Landmark · Port
Skala du Port
Skala du Port entry: 60 MAD for a foreign adult, 30 MAD for a foreign child aged 7 to 13. Moroccans and residents pay 30 and 10 MAD, and Moroccans get in free on Fridays (Ministry of Culture, read 17 October 2026). No hours are published for the site itself: the portal gives 09:00–17:00 for all its sites.
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The ticket: 60 MAD for foreign visitors, free for Moroccans on Fridays
The Ministry of Culture’s online ticket office sets four individual prices. A foreign adult pays 60 MAD and a foreign child aged 7 to 13 pays 30 MAD. A Moroccan or resident adult pays 30 MAD, a Moroccan or resident child aged 7 to 13 pays 10 MAD. Moroccans get in free every Friday and on the first day of national and religious holidays (page read 17 October 2026).
It is the only Essaouira site among the 18 the portal sells (list read 17 October 2026). The town’s other landmarks have no ticket there. The page sets no price for children under 7. It sells tickets online and does not say whether a gate desk sells them too.
Other figures circulate, such as “10 dh”, a price recorded in May 2019 that the ministry’s list does not bear out. Our advice: keep a screenshot of the ministry page on your phone. If you are quoted a different price at the entrance, that page is the one that counts.
Opening hours: one general figure, nothing specific to the site
The Skala du Port’s own entry gives no hours, no closing day and no last admission. Two sources give different times. The portal footer shows 09:00–17:00 for all the ministry’s sites (read 17 October 2026). OpenStreetMap gives 10:00–17:00 every day, an entry made in January 2017. To settle it before you go, the portal lists a phone number, +212 5 37 12 12 12, and the address e-services@mjcc.gov.ma.
Our advice: go between 10:00 and 16:00, the window both sources share. That leaves you an hour in hand before 17:00, in case last entry is earlier.
What you see from the walls
Two wings, each 200 m long, meet at a right angle (Ministry of Culture). From the Porte de la Marine wing you look down on the open quay and the dry dock of the fishing port. From the other you face the islands. Beneath that second wing, old stores held soldiers, munitions and water. The whole work guarded the harbour against an attack from the sea.
The 2012 map-guide puts the Borj el-Barmil (برج البرميل), the “barrel tower”, on the sea walls: a round salient in dressed stone. A five-arched stone bridge ties the Skala du Port to the rest of the ramparts. Our advice: to watch the harbour, stay on the Porte de la Marine wing, the one overlooking the open quay and the dry dock.
The present town goes back to 1765, under Sultan Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah. The ICOMOS evaluation for UNESCO names the Skala du Port among the main bastions of the walls. The fortifications it belongs to have been protected since 1924. Its restoration was one of four projects under way during the royal visit of 15 January 2020. UNESCO’s 2023 report counts it among the monuments restored since 2012.
No source publishes a visit length, and we have not timed one yet. Each wing is 200 m long, so the walking itself is short. On the way out, the Skala de la Ville carries the ramparts on along the medina side. Then walk down into the port quarter and its fish grills, a few steps from the gate.
See on the map
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Frequently asked questions
How much is the Skala du Port ticket for foreigners?
60 MAD for a foreign adult and 30 MAD for a foreign child aged 7 to 13. Moroccan and resident visitors pay 30 MAD per adult and 10 MAD per child (ministry portal, read 17 October 2026).
What are the Skala du Port opening hours?
The ministry publishes no hours for the site itself. Two sources disagree: 09:00–17:00 in its portal footer for all its sites (read 17 October 2026), and 10:00–17:00 daily in an older source, from January 2017.
Is the Skala du Port free for Moroccans?
Yes, every Friday and on the first day of national and religious holidays. On other days a Moroccan or resident adult pays 30 MAD.
Can you buy Skala du Port tickets online?
Yes, at e-services.minculture.gov.ma, the Ministry of Culture’s ticket office. The page does not say whether tickets are also sold at the gate, so if in doubt, buy online.
How long does the Skala du Port take?
No source publishes a figure, and we have not timed a visit yet. Each wing is 200 m long, so the walking itself is short.
Was Othello or Game of Thrones filmed at the Skala du Port?
No official source we have read names the Skala du Port as a filming location, either for Orson Welles’s Othello or for Game of Thrones. So we do not repeat either claim.