VillaRosedu Désert

Long before its current name, the city was called Mogador — from the Berber “Amegdul,” meaning “well protected.” Phoenicians and later Carthaginians landed here, mentioned in the chronicles of the navigator Hanno in the 5th century BC. In 1506, the Portuguese built a fortress here, the Castelo Real, before being pushed back by local Berber tribes.

The city owes its current face to Sultan Sidi Mohammed ibn Abdallah: founded in 1765 to rival Agadir, designed by French engineer Théodore Cornut following Vauban's principles, it became a major trading post between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. Renamed Essaouira — “the beautifully designed” — it thrived for over two centuries.

Its medina, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001, remains a maze of white-and-blue alleys, lively souks, and 18th-century ramparts overlooking the Atlantic.

Essaouira carries another name too: the “Wind City.” The same trade winds that once powered Portuguese and Spanish ships now make it one of Africa's best surf and kitesurf spots. In the 1960s-70s, the city drew a generation of artists and musicians — Orson Welles filmed part of his Othello here in 1949, Jimi Hendrix stayed in 1969. Every June, the Gnaoua Festival gathers nearly 500,000 visitors around the transatlantic music heritage of Sufi brotherhoods.