Morocco travel guide – Must do activities

Morocco

Morocco – A beautiful country full of warmth, colour and diversity. Located on the northern tip of Africa, Morocco has developed into a travel destination suitable for every type of traveler. Whether that’s couples, hikers, adventurers, families, backpackers, you’ll find something for everyone.

It has magnificent mountains ready to be explored, picturesque beaches scattered across coastlines, ancient cities with plenty of character, and easy access to the Saharan Desert. You could spend endless amounts of time exploring what Morocco truly has to offer, so you need to think about what you really want to see when visiting this unique country. Our Morocco travel guide will cover part of what it has to offer, hopefully it can inspire some ideas for your journey here or you can enjoy keeping track on one of our getaways together. If you’d like to check some of our other destinations click here.

Before jumping ahead to what to do in our travel guide, let’s discuss where to stay. For what we wanted, which was a nice break from teaching, a beach, relaxation with some exploring was our needs. We wanted a nice break in the sun and chose to stay in the tourist area of Agadir. It’s a built up tourist area with a nice beach, bars, restaurants and a selection of activities to do. We stayed at the Kenzi Europa hotel (see our review on trip advisor) on an all inclusive Tui deal.

Agadir offered blazing, hot sunshine in the summer and a chance for a trip to the famous imperial city, Marrakech. The weather was fantastic and although the sky looks a little murky, do not be deceived as the sun will still burn. Since then, we’ve checked the weather at other points of the year and it seems that it’s nice all year round which offers versatility on when you decide to visit. It’s definitely a place we will think about for a winter holiday and will give us a chance for us to explore the other fascinating areas.

Marrakech

As part of our Morocco travel guide we recommend that if you have the opportunity, make sure you visit the famous city of Marrakech. This was a must for us when we decided to visit Morocco. Thankfully, Agadir is only 3 hours away and trips can be easily organised through Tui. If you aren’t with Tui, you’ll find lots of other places to book with. We suggest doing pre booking and doing your research on tripadvisor. We found a day to be enough due to walking around in the humid climate but the sights and experience were spectacular.

Our visit to Marrakech allowed us to explore Le Jardin Secret, visit Bahia palace, eat traditional food in a local restaurant and visit the very busy markets. It’s an experience you won’t forget. TIP – Most of the markets sell the same thing, so don’t feel rushed to buy something. If haggling, a tip is to go 50% below the price they offer and end up meeting half way.

Morocco will mesmerise you with its different culture. I hadn’t seen snake charmers before, but you’ll see plenty of these as well as conjurers in the centre. You will see Barbary macaques (monkeys), however this wasn’t something we wanted to entertain as we felt sorry for the chained animals. All in all Marrakech is a great experience, and somewhere you should aim to visit whilst in Morocco.

Goats in trees

Yes you’ve read that correctly. You can see goats in trees! I was aware of goats climbing in trees from pictures i’d seen on the internet, which i’d always found hilarious. We didn’t realise goats in trees was actually a thing in Morocco, but it is and many people come to visit. We were fortunate to across this accidentally on a road from Agadir to Marrakech. The coach briefly paused which gave us an opportunity to see this entertaining spectacle. We read that some goats forced up as part of a scam to lure tourists to visit. However, these definitely weren’t and apparently them being up trees helps with the extraction of Argan oil from the fruit.

Visiting the beach

A chance for relaxation in the sizzling sun, whilst listening to the hypnotising waves. We love a chance to visit a beach as you’ll know from our other blog writes. We also loved having a stroll along the beach and up to the harbour. Make sure you are wearing at least a t-shirt, shorts and footwear when visiting the harbour though, otherwise you will be denied entry.

Agadir birds valley

Whilst staying in Agadir, check out the bird sanctuary called, Agadir Birds Valley. This sanctuary is free to visit, and you’ll see a range of beautiful, interesting birds. This is found on the main road.

Agadir Kasbah

Finally, a visit to the old Agadir Kasbah. Ancient Agadir once used to be a completely different town which was located in a different place. Situated on a hilltop, above giant, hard-to-miss Arabic lettering (which translates as “God, Country, King”), sits the former town – the Agadir Kasbah – or, at least, what remains of it. 

The town was first constructed in the 1500s, but much of it was destroyed because of the great earthquake in 1960. Agadir town then relocated along the long beach dotted with umbrellas.

The trip up to the Kasbah requires a taxi, we got a fixed price with a red cab driver of 100 DHR. This price was a 20 minute journey each way and a 20 min stop at the Kasbah where the driver waited. Agree a price beforehand and make sure it is a return trip.

The local people will try to rip you off at any given opportunity. To get there, you will be taken up a long, windy road. This can be terrifying due to drivers focusing on pointing out Agadir’s landmarks and history and not concentrating on oncoming cars and the steep drop.

Once you make it up (with a few extra grey hairs), you’ll see a magnificent viewpoint of New Agadir and the fascinating ruin of ancient Agadir. At the top of the Kasbah will be various people approaching you to buy things, or to try and tell you about the area. The best thing to do is ignore them otherwise they’ll be wanting your money.

As part of your Morocco travel in Agadir, you MUST try out the restaurant Pure Passion. The food is mouth-watering and the quality is exceptional. It’s located in the lovely harbour and is recommended by most hotels (even if the hotels serve food). As if not good enough, Pure Passion will even send out a car to pick you up if you reserve a table.

Another place we enjoyed to eat at was El Toro. This was closer to the beach, but they will also send out a car to pick you up if you make a reservation. We told the waiter that we would visit again after a football match and we were greeted with romantic rose petals on the table with free wine. The food was also amazing and excellent value for money.

As part of our travel guide we can suggest a couple of bars with entertainment in Agadir. As we were all inclusive at our hotel, we didn’t tend to visit as many bars as normal. We did have a chance to visit a few though.

Near our hotel was The English Pub. This offered a lively party atmosphere with lots of things going on. It was a chance to meet other people and everyone in there was friendly. Nearby is the Irish Pub, which is another popular bar. Above all, it has cheap drink prices. You’ll also find plenty of bars are on the beach front to check out along with restaurants.

We managed to be in Agadir at the same time as Timitar festival. This was by chance but a great chance to experience different culture and also listen to some great music. Check it out if, if you’re here early July.

To summarise, we loved our stay in Morocco and it has given us food for thought to visit again in the future. There are so many other cities, mountains, deserts to explore which makes it such an appealing place to visit.

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