Family fun in Morocco
Having visited Marrakech for the first time in 2016 with friends, I decided it would be an ideal place to introduce the kids to a new culture, without spending hours on a long-haul flight. In under four hours you can fly from the UK to places that feel a World away from home. Morocco seemed a perfect place to kick off the travel bug in my children!
As with all family holidays there does need to be a balance, and for us this lies between the pool, the beach and some sightseeing and shopping. The weighting of this is flexible, and sometimes does depend on who shouts the loudest but if I can ensure there's a combination of all the four elements we're usually in for a happy holiday.
With that in mind I chose a twin centre of Marrakech for the pool, sightseeing and shopping, and Essaouira for more pool, more sightseeing, more shopping, and also some beach.
We eased the children in with a stay at the Iberostar Club Palmeraie in Marrakech. It was a good choice. Great pool, great food, great staff and service, and great entertainment yet only 20 minutes from the city centre. We visited the Medina a couple of times, early morning and early evening to avoid the heat (it was August so very hot!) and the kids loved it. The narrow streets, the tiny shops, the trinkets, and even the snakes in Jemaa el Fna had the girls hooked.
After 10 days in Marrakech we hired a car and made the 2.5hr journey across to the Atlantic Coast. We stayed just South of Essaouira in an area called Sidi Kaouki, famous for its long stretch of beach and good surf. It's quite a wild place with horses and camels on the beach wandering amongst the locals and so if you're looking for something like the Med, this is not it. The sea is rough so again if you want a gentle swim in calm and clear waters Sidi Kaouki is not for you.
When we arrived the first thing that hit us was the sea mist and a huge 10degree drop in temperature, which after 40+ heat in Marrakech was quite welcome. We checked into the fabulous Rebali Riads where we were looked after like family for the next 4 days. The riads are absolutely beautiful, ours being a 2 storey, 2-bedroom house with acres of space overlooking the lovely shared gardens and pool. Breakfast was served to us in our villa and the food and service was so good we decided to book dinner also, which again was served to our dining table and cleared away afterwards. Amazing!
During our stay we made the 30mins drive up the coast to the town of Essaouira, which is a much more laid-back version of Marrakech but still offers a wide choice of hotels, eateries, and shops as well as a beach, again popular with surfers of all types due to the famous "Alizée" trade winds.
We didn't partake in any water sports during our stay and instead chose to do more shopping and laze about by the pool at the Riad. As I said at the start it's all about balance!