Beaches in Morocco

The long, sandy beaches of Casablanca are located on the Atlantic coastline. The beaches are very popular and can be quite crowded as they are geared up for tourists. You will find plenty of places offering watersports and a wide range of facilities. The beaches of Casablanca are dotted with hotels and resorts which are popular with locals and tourists alike.

You can also get to Mohammedia from Casablanca and it is a lovely resort which is becoming increasingly popular. Mohammedia compromises of a golf course, a marina and lots of luxury hotels. Further north you come across Bouznika which is home to some superb beaches which has made it one of the most well-known resorts on the Atlantic coast.

Whilst in Casablanca you can also get a bus to nearby Ain Diab which is a small beach resort just outside of the city. It's not the cleanest beach around but it has loads of beach clubs which draw daily crowds. The beach clubs have cafes, restaurants and they all have saltwater pools. There is also a beach club with a disco and tennis and volleyball courts, which is reasonable pricey but worth a visit.

El Jadida beach.

El Jadida is one of the most popular beach resorts in Morocco, with locals coming from all over Morocco to hang out at the beach in the summer.

El Jadida was owned by the Portuguese from 1506 until 1769 and therefore, it has an Old Portuguese medina and its one of the most European looking in Morocco. When the French arrived they transformed it into the popular beach resort that it is today.

The bars are always crowded and in the evenings it is still really busy and like Casablanca there are Moroccan women actively participating in the fun. El Jadida is a great beach for swimming and the beach is a long strip which runs from the city to the port and well beyond the length of the town. The water is clean and the locals are friendly and outgoing.

Tangier beach

There are many fantastic beaches around Tangier, where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean. The most popular beach is the main beach of Tangier. It is located next to the famous harbour of Tangier and it stretches for miles along the coast. The beach of Tangier is surrounded by mountains and white washed houses making it one of the most beautiful beach resorts in Morocco.

On a clear day you can see all the way to Gibraltar which is about 35 miles away. Along Tangier beach there are many beach bars and there are opportunities to ride a camel down the beach at any time of the day. The beach in Tangier is geared towards families and you can have hours of fun there.

Essaouira
 
Essaouira is a town situated on the Atlantic coast and it's not the best place to go swimming or sunbathing as it's windy and the water is quite cold. The beach is perfect for surfing, wind surfing and kite surfing though and even if you don't participate, it's nice to watch. During the summer the locals like to go for a dip and also play football on the beach.

Essaouira is a very chilled out and laid back place where the Beatles spent a lot of time and the town inspired some of their music. Jimi Hendrix was also a big fan of the town of Essaouira, which he visited in the sixties during his travels of Morocco. A few years later Bob Marley visited and was also said to be a fan of this coastal town.

Asilah beach

Asilah beach is a lovely beach town which is lies on Morocco's North Atlantic coast. It is very popular with Moroccan holiday-makers who visit the sandy beaches in the summer months. The houses in Asilah are whitewashed and so it has a very European feel (Greek/Portuguese) and he city walls are covered in colourful murals. The beaches in Asilah are very clean and the water is clear making it a perfect destination to go to if you are looking to swim and to sunbathe.

Agadir

Agadir beach is the best known beach resort in Morocco and it's very popular with all kinds of people because of the variety that it offers. Agadir is situated on Morocco's west coast and it overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. The resort is hot all year round - in the winter it's about 20 degrees and in the summer 30-35 degrees is not uncommon and Agadir has around 300 days of sunshine in a year.

Agadir beach is an amazing 9km of golden sand and there is so much to do to asides sunbathing. There are excellent facilities and lots of watersports are available such s jet skiing, windsurfing and snorkeling. Agadir also has a fantastic nightlife ranging from the quiet d


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Beaches for every taste in morocco

Morocco Beaches for every taste
Bordered by the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, Morocco has several thousand kilometers of coast whose landscapes are diverse and beaches welcoming.

Atlantic

The most visited beaches are naturally located not far from cities, especially on the Atlantic coast. But there are hundreds of others in places where nature has remained unspoilt. They all make it possible to sample the joys of swimming, relaxing and the latest water sports. On the Atlantic coast, the great majority of beaches appear as long strips of fine sand lapped by the ocean waves. They will be hotter the further south you go until you reach the sublime Dakhla Bay. The north-east trade wind blows regularly from the end of March to mid-September on this corner of the coast: ideal conditions for practicing all board sports, especially surfing. Whether you're a fan of windsurfing, kitesurfing, surfing, wakeboarding or jet skiing, you can sure you will find the right waves here.

Mediterranean

On the more divided up coast of the Mediterranean, between Tangier and Al Hoceima, the sea is warm and calm and the beaches more intimate. Some are close to small traditional fishing villages, tucked into corners of idyllic nature. At the same time, new seaside resorts are springing up such as Tamuda Bay, on the outskirts of Tétouan and Saidia, which is a new Mediterranean coast resort. Facing Andalusia, Mediterrania-Saida extends over 1700 acres with a 6km seafront of white sand. A pleasure port and an 18-hole golf course complete this site which has been developed next to two international airports. The Atlantic is not sitting on its laurels either with new resorts such as Lixus, Mazagan, Taghazout and Plage Blanche.

To remember
Whether you are looking for sunbathing or boarding, Moroccan beaches meet all visitors' desires.



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Ramadan in Morocco

Ramadan in Morocco

Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, involves abstaining from food, drink, sexual relations, smoking and other vices between sunrise and sunset. Its conclusion is marked by Eid Al-Fitr, one of the two major Islamic holidays.

