Sidi Bouzid Beach: Quiet Atlantic Sands Near El Jadida

Most visitors to Morocco's Atlantic coast drive straight past Sidi Bouzid. They are heading for Essaouira, or for the surf camps further south, and they never turn off at the small sign a few kilometres beyond El Jadida. That is their loss, and your gain.

Sidi Bouzid is a modest seaside village in the Casablanca-Settat region, set on a low cliff above a long, open bay. There is no medina to get lost in, no monument you must queue for. What there is: a broad sweep of fine sand that regularly earns Blue Flag recognition for cleanliness, a little white shrine on the headland, a handful of cafés where the fish arrives grilled and unfussy, and the kind of Atlantic light at six in the evening that makes people stop talking.

For travellers over 60, it has one more quiet advantage. This is a flat, uncomplicated place. You can see almost all of it from a bench, and the city you will probably sleep in — El Jadida, with its UNESCO-listed Portuguese quarter — is only ten or fifteen minutes away by taxi.

A little history

The village takes its name from a local holy man, Sidi Abd er-Rahman Bouzid, described in Moroccan sources as coming from the Beni Amghar tribe. His death is recorded in the 1150s of the Islamic calendar, which falls in the 1740s of the Western one. His small sanctuary — a marabout, in the North African sense of a saint's tomb — still stands on the cliff above the houses, whitewashed and facing the sea.

The wider district is the Doukkala, a flat, generous farming plain that has fed this coast for centuries. Its great landmark is El Jadida itself, which the Portuguese fortified in the early 1500s and knew as Mazagan. They held the sea walls until 1769, and left behind ramparts, a church, and a famously beautiful underground cistern. The old fortified town was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2004.

Sidi Bouzid's own story is much more recent and much more ordinary: in the twentieth century, Casablanca and El Jadida families began building summer houses and bungalows above the sand. It became, and remains, a holiday beach for Moroccans rather than for tour groups. That is precisely what gives it its character.

What to see

Do not come expecting a long list. Come expecting three or four good things done well.

The beach

The bay is wide, sandy and remarkably clean, and it shelves gently, which makes paddling easy and reassuring. The water, though, is Atlantic water carried down by a cool current: even in high summer it tends to sit somewhere around the high teens to low twenties Celsius, and in spring it is frankly bracing. Many older visitors come for the walk and the air rather than the swim, and the firm sand near the waterline is pleasant underfoot for a long, level stroll.

The point and the surfers

At one end of the bay the rocks form a point break that has a real reputation among surfers, and it can work at almost any time of year. You need not get wet to enjoy it. Find a café terrace or a spot on the low cliff and watch the sets come in; on a clean swell it is better entertainment than most television.

The marabout on the cliff

The saint's white tomb above the village is the reason the place has its name. It is a living religious site, not a museum, so the respectful thing is to admire it from outside, dress modestly and not photograph people at prayer. The headland around it gives the best view along the coast.

El Jadida's Cité Portugaise

Five to eight kilometres away, the old Portuguese town is the cultural half of this trip. Walk the quiet lanes inside the walls, look in at the old church, and if your knees allow it, descend the stone steps into the Portuguese Cistern — a vaulted hall of stone columns standing in a shallow film of water, lit by a single opening in the roof. It is one of the most photographed interiors in Morocco, and it earns the attention. The ramparts involve a short steep slope; the lower streets do not.

The beach at Sidi Bouzid, on the Atlantic coast near El Jadida.

A day trip nearby

If you have a car or a hired driver for a day, go south to Oualidia. It is roughly 70 to 80 kilometres down the coast road, about an hour and a half each way, through farmland, salt flats and small fishing settlements.

Oualidia sits on a lagoon almost closed off from the ocean by a sandbar, which means calm, shallow, sheltered water — a genuine relief after the Atlantic's energy at Sidi Bouzid. The town is Morocco's oyster capital; the beds are farmed in the lagoon and the shellfish are opened to order at simple waterside places. The lagoon is also a well-known spot for water birds, and a slow hour with binoculars is time well spent.

One practical note: the coast road is scenic but not fast, and there is little shade. Leave in the morning, eat lunch there, and be back for sunset at Sidi Bouzid rather than driving this road in the dark.

Honest advice for comfortable travel

• The terrain is kind. The village and the seafront are essentially flat. The main effort is the slope or steps down to the sand, which vary along the bay — ask a café owner for the gentlest access point and use it.
• Base yourself in El Jadida. It has the widest choice of hotels, pharmacies, cash machines and restaurants, and Sidi Bouzid is only a ten- to fifteen-minute taxi ride away. Staying in the village itself means lovely evenings but very few services.
• Avoid July and August if you can. This is a Moroccan family beach, and in high summer it genuinely fills up: parking is hard, the sand is crowded, and prices rise. May, June, September and early October give you the same beach almost to yourself.
• Respect the ocean. This is an open Atlantic coast with real currents and a surf break. Swim only where other people are swimming, only when lifeguards are on duty in season, and never alone.
• Bring sun protection, not just sunscreen. The sea breeze hides the strength of the sun here. A hat, long sleeves and sunglasses matter more than you expect, and shade on the beach is limited.
• Carry cash in small notes. Beach cafés, grill stalls and taxis generally want dirhams in cash. Withdraw in El Jadida before you come out.
• Agree the taxi fare first. For a grand taxi from El Jadida, settle the price before you set off, and arrange your return pick-up — taxis are plentiful in town but thinner on the ground at the beach late in the day.
• Plan for a quiet evening. Nightlife is essentially a sunset, a mint tea and the sound of the waves. For many of our readers, that is the point.

What to eat

The honest answer here is: whatever came off the boats this morning.

Grilled sardines are the regional signature — split, salted, charred over coals and served with bread, cumin and a wedge of lemon. Fried whiting and squid, prawns, and simple fish tagines with tomato, olives and preserved lemon turn up on almost every menu along this coast, in El Jadida's port restaurants and in the small snack places near the beach.

Around it you will find the familiar comforts of Moroccan cooking: harira soup, cooked salads of tomato, pepper and aubergine, chicken with olives, couscous on Fridays, and msemen or harcha with tea in the afternoon. The Doukkala plain supplies excellent vegetables and dairy.

Two gentle cautions. Raw oysters are a joy at Oualidia but should be eaten only at busy, reputable places; and if your stomach is sensitive, stick to bottled water and well-cooked fish. Moroccan dinner is late — kitchens are often liveliest from around nine — so if you prefer to eat early, aim for a long seafood lunch instead and treat it as the main meal of the day.

Getting there

Wild flowers on the shore at Sidi Bouzid — the coast is at its greenest in spring.

Our verdict

Sidi Bouzid will not fill a guidebook chapter, and it is not trying to. It is worth the detour for a simpler reason: it offers one of the cleanest, most walkable beaches on this stretch of the Atlantic, with a saint's shrine on the cliff, honest grilled fish, and a UNESCO World Heritage town a few minutes inland — all without the crowds, the touts or the long hot walks that tire visitors out elsewhere in Morocco.

We would not build a whole holiday around it. We would absolutely build two or three unhurried days around El Jadida, spend a morning and an evening at Sidi Bouzid, give one day to Oualidia's lagoon, and leave feeling rested rather than conquered. For travellers over 60 who want the sea, good food and very little effort, that is a rather perfect arrangement.

“Come for the sand, stay for the six o'clock light — Sidi Bouzid keeps nothing back except the crowds.”

Photo credits

• Sidi Bouzid - Eljadida: AbdellahMJ93, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
• Sidi Bouzid El Jadida : Snipervga, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
• أزهار شاطئ سيدي بوزيد: Yobennane, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons