What is Mirleft beach?

Mirleft is the kind of place travellers stumble into and then refuse to leave. It's a tiny, low-rise village on the Atlantic south, roughly between Tiznit and Sidi Ifni, and its appeal is a series of pretty sandy coves — Aftas, Sauvage, Marabout and others — each tucked into its own pocket of cliffs a short way out of town. Instead of one big resort beach you get a scatter of half-hidden bays, often with only a handful of people on them, which is increasingly rare anywhere on the Mediterranean side of the coin.

The mood is bohemian and unhurried: a single main street with grocery shops and grilled-fish cafés, cheap and cheerful guesthouses, surfers heading out at dawn, and paragliders launching off the cliffs in the afternoon thermals — Mirleft is a known spot for both. There's no luxury infrastructure and that's exactly why the people I send here love it; it's the un-resort, a place to slow right down for a few days with a book and a board.

On the water, the same Atlantic-south rules apply. The beaches are beautiful and the surf is fun, but the ocean is cool and the currents can be strong, so swimming is best where others are and never alone in a remote cove. Some of the coves are calmer than the open beach at certain tides; local guesthouse owners know which and I always tell clients to ask before diving in.

Mirleft pairs naturally with Sidi Ifni and Legzira into a southern-coast trio, or as a mellow decompression stop after the desert or Taghazout's surf scene. If your idea of a great beach day is an empty cove, a tagine at a shack, and a cliff-top sunset rather than a sun-lounger and a cocktail bar, Mirleft is your place.