Essaouira Day Trip

After a few days in Marrakech, Essaouira feels like a deep breath of sea air. The town sits on the Atlantic coast, roughly two and a half hours west of Marrakech on a good road across the plains and argan country, and it is everything the Red City is not: white and blue instead of pink, breezy instead of hot, relaxed instead of intense. Its medina was laid out in the 1760s by the Alaouite sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah, who hired a French engineer to design a fortified port in the European style; the result, a grid of streets inside thick ramparts, is unique in Morocco and is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Walk the Skala de la Ville, the sea bastion lined with old bronze cannons, where waves crash on the rocks below; browse the workshops of the thuya woodcarvers, who make inlaid boxes from the fragrant root of a local tree, under the ramparts; then wander the lanes of the medina, the old Jewish quarter, the spice and fish markets and the art galleries that have long attracted painters and musicians. The port is the town's heart: blue fishing boats pulled up on the quay, gulls wheeling overhead, and fish stalls where you choose your catch and have it grilled on the spot for lunch. Beyond the walls, a wide sandy beach curves south, popular with windsurfers and kitesurfers thanks to the strong trade winds that blow much of the year, and with camel and horse rides. On the way, most tours stop at an argan oil cooperative, where women crack and grind the nuts by hand, and at roadside argan trees where goats climb into the branches, a sight now largely staged for tips. The Tiqets day tour linked here includes pickup in Marrakech, transport and a guide, with free time in town.

How the day works: departures are early, around eight, with the drive broken by a cooperative stop, arriving late morning. Most tours give you a short orientation walk and then several hours of free time before leaving in the late afternoon, returning to Marrakech in the evening. That is a long day with around five hours on the road, so if you can, stay a night or two: the town is at its most magical in the early evening, when the day-trippers leave and the light turns gold on the ramparts. Buses run between Marrakech and Essaouira for independent travelers who prefer to set their own pace.

What to know: Essaouira is often several degrees cooler than Marrakech and the wind can be strong, so bring a jacket even in summer, when it is a welcome escape from the city heat. It is famously relaxed, with less hassle in the medina than in Marrakech, and the shopping, especially for thuya wood, argan products, paintings and textiles, is good value. For lunch, the port grills are the classic choice; check prices by weight before ordering. The Gnaoua and World Music Festival, held in early summer, fills the town with music and visitors, so book ahead if your dates coincide.

On the ethics of the goats: the photogenic tree-climbing goats on the road are real in the sense that goats do climb argan trees to eat the fruit, but the ones posed beside the highway are often placed there by herders who expect payment for photos. If you stop, tip, but you are not obliged to. A visit to a women's argan cooperative is a better way to learn about argan and to support local families.