mogasurf Camp (Villa Sunset)
Mogasurf Camp houses its students in two adjoining villas, Sunset and Zephyr, in Sidi Kaouki, about 10 minutes from Essaouira airport. Seven nights, Saturday to Saturday, with full board, 12 hours of lessons and gear: €550 for surf, €750 for kite per person until the end of February 2027 (prices checked on 25 October 2026).
Sidi Kaouki
Surf camp
La Maison des Vagues
La Maison des Vagues, on the beach road in Sidi Kaouki, combines a 14-room hotel, a three-dorm hostel and the Surf les Vagues school. A dorm bed costs 160 MAD a night, a room 550 to 850 MAD with breakfast, and the surf package 650 MAD per person per day (prices checked on 25 October 2026).
Sidi Kaouki
Frequently asked questions
How much does a week at a Sidi Kaouki surf camp cost?
We have recorded three camps at Sidi Kaouki (the camps’ sites, read on 16 and 25 October 2026). The first lists €380 to €550 for six nights, with a private room, breakfast, a packed lunch, board and wetsuit. Its cheapest package puts a guide in the water, not an instructor. The second lists €580 to €920 a person for seven nights, with lessons, gear and full board. Mogasurf charges €550 for a surf week until the end of February 2027, then €790, for seven nights on full board.
Where does a kite camp in Essaouira actually sleep?
In a riad or a villa, not on the beach. NaneaKite’s course lodges you in the medina, a 7-minute walk from the beach. Mogasurf uses two villas with pools and drives you to the spots every day, for €750 a week until the end of February 2027 (both schools’ sites, read on 16 and 25 October 2026). The camps proper, where you walk to the wave, are at Sidi Kaouki and Imsouane, and they sell surfing.
What happens if there is no wind or no swell?
You are offered something else, not your money back. One Essaouira school replaces the kite lesson with surfing, wingfoil or an excursion and gives no refund (terms read on 16 October 2026). So book in the right season: kite from April to September, surf from October to April.
Surf camp, or a hotel with lessons bought separately?
A camp if you are a beginner and here for the water: lessons, gear and transport are settled in advance. Take a bay hotel and separate lessons if you already ride alone or if your partner does not surf. The same goes if you want the medina in the evening. At Sidi Kaouki, do not count on a taxi after sunset.
Can you surf and kite in the same week in Essaouira?
Rarely well. The wind that makes the kiting from April to September flattens the waves, and the surf swell arrives from October to April once it drops. A camp that sells both is selling two different weeks. Pick the month, then the camp.