Things to do · Essaouira
Few towns in Morocco eat as well from the sea as Essaouira. The blue sardine fleet lands its catch within sight of the medina, the argan forests press an oil found almost nowhere else, and the cafés on Place Moulay Hassan have been refilling mint-tea glasses for generations. This is what to seek out on the plate along the windy coast.
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The signature Essaouira meal: choose your fish, prawns and calamari straight off the ice at the open-air grills by the harbour and have them cooked on the spot. Simple, smoky and about as fresh as Morocco gets.
Essaouira is one of the country's great sardine ports, and the oily little fish are everywhere — grilled whole, stuffed with chermoula, or fried. Cheap, abundant and genuinely a local staple rather than a tourist act.
Beyond the grill, medina kitchens slow-cook fish tagines with tomato, preserved lemon and olives, and fold seafood into a savoury pastilla. The Atlantic coast's answer to the meat dishes of the interior.
The argan tree grows in the belt around Essaouira and almost nowhere else. Culinary argan oil drizzles over salads and bread, while amlou — argan, almonds and honey — is a rich local spread worth carrying home.
The palm-edged main square is the town's living room, and a glass of sweet mint tea here is part of the rhythm of any Essaouira day, ideally with the harbour breeze and the passing crowd for company.
The souks pile up olives, dates, msemen flatbread and spice mounds, and small stalls serve harira soup and grilled skewers. It is a relaxed, walkable place to graze your way through the lanes.
Essaouira is famous for its seafood, landed by the blue sardine fleet at the harbour — grilled fish, sardines, prawns, calamari and fish tagine. It is also the heartland of argan oil and the almond-and-honey spread amlou.
The classic spot is the row of open-air grill stalls by the fishing port, where you pick your fish off the ice and watch it cooked to order. The medina also has many seafood restaurants for a sit-down meal.
Yes. Essaouira is a working fishing port, and much of the fish on the grills and in the restaurants is landed the same day by the harbour fleet, making it some of the freshest seafood in Morocco.
Argan oil is pressed from the nuts of the argan tree, which grows almost only in the region around Essaouira and Agadir. Culinary and cosmetic oil, plus the amlou spread, are sold at women's co-operatives on the roads out of town and in medina shops.
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