Although the focus of Ramadan is spiritual – making extra prayers, giving charity and other other acts of worships are recommended – many cultures place a surprising emphasis on food during this holy month. Iftar, the meal at which Muslims break their fast, is highly anticipated, and even children who aren’t fasting look forward to the spread of food each evening.

The Iftar Table

At a Moroccan iftar, dates, milk, juices, and sweets typically provide the sugar surge needed after a day of going without food. Harira, a hearty lentil and tomato soup, satisfies hunger and restores energy. Hard-boiled eggs, meat- or seafood-filled pastries (briouats), fried fish, and pancakes might also be served.

Large batches of sweets such as sellou and chebekia are traditionally prepared in advance for use throughout the month, as are cookies and other pastries. These, and other specialties found in the list of Ramadan Recipes can be made all year round, but they are especially popular during this holy month.

Morocco is the only Muslim country I've been to. I spent three Ramadans there and was consistently amazed at the transformation that took place once Ramadan began.

First of all, all schedules change. Normal business hours are about 8am to 6:30pm, with a two-hour lunch break. During Ramadan, businesses don't open until 10am or so and then stay open straight through until 3 or 4. My gym, which normally opens at 8:30, now doesn't open until noon. Restaurants and cafés stay closed all day, opening only once the siren which signals the end of the fasting is sounded. Most nice restaurants, particularly those that cater to foreigners, are closed for the entire month, for two reasons: many foreigners dislike Ramadan and go on vacation during the entire month, and Moroccans eat at home throughout Ramadan. Thus the customer base for these restaurants is severely limited.

My husband's classes get completely changed around so that they don't interfere with the five daily prayer times, which normally are not followed so precisely. Outside of Ramadan, Moroccans pray at home (or not all all) more often than at the mosque, whereas during Ramadan they tend to go to the mosque religiously (no pun intended).

Outside of Ramadan, there are four rush hours: morning, evening, before lunch, and after lunch. Traffic is very bad then, but during Ramadan it is completely insane. At about 5pm, everyone starts rushing to get home in order to eat the moment the siren goes off. It is as if all of the cars from the four previous rush hours have combined into one huge rush hour. Hunger causes tempers to fray and fights to break out. When traffic stops for any reason, many people get out of their cars in order to yell at and once in a while even get into fistfights with the other drivers. (Ironically, one of the purposes of Ramadan is to foster goodwill.) We live on a fairly busy street, and I can tell you that it is total chaos. (more about transportation in Morocco)

My husband decided to fast for a week, and found that it really wasn't all that difficult: get up a little earlier to eat breakfast before sunrise, skip lunch, and sit down to a slightly larger-than-normal dinner. When our Moroccan friends and colleagues brag about how difficult it is to fast and how pure and holy they are for doing so, my husband shares his experiences. I don't know if they are shamed by his offhandedness or impressed that he is able to do something "so difficult," but they don't mention it again.

By 6, everyone is at home and the streets are bare - the city is silent. The only people outside are those that have no home to go to. Everything is closed except for a few restaurants hoping to attract a tourist or two. Around 7pm, people start coming out in droves in order to go to the after ftor prayer service. Stores reopen for a few hours, and restaurants stay open until 1 or 2 am. There's some different food in the restaurants and bakeries - a lot of dessert, plus some special breads, crêpes, etc. Festivity is in the air, and the nights can seem like endless parties. At the end of Ramadan, because of the overindulging that goes on at night, a large percentage of Moroccans end up with digestive problems.

Although alcohol is forbidden in Islam, Morocco produces wine and beer, and just about anything you drink back home is imported here. However, about a week before Ramadan begins, all of the stores that normally sell alcohol lock up their liquor sections or remove it from their shelves and display cases. During our first Ramadan, the larger grocery store had a sign proclaiming that only foreigners and non-Muslim Moroccans could purchase alcohol until the end of Ramadan. We had to show the guard our passports, and after carefully adding the pertinent information to his log book, we were allowed to buy some wine. During our second Ramadan, even the large grocery stores locked up their liquor sections - to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. We were only able to buy it from small stores, but I got the impression that this was not legal, because the cashier was very secretive about it. This year, even the small groceries are refusing to sell alcohol to us (they warned us ahead of time, though, so we were able to stock up). So although alcohol is always forbidden to Muslims, it is only during Ramadan that this rule is enforced. (more about alcohol in Morocco)

Women spend hours cooking the ftor meal. By 2pm, I can smell three or four different meals cooking in the apartments near mine. Any Muslim caught breaking the fast in public is subject to arrest, although I've heard rumors that it is not unheard of in the privacy of one's home.

Questions or comments?
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Men who are normally very forward toward me now avert their eyes, in order to avoid the sinful "glance of lust." I didn't notice this during my first Ramadan, but last and this year I've been aware of teenage boys still trying to make aggressive eye contact with me, whereas men don't.

In general, everyone - with the notable exceptions of drivers and heavy smokers - is more polite.

In conclusion, I have to say that I find the month of Ramadan to be a study in contradictions. The way I understand it, during Ramadan, Muslims are supposed to go about their business exactly as before, with the exception of not eating, etc., during the day. They are not supposed to change around their schedules to make it easier to deal with their hunger, they're not supposed to party all night and gorge themselves to make up for suffering all day, and most of all, they're not supposed to brag about how difficult fasting is. The point of Ramadan is to recognize the hunger and thirst that the poor feel every day of the year and to suffer it in silence and, hopefully, to become a kinder person for it. In Morocco, it's more like a bad-spirited contest which, in my opinion, is contrary to the whole idea behind Ramadan. I'm not saying that all Moroccans act this way, but it's not a tiny minority either.

Just some personal observations from an American in Morocco.





































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