What are the best day trips from El Jadida?

El Jadida is a relaxed Atlantic city most foreign travellers skip, which is exactly its charm. Start in town: the Cite Portugaise, the old fortified Portuguese quarter, is UNESCO-listed, and its underground Portuguese Cistern — a vaulted chamber where a thin film of water mirrors the columns and a single shaft of light — is one of the most atmospheric spaces on the coast. Orson Welles filmed part of his "Othello" here. You can walk the sea ramparts in an hour and watch local families fishing off the bastions at sunset.

Just 15 minutes north sits Azemmour, a sleepy walled town on the Oum Er-Rbia river whose whitewashed medina is covered in street art and murals. It’s almost untouristed, the old Jewish mellah is quietly evocative, and the riverside ramparts make a lovely short wander. Painters and a few artists have settled here, drawn by the light and the calm — it’s a 30-minute outing that feels like a discovery.

For the coast, the beaches south and west of El Jadida — Sidi Bouzid, Sidi Abed, Haouzia — are wide and Atlantic-wild, good for long walks and, at the right spots, for surfing. This stretch is also historic pottery country, so you can stop to watch potters at work. It’s an easy half day of sand, wind and a fish lunch at a beach grill.

The bigger trip is Oualidia, about an hour and a half south, famous for its sheltered lagoon, its oyster beds and some of the best seafood on the coast. Many people day-trip there for a long oyster-and-grilled-fish lunch by the water, though it’s also worth an overnight in its own right. Between the Portuguese history in town, the river town of Azemmour and the lagoon at Oualidia, El Jadida anchors a quietly rewarding slice of the Atlantic that almost no one else is visiting.