Dakhla
A Shallow 40 Km Lagoon Between Desert And Atlantic, Now One Of The Most Reliable Flat Water Kitesurfing Destinations In The World; Founded As The Spanish Settlement Of Villa Cisneros And Located In Western Sahara, Disputed Territory Administered By Morocco · Dakhla, Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab
Dakhla sits at the end of a thin peninsula roughly 1,100 km south of Agadir, the open Atlantic on one side and a shallow lagoon on the other. It lies in Western Sahara, disputed territory administered by Morocco, and that is a plain fact about the place rather than a reason to avoid it: the town is calm and the trip is routine, but there are police and gendarmerie checkpoints on the road south, several governments issue travel advice for the territory separately from Morocco, and some insurance and car-hire contracts exclude it, so confirm all three for your own trip. What brings people is the lagoon: roughly 40 km of waist-deep flat water with wind that blows almost daily from spring through autumn, which has made this one of the most dependable kitesurf and wingfoil spots anywhere. Almost nobody stays in the town itself, a functional fishing and administrative place with little to see; the camps are strung along the lagoon shore north of it. Non-kiters get oysters, flamingos, a white dune, a hot spring and a great deal of empty desert.
Town on a narrow peninsula between the Atlantic and the Dakhla lagoon, with the kitesurf spots on the lagoon shore roughly 20 to 30 km north of the centre, Dakhla, Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab, Morocco
There are no opening hours to speak of: the lagoon, the dune, the ocean beaches and the desert tracks are open country, and the camps run their own kit, lesson and meal timetables, typically with rescue boats on the water through daylight and lessons set around the day's wind rather than a clock. The wind usually fills in late morning and blows hardest through the afternoon, so mornings are for oysters, birds and driving. Oyster farms and the fish market keep rough daytime hours - confirm locally. Getting there: flying is the sensible option, with domestic services from Casablanca and Agadir and some seasonal international flights, into an airport a few minutes from the town centre. Driving is roughly 1,100 km of the N1 south from Agadir with checkpoints along the way, two long days at a sane pace. Camps and transfers must be booked ahead.