Is horse or camel riding on the beach (Essaouira) good?

Essaouira is the best place in Morocco to ride on a beach, and it is a completely different mood from the desert. The town sits on a long, sweeping crescent of Atlantic sand, wide and firm and open, with the medina ramparts behind you and the surf rolling in. A ride here is breezy, fresh and unhurried, the kind of thing you do for the sheer pleasure of it rather than to tick a box. Both horses and camels are offered along the beach and just inland through the scrubby dunes and argan country.

The choice depends on what you want. A horse is the more active, exhilarating option: if you can ride, a guide will let you trot and even canter along the firm wet sand near the waterline, manes flying and spray kicking up, which is genuinely thrilling and great for confident riders. If you have never ridden, they will keep it to a gentle walk and lead you, which is perfectly pleasant. A camel, by contrast, is a slow, swaying, scenic plod, you are higher up, you go at a relaxed pace, and it is more about the views and the novelty than any sense of speed.

Where it gets special is the light and the air. Essaouira has dramatic Atlantic skies, often with fast-moving clouds and a soft, diffused light that photographers love, and riding along the edge of the surf with the wind off the sea and the white-and-blue town in the distance is just a beautiful, soul-clearing hour. Rides typically run from one to two hours, often heading down the beach toward the ruins and the river mouth before looping back through the dunes.

Two honest tips. First, timing: Essaouira is famously windy in the afternoons, which is wonderful for kitesurfers but can mean stinging blown sand on the beach, so I book rides for the morning or early evening when it is calmer. Second, choose your operator with care for the animals’ sake, ask me and I will steer you to stables that look after their horses and camels well, which matters both ethically and for a better-tempered, better-trained mount. Done right, a morning ride on Essaouira beach is one of the gentlest, most memorable hours on the coast.