Eating, drinking and dancing
We've tracked down the best cafés for people-watching, the bars with the coolest cocktails, the most accomplished restaurants and the liveliest local nightlife in Essaouira.
Restaurants
Le Chalet de la Plage
A cosy, wooden-panelled Essaouira institution at 1 boulevard Mohamed V, where the sea urchins are fresh, the sea bream gleaming, and the waiters dignified. There’s pigeon and pasta on the menu, but you’ll want something piscine, with the Atlantic crashing away just beyond the terrace.
(+212 (0)24 475972)
Le Cinq
This restaurant on Rue Youssef El Fassi is the sister resto of nearby Madada Mogador. Giant lightshades and a purple/pink palette make a Euro-style statement of this largely couscous-free zone, where you can eat coquilles St Jacques or beef carpaccio followed by molten-chocolate cake. Closed on Tuesdays.
(+212 (0)24 784726)
Chez Sam
This unassuming shack on the tip of Port de Pêche will assuage your fresh-fish hankerings.
(+212 (0)24 476238)
Taros
The mod Maroc food makes this restaurant on Place Moulay Hassan a prime spot for lunch on the terrace overlooking the harbour, or cocktails and snacks in the evenings.
(+212 (0)24 476407)
Les Alizés Mogador
For a reasonably priced dinner of Moroccan home cooking, this relaxed candlelit venue at 26 rue de la Skala (no credit cards) is a great spot to seek out.
(+212 (0)24 476819)
Cafés
Stall 14, Calvados
The fishermen display their catch in the harbour every afternoon; choose what you want to eat and they cook it. This stall was our favourite.
Gelateria Dolce Freddo
Buy a day-old newspaper from home, have an early-morning coffee, and watch the fishermen head to their blue-hulled boats in the harbour. If you have a hankering for Italian coffee, pull up a chair at this place.
Place Moulay Hassan
Stall 14, Calvados
The fishermen display their catch in the harbour every afternoon; choose what you want to eat and they cook it. This stall was our favourite.
Bars and clubs
the Piano Bar, Sofitel Mogador
There's not much Western-style nightlife in laidback Essaouira, but this venue offers a variation on the Lost in Translation theme.
Avenue Mohamed V
+ 212 (0) 44-479000