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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Morocco Atlantic Coast Road: Agadir to Essaouira

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
176 km
Riding-time estimate
2 h 55
Journey
One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis

Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.

Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.

Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.

Open this ride in CurveScout

Why this ride

A one-way ride of 176 km, Agadir to Essaouira - roughly 2 h 55 in the saddle. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.

Scenic road chapters

Morocco Atlantic Coast Road

Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 23 km this is Morocco Atlantic Coast Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.

Chapter facts
Length
23 km
Named road
Morocco Atlantic Coast Road

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Agadir

    Agadir is a very new city in a very old country, and the reason is the earthquake. At a few minutes before midnight on 29 February 1960, a quake destroyed most of the old town and killed thousands of people, and the city was rebuilt from scratch in a modern style, with wide avenues, low buildings and a long promenade along the bay. The one piece that survived is the hilltop kasbah, Agadir Oufella, whose ruined walls overlook the town from about two hundred metres up, bearing an inscription in Arabic that reads God, Country, King. The view from it, across the bay and the port, is the best in town.

    Read the complete Agadir write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Agadir is where the day begins. Next is Taghazout.

  2. 2. Taghazout

    Taghazout started as a fishing village and still smells like one around the harbour at dawn, but since the late sixties it has had a second life as Morocco's surf town. Travellers on the hippie trail drifted up the coast from Agadir looking for empty point breaks, and the names they gave the waves, Anchor Point and Killer Point among them, stuck. Today the village climbs a hillside above the Atlantic in tiers of whitewashed and sand-coloured houses, with surf schools and rooftop cafes in between the older family homes, and a large resort development now sits in the bay to the north.

    Read the complete Taghazout write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Taghazout comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is Essaouira.

  3. 3. Essaouira

    The wind is the first thing you meet in Essaouira, and it never really leaves. The trade winds blow in from the Atlantic for most of the year, which is why the old Portuguese-named town of Mogador is a centre for windsurfing and kitesurfing, and why the beach is a long, flat plain of pale sand with surfers working the surf at the far end.

    Read the complete Essaouira write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    The route ends here after 176 km.

Leg by leg

Agadir to Taghazout

Agadir → Taghazout is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Taghazout to Essaouira

Taghazout → Essaouira is 153 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.

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