Morocco has quickly become a destination in my top ten favorite places to travel. Each city brings new adventure, amazing food and beautiful countryside. This post will dive into the popular holiday seaside destination, Agadir. We snuck off here for a mini holiday to escape the miserable Belgian rainy season for some fun in the African sun.

This is not the typical getaway destination where we typically pack in as much as we can. Agadir is filled with all inclusive resorts to maximize on guests’ relaxation and leisure without having to leave. At first, I was very skeptical because usually these resorts do not offer high quality food, drink or service. However, I was pleasantly surprised by Hotel Kenzi Europa.  The rooms were very clean, WIFI strong, food selection excellent with a variety of Moroccan and international cuisines, and the night entertainment was a nice bonus. Each night the staff involved children in some dance before putting on a show for the older guests.

But we, of course, wanted to get out and do some exploring. Upon arrival at Agadir airport, we had the luck of getting into a cab of the nicest man in the city. TIP: don’t let anyone put your suitcase in the taxi. They are looking for money and will ask you to take from the taxi fare to pay them. It’s an awkward conversation so best to avoid it all together. I am sure the price we paid is higher than if we hired a car and drove ourselves but for 400 MAD (about 40USD) Mohammed was our personal chauffeur for one full day. Our first two stops can be seen on the above pictures. He took us to the city mosque but we could not go inside because it was Ramadan and we are not Muslim. He then took us to an herb garden to learn how Argan oil is made. Women manually shuck the argan nut from its shell for it to be processed into oil.

But the best part of the day was visiting Paradise Valley for some swim and a whole lotta sun. It is this tiny oasis located deep in the African mountains. We had a guide bring us the fifteen minute walk from the parking lot to this hidden gem. You can get fresh squeezed juice and water to drink but don’t expect any alcohol to be served! Also, be careful of the little fish that swim around the water, waiting to bite at your skin to eat the dead flesh away…it’s creepy and I freaked me out so much that I wouldn’t even stay in the water very long!

We were also told about a market in Agadir that we wanted to check out to score more rugs and other Moroccan treasures but all we found was a huge flea market of clothes, shoes and other home goods. Luckily, we stumbled upon some amazing delicacies for the area and indulged when we couldn’t shop.

Agadir was a lovely getaway with so many wonderful sights and spots to enjoy. While it felt more like a spot for families to leave for a low cost holiday, we were able to find places that gave a little adventure.