Essaouira Walking Tour - A Self-Guided Stroll Around Essaouira

Ambling the labyrinthine lanes and ramshackle alleys of Essaouira’s whitewashed old medina, kicking back at the fishing port to watch the daily catch come in, strolling the lively Corniche, and walking along the sandy beach, are some of the delights of taking an Essaouira walking tour, a town with few sights that make you feel like a tourist. This self-guided stroll around Essaouira will take you on our favourite walk around the enigmatic Moroccan seaside town.

We created this self-guided Essaouira walking tour on our last trip to the seaside town of ancient Mogador. We became smitten with Essaouira way back in 1999 on our first trip to Morocco, before we became a travel writer and photographer team. We were living in Abu Dhabi and I was working for a women’s university, teaching writing, filmmaking and media studies, and Terence was working for the same organisation in digital media. We loved our work, but we loved the opportunities to travel even more.

On that first trip to Morocco (there would be many over the years), we flew into Casablanca and traveled by bus and train all over the country, squeezing in as much as we could of Morocco into a three-week winter holiday. Our journey took us to Rabat, Tangier, Tetouan, Chefchaouen, Fez, Meknes, Michiflen and Ifrane for skiing (!), and to Marrakech and Essaouira. We fell so hard for Essaouira that we even investigated buying a riad there. And I kind of regret that we didn’t.

Every time we returned to the country, whether it was on a Moroccan road trip for a magazine story that we took my mother on, or the two weeks we spent in Marrakech at the start of our 2010 year-long global grand tour that launched Grantourismo, we always returned to Essaouira. This Essaourira walking tour takes in our favourite places in the seaside town, famed for its walled medina, handcrafted wooden products, wonderful fresh seafood, and beautiful beaches.

An Essaouira Walking Tour

Start your Essaouira walking tour on the pretty main square, Place Moulay Hassan. Wander over to the low sea walls where you’ll find craggy-faced old blokes scaling fish in the sunshine for the market and fried seafood stalls opposite, watched over by the most enormous seagulls.

From here you have a stunning view of Essaouira’s whitewashed walled town, the wild Atlantic Sea, and its waves crashing dramatically on the rocky shore. Stand and take it in for a while, then wander around the market, and if you’re hungry, buy a fried fish sandwich to snack on.

Head toward the fishing port where you can capture some striking pictures of Essaouira’s blue fishing boats and drool over the baskets of glistening just-caught fish and colossal crabs and shrimps that are hauled up the stone steps to the fish market.

We used to instruct you to stroll to the end of the dock to the iconic seafood restaurant, Chez Sam, located in an eccentric boat-shaped building — the interior was just as quaint and the seafood dishes endearingly retro – but, sadly the restaurant closed when the port was redeveloped.

But good news: they reopened as Sam’s Restaurant, in a whitewashed stone building near Bab Sbaa, one of four ‘doors’ or ‘gates’ to the old city. My friends tell me they still serve up classic seafood dishes in a delightful seafaring themed interior.

Walk around the high city walls, so that you’ve now done a U-turn. Absorb the sweeping views of Essaouira’s splendid beach, an increasingly popular windsurfing and surfing spot that’s beloved by locals who enjoy football, picnics, and playing with their kids on its sands.

Take a stroll along the Corniche or Boulevard Mohamed V, that runs the length of the beach, or head down onto the sand. You’ll spot another legendary seafood restaurant, Le Chalet de la Plage, overlooking the beach, our first stop for lunch whenever we visit Essaouira. Owned by the Jeannot family since the 1960s, it’s said there’s been a restaurant on the site since the 19th century. Order the oysters, fish soup, grilled sardines, and sea urchin (when in season), and a bottle of crisp Moroccan white wine.

Return via the same route but instead of heading back to the port, enter the arches of Bab Sbaa, one of four ‘doors’ to the old city, and stroll Avenue du Caire, home to a cultural centre and art galleries. There are several more in the surrounding streets.

Instead of entering the medina via the Royal Gate, Bab Al Manjana, beneath the historic clock tower, L’Horloge d’Essaouira, built in 1764, for cute Place Chef Chaoni (which is where we would have headed to return ‘home’ to Dar Lazuli, the cute riad apartment we settled into on our last trip to Essaouira), turn right, following the walls, and head through the arches of Bab Moulay Youssef.

Stroll Essaouira’s local shopping street, Avenue L’Istiqal to bustling Souq Jedid, home to a fish market and herb and spice shops. En route, you’ll pass little hole-in-the-wall stores selling jellabiyas and babouches which are cheaper here than on Avenue Sidi Mohamed Ben Addellah, along with butchers, fruit and vegetable shops, and tiny patisseries.

Take things slowly, spending time soaking up the atmosphere here. When you get the chance, make sure you take a whiff of the fragrant fresh mint from the carts piled high with herbs.

Head beneath the arch on the northern corner of Souq Jedid and follow the little dog-legged street, along the way noting the beautiful doors boasting decorative tiles and intricate carvings, until you arrive at a small square.

You could continue exploring the atmospheric backstreets in this area where you’ll find kids playing in alleys, old men snoozing in doorways, and women returning home from shopping or heading to the hammam, or you could turn left and left again into skinny Avenue Sidi Mohamed Ben Addellah.

This narrow street is dotted with even more hole-in-the-wall grocery stores until it intersects with Rue Abbelazziz Al Fachtali, after which Avenue Sidi Mohamed Ben Addellah is lined with stores selling colourful kilims, textiles, poufs, baskets, leather, wrought-iron lanterns, and silver jewellery.

If you still own a CD player (retro, I know), look for the shops that still sell CDs (dirt cheap) recorded during the annual Gnaoua Music Festival.

Turn right into Rue Laalouj, where behind some of those blue doors you’ll find stores selling beautiful polished boxes, trays, pencil holders, and so on handcrafted from Essaouira’s famous thuya wood.

At the end of this lane, head for the ramp that leads up to the windy ramparts – look for Rampart Mogador and Skala de la Ville on Google Maps – where you can stroll atop the city walls, and inhale the salty air and feel the sea spray on your cheeks.

Rue Skala, a narrow alley, runs beside the soaring walls, and will take you to Place Moulay Hassan, where you can sip a mint tea on the square – or go tuck into some of Essaouira’s famous fresh seafood at one of Essaouira’s excellent restaurants.