Is Sidi Ifni worth visiting?

Sidi Ifni is a place I save for travellers with a taste for the unusual and the time to reach it. It's a small coastal town in the deep south, well past Agadir, and its whole character comes from one quirk of history: it was a Spanish colonial enclave right up until 1969, much longer than the rest of Morocco. That left it with a remarkable legacy of 1930s Spanish Art Deco architecture — streamlined, curved, painted blue and white — clustered around the old Plaza de España (now Place Hassan II). Wandering those slightly faded, salt-weathered Deco streets feels like nowhere else in the country.

The setting is the other half of the appeal. Sidi Ifni sits above big Atlantic surf, with wide windswept beaches, fishing activity, and that bracing, slightly melancholic end-of-the-world atmosphere you get on remote coasts. It's become a low-key spot for surfers and slow travellers, with a relaxed café culture and seafood straight off the boats. Nearby is the famous Legzira beach with its rock arch, which is one of the main reasons people make it this far down the coast.

I won't oversell it: this is not a polished resort or a monument town. Some of the Art Deco buildings are crumbling, the town can feel sleepy and a little forlorn out of season, and it's a long way from anywhere — you're committing to the deep south to get here. For first-time visitors on a one- or two-week 'highlights' trip, it's simply too far off the line of Marrakech–Fes–desert–coast to justify.

My verdict: a rewarding, characterful detour for the right person — a road-tripper, a surfer, a returning visitor exploring the south coast, or anyone who collects atmospheric, faded places. Combine it with Legzira beach and the Anti-Atlas and it makes a great offbeat southern loop. But if you're short on time or want the classic Morocco hits, leave it for a future, slower trip.