Taghazout

Taghazout is the centre of gravity for surfing in Morocco. A fishing village of a few thousand people an hour north of Agadir, it now has more surf camps per square metre than anywhere else in the country, and the right-hand points on its doorstep are the reason.

The draw is the geography. The coastline here runs northeast to southwest, which bends North Atlantic swell into a series of long right-hand point breaks — Anchor Point, Killers, La Source, Mysteries — that peel for hundreds of metres on the right day. Between the points sit sandy beaches that are gentle enough to learn on, so a single village serves both a first-timer and someone who has surfed for twenty years.

That concentration is also the trade-off. In January and February the points get genuinely crowded, and the line-up at Anchor is not a beginner environment on any day. Most camps based here teach somewhere else — Tamraght, Banana, Crocs — and bring intermediates back to the points when conditions suit.

Out of the water it is walkable, cheap and busy. Cafés along the seafront, a small souk, yoga on most terraces, and a steady population of people who came for a week and stayed for a season.