We chose Agadir to visit as basically, it was cheap! We were mid renovation – as we still are! We needed a break as our travel life has waned since focusing on renovation. The flight options are limited from Scottish airports in comparison to London so I searched for what was the cheapest.
Morocco wasn’t a bucket list destination for any of us. However, we were grateful to leave the dust and hammering behind for a week and see some glorious sun! We stayed for a week end of April/beginning of May and this post will help provide families with an idea of what to do.
🧳 Getting to Agadir
We flew from Edinburgh straight into Agadir and it took around 4h and 20 mins. For us personally, I wouldn’t fly for any longer than this if the trip is less than 2 weeks. I don’t like too much of our time off spent on travel time.
We didn’t pre book any transfer – we rarely do. There were plenty of taxis available at the airport to take us to our hotel. Another perk of going to Morocco from the UK is there there is no visa requirement and so it’s ideal for a short stay.
🏖️ Where We Stayed
We stayed in Ocean Atlantic View Hotel (Ex Bo Hotel) – you’ll be able to book it for cheaper through an affiliate membership you can learn about here: Save And Earn On Your Travel!
We enjoyed our stay at this hotel – it had very spacious rooms which was ideal for a family of four! Our room had 2 very large bedrooms. One of which was ensuite, a living room area with kitchen and an additional bathroom. This was especially welcomed by us as mid renovation we had been living in very small quarters!
The hotel breakfast had a good selection to suit all of us – including fussy children! The hotel is also well equipped with an outdoor pool and a smaller one for toddlers. It also has a fantastic gym and sauna facilities – plus classes! Funny story: I am actually a flexibility and yoga instructor and I turned up to take a yoga class and was asked if I’d taken one before. I replied I was an instructor myself and they asked me to lead the class haha. That was a fun experience.
The hotel is within walking distance to the beach, a stream of restaurants and if you’re up for a longer walk you can walk to markets etc too. If you are wanting to go further afield taxis are always passing by and easy to grab and are pretty cheap. They have a colour coding system so if you’re a family of 4 you won’t be able to take one the smaller orange taxis. The taxi drivers have insurance to carry x amount of people in their vehicle so they will not take a larger group into a smaller taxi.
🌅 What to Do in Agadir
A. Best Beaches in Agadir
I’ll be honest, we don’t have much to advise on for this. When we arrived (we visited end of April) it was extremely windy and we couldn’t actually go to the beach. It was even too windy for the surfers. This lasted for 3/7 days we were here so we were only able to visit Agadir beach. It has a great promenade you can walk/run along too (if you’re as nuts as I am and fancy a run whilst away.) Ideal if you don’t enjoy being on the sand. The beach was lovely and clean and it wasn’t at all overcrowded either – but do bare in mind we were visiting out of season.
B. Fun Activities with Kids
The Agadir Cable Car Ride was a fun experience for the kids. It climbs 1700 metres high and you’ll get to take in some amazing views. We were able to walk here from the hotel which was around a 45 minute walk and took us past a great market. It costs around £10 each so it is a little pricey. Especially because this didn’t include access to the Historical Site at the top.
We were not informed that we would need to pay extra at the top or that when we went up we only had 20 mins before the last car down. So the advice would be to go early to make sure you don’t get caught out.
At the top you reach Kasbah of Agadir Oufella but unfortunately we didn’t get to have a walk around.. At the top there was also camels available for rides but for us personally it’s not something we agree with.
C. Day Trips from Agadir
Paradise Valley
We took a day trip to Paradise Valley which we booked before leaving home here. You’ll see it’s the same platform that we use for hotels too. It’s super handy being able to book everything in one place.
The coach picked us up from the hotel and it took around 40 mins to get there. Paradise valley is a river-fed swimming destination nestled between rocky cliffs, with natural pools & small waterfalls. It’s a 10-15 minute walk to hit the pools and there are a few drinks stands there to keep you hydrated. This means no need to worry about carrying too much.
The pools were lovely but they were very busy. Even though April was out of season the pools are used by the locals many of whom were enjoying diving from the highest point of the mountain cliff as seasoned pros. It was fun to watch!
You’ll get around an hour here before heading back. On the way back we also stopped at a quirky little shop full of all sorts of trinkets. It was definitely priced up for the tourists and every tourist bus was stopping there. So don’t be afraid to haggle!
Overall, if you don’t have anything else planned and you’re just enjoying a chilled holiday then I would recommend going here. Even if it is super busy it was a gorgeous spot and the drive up the mountain to it was also.
Quad-biking
Whilst we were in Morocco it was Jacobs’ (our eldest) birthday and so we decided to have some fun! We hadn’t planned this and we actually booked this with a tour operator on the beach as he gave us such a good deal as it was for a birthday celebration.
This was the highlight of our holiday. We have done many excursions over the years in different locations but this was fantastic. We had at least an hour riding either a quad bike or a buggy through sub-sahara terrain. As we followed our guides we had the best fun and Jacob loved his adrenaline buzz! After our ride we were taken back to the starting point and were given Moroccan tea and biscuits. It was an excellent day out and the boys loved it.
Souk El Had
One day we hailed a taxi and just asked him to take us to the largest market in the area. He took us to Souk El Had. This Souk is one of the biggest in Morocco with authentic and traditional features. We ended up visiting here three times as we enjoyed chatting to the locals, having a little haggle and fell in love with a stall full of Moroccan Treats
Around the edge of the market there are also normal shops and restaurants so its worth a trip for an afternoon out, have some lunch and a walk around the market. It only took about 10 minutes in a taxi from the hotel.
When you’re at the Souk be sure to head to a tea stall. The boys were in awe of these skills!
🍴 Where to Eat in Agadir
The restaurant below our hotel “Oh my Bun” had tasty burgers if you are looking for something non-traditional.
Hotel Timoulay & Spa which is located just behind the Ocean Atlantic View did an excellent buffet dinner here. We went here for Jacobs’ birthday and the staff went to great lengths to celebrate him providing party hats and singing him happy birthday in multiple languages!
I’ll be honest, whilst we were here we relied heavily on the app Glovo. As it wasn’t a typical trip for us and was a “lazy” holiday mid renovation we enjoyed ordering in a lot of food and chilling on our balcony! The app is widely used in Agadir for not only food but also groceries and pharmacy deliveries.
🛍️ What to Pack for Agadir
Females certainly need to consider culture here. It is somewhere I felt uncomfortable wearing normal shorts and vest and to be honest I didn’t even feel that comfortable in my swimwear around the pool. I’d highly recommend packing longer skirts and loose trousers. I was chatting to some other girls from the UK there and they had also been advised to remove their fake eyelashes as it’s deemed culturally offensive too.
Be sure to also pack your sun cream as like many countries, the locals don’t really use it so the price is a lot higher.
🧭 Final Thoughts: Would We Return to Agadir
Morocco with kids certainly didn’t feel difficult. Some of the best places to visit in Agadir in our opinion have been listed here but that being said I personally wouldn’t return.
For us, I feel like we did everything we would want to. I’d recommend going for your first trip as it was a great cultural experience and we did enjoy our outings but if you take a scroll through some of our other blog pieces you’ll see this isn’t particularly adventurous enough for us.
There are certainly some family friendly things to do in Morocco, in the Agadir area and would make an ideal week away (especially from the UK or Europe) for a cheap sunny break!
Number one tip when you are there is to certainly check the prices of things and what’s included. As it is a touristy area there are a few out to take advantage or even if there isn’t the deliberate intention to take advantage the lack of clarity like at the cable car ride is common.
We hope it has helped you decide whether or not you’d like to visit Agadir with your family for your next trip.
Grab our free budget planner here which will make planning a lot easier.
Happy adventuring,
The Wilsons xoxo