Legzira and Sidi Ifni

A Red Sandstone Beach Known For Its Sea Arches, One Of Which Collapsed In 2016, Below Sidi Ifni A Spanish Art Deco Town That Stayed Under Spanish Rule Until 1969 And Still Looks It · Sidi Ifni, Guelmim-Oued Noun

Legzira is a beach of red sandstone cliffs about 10 km north of Sidi Ifni, and the first thing to say is the thing the photographs do not: there were two great sea arches here, and the larger of them collapsed in 2016. One arch remains. Pictures of both are still on postcards, in guidebooks and in tour brochures, so people arrive expecting a pair - the cliff is soft, damp sandstone, it is still eroding, and the survivor will not stand forever either. What is there is genuinely fine: a long wedge of dark red sand under a wall of cliffs that burns orange in the late afternoon, with Atlantic surf and almost nobody on it out of season. Above it, Sidi Ifni is a Spanish town in Morocco. Spain occupied the Ifni enclave in 1934, fought a war over its hinterland in 1957 and 1958, and handed the town back in 1969, leaving blue and white Art Deco streets, a plaza, a lighthouse and a street plan from somewhere else. Honest caveats: the sea is cold, rough and dangerous to swim, the coast is often fogbound, the town is faded and quiet, and it is a long way from anything.

Legzira beach on the coast road about 10 km north of Sidi Ifni, a Spanish-built Art Deco town roughly 160 km south of Agadir, Sidi Ifni, Guelmim-Oued Noun, Morocco

The beach, the cliffs, the remaining arch, the Sidi Ifni plaza and the whole Spanish quarter are open at any hour and cost nothing; what governs a visit at Legzira is the tide, not a clock, because the walk north along the sand to the arch is only possible around low water. Check a tide table the day before and aim to be on the sand on a falling tide. The weekly market in Sidi Ifni is a Saturday morning, the fishing port works from before dawn, and the cafes and few small hotels keep long hours with several closing out of season. There is no ticketed monument in either place. Getting there: no railway and no airport, so it is a coach or a drive - roughly 2.5 to 3 hours from Agadir on the coast road through Tiznit, with scheduled coaches and shared grand taxis daily. Confirm timetables and tide times.

Legzira and Sidi Ifni on Spottos · Explore more places on Spottos