Safi: Morocco's Atlantic City of Potters and Sardines

Most travellers between Marrakech and the coast head straight for Essaouira, and drive right past Safi. That is exactly why we like it. This is a real working city of around 350,000 people, capital of Safi Province in the Marrakech-Safi region, where the fishing fleet comes in at dawn, the potters' kilns smoke on the hill above the medina, and nobody is trying to sell you a camel ride.

Safi's surprise is its history. For a little over fifty years, from 1488 to 1541, this was a Portuguese stronghold, and the stone they left behind still stands at the water's edge: a square sea castle with its cannons, a fortress on the hill, and the roofless remains of a cathedral that was never finished.

Give it a slow day and a half. The sights are few but genuinely memorable, the sea air is kind in summer, and the welcome is the unhurried kind you only get in places that do not depend on visitors.

A little history

Safi — Asfi in Arabic — has been a natural harbour on this stretch of the Atlantic for a very long time, sheltered by cliffs in a coast that offers few safe landings.

Its European chapter began in 1488, when the Portuguese gained control of the town, and became a formal occupation in the early 1500s. They built to last. The Kechla fortress on the hill went up between about 1508 and 1514, and its outer walls still carry the carved coat of arms of King Manuel I. Between roughly 1515 and 1517 they added the Ksar el-Bahr, the "Castle of the Sea", set directly above the waves to control the anchorage. In 1519 they began a Manueline-style cathedral, said to be the first Gothic church built on African soil — but it was never completed, and when Portugal gave the town up to the rising Saadian dynasty in 1541, only a vaulted chapel and part of the choir survived.

After that Safi settled into being what it still is: a port. Pottery became a serious local industry in the early twentieth century, sardine canning followed, and in 1965 a large phosphate-processing complex arrived south of the city. Be prepared for that honesty — Safi is handsome and gritty at the same time, and the industrial edge is part of the picture.

The Castelo do Mar — Ksar el-Bahr — on Safi's seafront, photographed in 1989.

What to see

Everything worth seeing sits in or just above the medina, within a few hundred metres of the seafront, so you can see Safi without long transfers.

Ksar el-Bahr, the Castle of the Sea

The Portuguese sea fort stands right on the shore below the medina, a compact square bastion with rounded towers, an artillery platform and old cannons still pointing out to sea. It is the easiest of the monuments to enjoy: you arrive at ground level, and even if you skip the climb to the terrace, the walls and the surf below are worth the stop.

The Kechla and the National Ceramics Museum

Uphill from the medina, the larger Kechla fortress looks out over rooftops, harbour and ocean. Inside, Morocco's national ceramics museum gathers some of the finest Safi work — cobalt blue, green and ochre glazes, plates, jars and tilework. It closes one day a week, so ask at your hotel before setting out.

The Portuguese chapel

Tucked into the medina lanes, the surviving fragment of that unfinished cathedral is small, roofless and quietly moving. It takes ten minutes to visit and it is usually empty.

The potters' hill at Bab Chaaba

This is Safi's real signature. On the slope beside the Bab Chaaba gate, dozens of workshops turn, glaze and fire pottery more or less in the open air, with domed wood-fired kilns and stacks of finished pieces in the sun. Potters are used to visitors watching; a small purchase is the polite thank-you. The ground is uneven, dusty and sloping, so wear shoes with grip.

Sidi Bouzid viewpoint

About 4 km north of the centre, the whitewashed marabout of Sidi Bouzid sits on the cliff at roughly 120 m. From the terrace you see the whole sweep of the city, the port and the cliffs, and on clear days the distant High Atlas. A taxi takes you to the top, so there is no climbing involved — go late in the day for the sunset.

The potters' market at Bab Chaaba in Safi.

The ocean side

Safi's coast is dramatic rather than gentle: reddish cliffs, big Atlantic swell, and a long working harbour full of blue sardine boats. The fishing and commercial port is the city's engine — Safi is Morocco's leading sardine port — and simply standing on the quay watching the crates come ashore is one of the better free shows in the country. The auction happens very early; you do not need to be there at five in the morning to enjoy the atmosphere by eight or nine.

North of town, the bay below Sidi Bouzid has a broad sandy beach that fills with local families in summer. Further along the cliff road, Lalla Fatna is a wilder cove much loved by surfers. Both are fine for a walk and a look; the Atlantic here has strong currents, so swimming is for the confident only, and best where others are already in the water.

