Relaxed, Coastal Morocco: A 9-day tour of Morocco for those who want to explore and relax, in 2023.
©Aussies In Morocco Tours™
We are pleased to offer the following 9-day/8-night tour in July 2023, starting in Essaouira and finishing at Agadir International Airport.
10 people maximum plus the Guide and Cara will accompany you.
Remember July is HOT, but we have an air-conditioned vehicle and sea-breeze accommodation and it may be that July is when you are already in Europe anyway. A version of this can also be done as a private tour, at any time, by arrangement.
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Also, let us know if pre-tour you want to spend a few days recuperating from any long flight @ Ourika on a small farm in the mountains, 30 minutes drive from Marrakech, and spend a day sightseeing in Marrakech, before joining the tour @ Essaouira.
For July 2023 tour – bookings close
April 1, 2023
Prices are in the table at the conclusion of this itinerary.
Please also read our blog posts here, for example about traditional accommodation to have some idea of what you are in for, so that your expectations equate with reality.
Essaouira
July 15-17
July 15: Essaouira (Saturday)
Meals: Dinner (D)
Arrive in Essaouira the old Portuguese Port town, a morning’s drive from Marrakech city or its airport if that is where you are coming from. (Please note however that the tour fee does not cover your activity prior to the start of the tour in Essaouira. Airport pick up from Essaouira Airport is included.). WELCOME dinner at Riad Baladin (or equivalent) or at Restaurant Triskala, located in the oldest part of the medina and decorated with many items obtained from the local flea markets.
Many great photography opportunities around the fishing boats of Essaouira.
July 16: Essaouira (Sunday)
Meals, Group Tour: Breakfast (B) Lunch (L) & D
Meals, Private Tour: B
A morning tour of Essaouira, starting with an early morning visit to see the goats in the argan nut trees (they’ll climb anything), a short coffee break at Pastisserie Chez Driss, then seeing the sights and the artwork of the locals, followed by lunch at the seafood port buying fish and having it grilled for us under the watchful eye of our guide.
Afternoon free. You might want to check out the beach,or return to further explore a place you saw in the morning. The medina is quite easy to navigate as it was built by the Portuguese as a grid.
Dinner at Campana, an organic restaurant, with an Algerian chef. For those fascinated by the past, the city’s only Christian cemetery (established 1745) is nearby! (Lunch and dinner are only included for the group tour).
Goats snacking on argan nuts.
July 17: Essaouira (Monday)
Meals, Group Tour: B & D
Meals, Private Tour: B
Morning free with the option of doing a cooking class with Khadija (cost additional to tour fee) – remember though it is likely to be hot weather and you need to book for this in advance (at the time of booking with us).
Late afternoon-early evening we will experience a little of the ongoing French influence in Morocco and go to a fromagerie for some cheese and wine tasting, followed by dinner there. The tour fee will cover the wine as part of the cheese tasting, but not otherwise.
The Jewish star can be seen everywhere around the medina of Essaouira, because a large number of Jews once lived in the area, their forebears having been expelled by the Spanish from Spain in 1492.
Sidi Kaouki
July 18-19
18 July : Essaouira to Sidi Kaouki (Tuesday)
Meals, Group Tour: B L & D
Meals, Private Tour: B
Drive around 25 kilometres from Essaouira to Sidi Kaouki. Stay at Mellow Beach House (or equivalent).
Lunch at the beach house, then in the late afternoon, hike to Sidi Mbark waterfalls (which are only sometimes present). Here, the convergence of a large dune, a small river, and an imposing rock splendidly frames a lovely bay. (We will confirm on the day about whether to walk there or drive as much of it as we can.)
Dinner at the accommodation or nearby, perhaps Le Kaouki.
Speaks for itself really, doesn’t it?
July 19: Sidi Kaouki (Wednesday)
Meals: B & D
This morning is, at your election, the beach or you can do an argan oil workshop and later lunch with Hafida — her family’s Instagram account is here. (Cost is not part of the tour fee and will need to be prebooked.) Otherwise we will rendezvous for lunch at La Mouette et les Dromadaires, looking out over the beach (cost not part of the tour fee).
This afternoon is likewise free.
Dinner is at the accommodation or perhaps at Le Kaouki.
“LA MOUETTE ET LES DROMADAIRES” » translates as « The seagull and the camels ». It is a small hotel at Sidi Kaouki that includes a well-regarded restaurant.
Taghazout (Day trips)
July 20-23
July 20: Taghazout (Thursday)
Meals, Group Tour: B & D
Meals, Private Tour: B
Another view of Taghazout. As you can see there is no Gold Coast overdevelopment.
Today we will drive approximately two and a half hours to Taghazout. We’ll be staying at Taghazout Villa by Surf Maroc (or equivalent). If the group wants we can stop off at Tamgraht for lunch at Let’s Be Cafe; so long as we can phone ahead because they can tend to operate on Moroccan time (that is to say, slowly!)
Afternoon free.
Dinner at Favela Restaurant.
This is the view from our preferred villa in Taghazout
July 21: Agadir Inoumar & Agadir Imchguiguilne (Friday)
Meals, Group Tour: B L & D
Meals, Private Tour: B (If you want lunch with the guardian, we’ll see if is feasible.)
A day trip to see the famous and newly restored ancient fortified granaries or agadirs, where families stored their valuables (not only grain) safe from thieves and sometimes themselves from marauders. Each family had its own cell and each village agadir had a mosque, underground water tanks and even a prison. Enough to withstand a siege! It will take us about two hours to get there. The guardian will show us around and host us in his family home for lunch. (As this is a Friday it will probably, but not necessarily, be the lunch traditionally had on Fridays in Morocco: Couscous.)
Dinner at our accommodation, after a big and probably hot day out.
Visitor with the guardian of one of the granaries or agadir(s) that we will visit. (not to be confused with the city known as Agadir). We have his whatsapp details so our guide can check all is good before we set out.
July 22: Paradise Valley (Saturday)
Meals, Group Tour: B & D
Meals, Private Tour: B
A half-day trip to Paradise valley, lunch there (to be had in one of their riverbank restaurants). Visit Morocco animal aid on the way back, a rescue and rehabilitation centre for animals. Return to our accommodation around mid-afternoon and prepare for departure from Agadir International Airport tomorrow.
Dinner at the accommodation.
Paradise Valley. Bring your swimmers.
A possible add-on: a Storytelling evening
If we can arrange for an English-speaking storyteller one evening from Marrakech, we will do it and let you know. The Moroccan tradition of hikayat, or storytelling, dates back almost 1,000 years.
23 July: Departure (Sunday)
Meals: B
Agadir Airport drop-off.
Please note that quoted prices do not include drinks, entrance fees to venues, meals not specified to be covered, airfares to and from Morocco, tips and personal expenses or anything else not specified as included. If we don’t say something is covered by the tour fee, best to assume that it isn’t.
Your diary checklist
January 31, 2023:
Payment of $500, to secure most sought after accommodation.
(Refundable if tour does not proceed but on no other basis).
April 1, 2023:
Bookings close
April 1, 2023:
Final payment due (less $500.00 already paid)
Note: all prices are shown in Australian dollars.
