Safi

Safi is a phosphate port and pottery town that happens to sit beside one of the best and most demanding waves in Africa. When it works — a handful of days a year — Ras Lafaa produces long, fast, hollow right-hand barrels.

This is not a learning destination and nobody should treat it as one. The wave breaks over rock, needs a big, specific swell direction, and draws a serious crowd of travelling surfers when the forecast lines up.

The town is working and industrial, known for its ceramics quarter rather than tourism. Most people come for the wave, on a forecast, and leave again.

Most of the year the wave is flat or unsurfable, so anyone arriving on spec needs a fallback — Lalla Fatna, a beach a short drive north, is the usual one, and there is more coast between here and Essaouira. Planning a trip around Safi means betting on a forecast: watch for a big, long-period north-west groundswell with light offshore wind, and be ready to move when one appears. Beds in town are limited and industrial rather than charming, which is the other reason most people drive in and out.

Where to stay in Safi

Safi is a working town with business hotels rather than anything aimed at surfers — €25 to €60 for a double, and most of it well back from the water. People chasing the wave often stay at Lalla Fatna up the coast or drive over from Essaouira on a forecast rather than basing here for a week.

Good to know

Come on a forecast or do not come. The wave needs a big, specific swell direction and works a handful of days a year; the rest of the time there is nothing to surf and little to do. It breaks over rock in front of an industrial port, so it is a bad place to be out of your depth. Lalla Fatna is the fallback.