View over the port of Safi and the Atlantic Ocean.

A day trip nearby: Oualidia

If you have a car or take a grand taxi, Oualidia is the obvious excursion: roughly 60 km north of Safi, about an hour's drive on the coast road.

It is a small fishing village and low-key holiday resort set behind one of the finest natural lagoons on the North African coast — calm, shallow water sheltered from the ocean swell, in complete contrast to Safi's cliffs. Oualidia is known for its oyster beds, and lunch of oysters and grilled fish overlooking the lagoon is the whole point of going. The lagoon shore is flat and easy to walk.

The other easy move is southwards: Essaouira is roughly 120–130 km away, about two to two and a half hours by bus, which makes Safi a very natural stop on a coastal route rather than a detour.

Honest advice for comfortable travel

• Safi is built on a slope. The medina and the seafront are reasonably flat, but the Kechla and the potters' hill both mean a steady climb on uneven paving. Take them in the cool of the morning, or take a taxi up and walk down.
• Stay near the seafront or the central squares. The medina, Ksar el-Bahr and the cafés are then all within a five-to-ten-minute walk, and you avoid long hauls at the end of the day. Choice of hotels is limited compared with Essaouira — book ahead in summer.
• Petits taxis are your friend. Short hops across town are quick and cheap; agree the fare or ask for the meter before you set off. For Sidi Bouzid, ask the driver to wait.
• Heat is manageable, wind is not always. The Atlantic keeps Safi far cooler than Marrakech, but the sea breeze can be brisk and the sun is strong. Bring a light windproof layer, a hat and sunglasses even in spring.
• Grip matters more than elegance. Wet cobbles near the port, clay dust on the potters' hill and worn steps in the fortresses all argue for closed shoes with good soles rather than sandals.
• Pace the port. The quays are long and open with little shade or seating. Twenty or thirty minutes is plenty; then retreat to a café terrace.
• This is a working city, not a resort. English is less common than in the big tourist towns, so a few words of French go a long way, and carry cash for the medina and the workshops.
• Travel light on the pottery. Safi ceramics are gorgeous and heavy. Buy what you can carry, and ask sellers to wrap generously.

What to eat

Sardines, first and last. Safi's are marinated in chermoula — garlic, cumin, paprika, coriander, parsley, lemon — and grilled over charcoal, and they are as good here as anywhere in Morocco. You will also find sardine tagine, layered with tomato, pepper and herbs, and sardines fried whole as a simple lunch.

Beyond that, the port grills do a generous mixed plate of prawns, calamari, cuttlefish and whatever white fish came in that morning, usually with bread, olives and a salad. Inland flavours are here too: lamb or chicken tagine, harira soup, and couscous on Fridays in many family kitchens and small restaurants.

Finish, as Safi does, with sweet mint tea — and if you are buying a tagine dish to cook in at home, this is the right city to buy it in.

Fishing boats in the inner harbour at Safi.

Getting there

Our verdict

Safi will not charm you the way Chefchaouen or Essaouira do. It has no polished tourist quarter, the industry is visible, and the guidebooks give it two pages. Go anyway.

Go for the Portuguese stone standing in the Atlantic spray, for a hillside where people still make beautiful things by hand in front of you, for a plate of sardines eaten within sight of the boat that caught them, and for the particular pleasure of being the only foreign visitors on the street. For travellers over 60 it is refreshingly manageable: the sights are clustered, the taxis are plentiful, the sea keeps the temperature honest, and nobody hurries you.

Slot it in between Essaouira and El Jadida, or as an overnight from Marrakech, and you will come home with a story your friends have not already heard.

Panoramic view of the coast at Sidi Bouzid, near Safi, at sunset.

“In Safi the sea smells of sardines and the hillside smells of wet clay — a city that still makes things with its hands.”

Photo credits

• Sidi bouzid asfi safi morocco sunset nature panoramic view 01: Fatimaezzahra88, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
• Safi 1989 01: JopkeB, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
• Img02417-Safi-BabChaaba-200605: ArishG, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
• Port of Safi city, Morocco: Oumaima Loudini, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
• Inner harbour, Safi, Morocco - panoramio: David Broad, CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
• Sidi bouzid asfi safi morocco sunset nature panoramic view 05: Fatimaezzahra88, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons