What are the best day trips from Essaouira?

Essaouira is the rare Moroccan base where you may not want to leave at all — the ramparts, the fishing port, the wind — but when guests ask me to escape the medina for a few hours, I send them south to Sidi Kaouki first. It’s only about 25 minutes down the coast, a wide windswept beach below a whitewashed marabout shrine, where the surf schools and horse-and-camel guys gather. It feels emptier and rawer than Essaouira town. Bring a windbreaker; the alize wind that cools Essaouira blows just as hard here.

Closer in, Diabat is a 15-minute hop across the Oued Ksob river just south of town. This is the village Jimi Hendrix supposedly haunted in 1969, and below it sit the photogenic ruins of the Borj el Berod, a half-buried sea fort that locals will tell you inspired "Castles Made of Sand" (the timeline doesn’t quite work, but it’s a lovely story). You can walk or ride a horse there along the beach at low tide, which is how I prefer to do it.

The other classic outing is the argan trail. Head inland on the Marrakech road and within 20 to 40 minutes you reach women’s argan oil cooperatives where you can watch the nuts being cracked and pressed by hand. Pick a genuine cooperative rather than a roadside stall — a good guide knows which ones actually pay the women fairly. You’ll sometimes see the famous goats up in the argan trees nearby, though be honest with yourself: many of those photo-op goats are placed there.

For something wilder, Cap Sim and the Sidi Kaouki dunes reward a half day of walking, and serious birders make the short trip to the Oued Ksob estuary for flamingos and Eleonora’s falcons in season. Almost everything from Essaouira is a half-day affair, which is the charm — you can spend the morning out and still be back on the ramparts for the sunset and a plate of grilled sardines.