Essaouira

Essaouira is the one destination on this coast that would be worth visiting with no waves at all. A fortified eighteenth-century port with a UNESCO-listed medina, it also happens to sit on a bay with the most reliable wind in Morocco.

The trade wind that blows here almost every afternoon from spring to autumn — the alizée — makes the long bay one of the best kitesurfing and windsurfing venues in the world. It also makes surfing frustrating in those months, because the same wind flattens and chops the swell.

In winter the wind drops and the surf works, though it is never as good as the points further south. The compensation is a real town: a fishing harbour, art galleries, gnaoua music, seafood grills on the quay and a medina you can get lost in.

It is the obvious choice for a mixed group, where not everyone surfs.