What is the best place in Morocco for beaches?

Set one expectation first: most of Morocco's coastline is Atlantic, which means cool water, real surf, and wind. If you are picturing bathwater-warm Mediterranean calm, you will want the specific spots I mention at the end. For the classic Moroccan beach experience, though, Essaouira is my favourite. The beach is enormous — a long sweep of golden sand — and the steady wind that keeps the town cool also makes it a world-class spot for kitesurfing, windsurfing, and surfing. You can ride camels and horses on the sand, and the walled medina sits right behind it, so you get culture and coast in one place.

The honest Essaouira caveat is that same wind. It is glorious for watersports and for staying cool, but it can make straightforward sunbathing-and-swimming feel like a battle on a blustery day, and the Atlantic is bracing rather than warm. I love it for the atmosphere, the seafood, and the activity — less so for a pure lie-on-the-sand beach holiday. If your dream is lazy hours on a towel in warm water, Essaouira is not quite it.

For that warmer, calmer resort experience, Agadir is the answer. It faces a sheltered bay, the water is noticeably warmer and gentler than Essaouira's, the sun is reliable nearly year-round, and the wide beach is backed by resort hotels with all the amenities. Agadir lacks Moroccan character — it was rebuilt modern after the 1960 earthquake — but if your priority is a sun-and-swim beach week with easy logistics, it is the most comfortable choice on the Atlantic. Surfers also base further south around Taghazout, the country's surf capital.

Two other coasts worth knowing. Oualidia, between Casablanca and Essaouira, has a calm protected lagoon that is the gentlest swimming on the Atlantic coast and a lovely low-key escape — a quiet favourite of mine. And up north, the Mediterranean coast around Al Hoceima and Saïdia offers genuinely warm, calm, blue water that feels more like the Med it is, though it is far from the main tourist circuit. My summary: Essaouira for character and watersports, Agadir for warm resort swimming, Oualidia for a calm lagoon, and the north for true warm-water beach days.