Agadir
Morocco'S Main Atlantic Beach Resort, Rebuilt Almost Entirely After The 1960 Earthquake Destroyed The Old Town; A Long Sheltered Bay With Reliable Sunshine, And The Country'S Largest Concentration Of Package Holiday Beds · Agadir, Souss-Massa
Agadir is Morocco's main Atlantic beach resort, and the first thing to understand is that the town you walk through is barely sixty years old. On 29 February 1960 an earthquake levelled the old city in seconds and killed a number commonly quoted at around 12,000 to 15,000 people; the state then rebuilt Agadir on a new site as a planned grid of boulevards, hotels and gardens. The flattened quarter was never rebuilt and lies under grass as a memorial above the modern town. What is left is a genuinely good bay: a sheltered crescent of pale sand commonly quoted at around 9 km, a paved promenade along its whole length, sunshine most of the year and water that stays cold. Behind the beach, Souk El Had is the most Moroccan hour in town, the kasbah hill gives the view, and the surf villages and argan hills begin twenty minutes north. The honest caveat is simple: this is sun and sand, not heritage. If you came for medinas, sleep in Essaouira or Taroudant and use Agadir for the bay, the market and the airport.
Crescent bay and beach promenade below the kasbah hill, with the marina at the northern end, about 20 km south of the airport, Agadir, Souss-Massa, Morocco
The beach, the promenade, the marina and the kasbah hillside have no opening hours and cost nothing at any time of day; lifeguard cover and the hire of loungers and umbrellas are seasonal, running roughly from spring to early autumn. Souk El Had keeps market hours, broadly early morning to about 20:00, and is usually shut on Mondays - confirm locally, because the different sections do not all open on the same days. The family attractions, the crocodile park out on the Taroudant road and the Valley of the Birds park in town, keep roughly 10:00 to 18:00 with seasonal variation. Getting there: Al Massira airport is roughly 20-25 km out, about 30 minutes by taxi, and there is no railway to Agadir at all, so scheduled coaches from Marrakesh take roughly 3.5-4 hours and rail passengers change onto a connecting coach. Hours shorten through Ramadan - confirm them for your dates.