The distance in hours
By road it is about 177 kilometres between Marrakech and Essaouira. By car or private transfer that takes two and a half to three hours, depending on how often you stop. The Supratours coach takes around three hours and runs several times a day. There is no train; that line does not exist.
There and back in one day is therefore five to six hours in the car for four to five hours in town. It can be done, and plenty of people do it, but you will see the harbour, the ramparts and a stretch of medina, and nothing else.
Two nights is the floor
If you sleep there, two nights is the floor. One night means arriving late afternoon and leaving the next morning; you will have done the drive without having seen the town.
Two nights gives you one full day: the medina inside the walls, the fishing harbour late in the morning when the boats come in, and the beach in the afternoon. Essaouira is almost always windy – which is why people surf there, and why it is more bearable than Marrakech in summer.
A workable split for a week: four nights in Marrakech and three in Essaouira, or the other way round if you would rather have the bustle at the end.
Coach, grand taxi or private car
- The coach is the cheapest and is perfectly fine. You do have to get to the bus station yourself and you are tied to the timetable.
- A grand taxi is the local way: faster, but shared and negotiated.
- A private car with a driver collects you at the hotel, stops where you want it to – at the argan trees with goats in them, at the old kasbah on the way – and drops you at your riad. With luggage and children, that is the difference between a journey and the start of a holiday.
With us the transport between destinations is always part of the trip: there is nothing to arrange and nothing to haggle over on the way. Marrakech and Essaouira is not currently on the site as a fixed trip; we put it together on request.
