How do I get from Marrakech to Essaouira?

Of all the trips out of Marrakech, this is the gentlest. Essaouira is roughly 190 km due west, and the road is flat, modern and largely straight — 2.5 to 3 hours and you are trading the Marrakech heat for Atlantic breeze. It is genuinely doable as a long day trip, though the laid-back fishing port deserves an overnight if you can spare one.

The public option here is excellent. Supratours runs comfortable coaches several times a day from beside the Marrakech train station straight to the Essaouira bus stop just outside the medina walls, and CTM does the same. Book a day ahead in high season. For a few euros it is one of the best-value transfers in the country, and you can walk into the medina the moment you step off.

A private driver costs more but earns its keep on this route because of what is on the way. The road passes through argan country, and I always stop at a women’s argan oil cooperative — you will likely see goats up in the argan trees, which sounds like a tourist invention but is completely real. A driver also means you set your own pace and can carry on down the coast to the beaches south of town.

However you travel, the arrival is the same lovely thing: whitewashed ramparts, blue boats in the harbour, seagulls, and that constant wind that made Essaouira a windsurfing magnet. It is a small, walkable town, so once you are inside the medina you will not need wheels again until you head back to Marrakech.