Plage d’Essaouira

Swimming: how cold, and who is watching

The water does not warm up in summer. Offshore, the sea averages 18.1 °C in July and 18.7 °C in August over 2023–2025. October reaches 19.4 °C. A very strong upwelling brings cold water up from the deep offshore. That is what keeps the summer sea as cool as the autumn one. Our advice: if swimming is the point of the trip, come in October.

No official source publishes where the lifeguard posts are or when they are staffed. In July 2026 the governor inspected the Civil Protection and Auxiliary Forces posts on the beach. We found no municipal order marking out a swimming zone. Our advice: go in opposite a staffed post, and never alone out of season.

The flag, the wind and the kites

The Blue Flag was raised on the beach in mid-July 2026, the press reported on 16 July. The Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection, which awards the label in Morocco, publishes no beach-by-beach list for 2026. Its 2025 list names Essaouira, and its review of 17 July 2026 says all 28 beaches from 2025 kept the label. The other beaches on this coast are not on the 2025 list. In 2026, a set of rules governs beach businesses on the public maritime domain for the first time.

From April to September the wind tops 15 knots one hour in eight at 06:00. From 14:00 to 17:00 it does so four hours in ten, over 2016–2025. In the afternoon the kites take the water in front of the schools. Their bases stretch 1.5 km along the boulevard, from Kitesensation to UCPA Dreamkite. Our Essaouira bay page places each school, and our kitesurfing section compares their lessons. We found no official text setting aside a kite lane. Our advice: swim at the medina end, north of the schools, and leave the rest to the kites after 13:00.

Camels, horses and the far end

Camels and horses wait for riders on the sand, and there is a horse-hire stand level with the lighthouse. No official source publishes prices for rides on the sand. Two Essaouira operators publish their own: €20 an hour on a camel at Essaouira Ride Art, $20 at Horse Essaouira (pages read on 17 October 2026). Neither says whether the ride uses this beach. Our advice: agree the price and the length before you get on, and pay when you are back. Stables and organised rides are in our horse and camel section.

The Sidi Magdoul lighthouse stands about 2 km as the crow flies from the start of the sand. Beyond it the beach runs on to the Ksob river, with Diabat village and its ruined bordj across the water. Offshore, the Mogador islands close the view. The sun sets over the sea at about 17:40 on 21 December and 19:47 on 21 June. Our advice: in July and August, bring a windproof rather than a parasol, which the trade wind would carry off.