Oualidia
A lagoon of oyster beds on Morocco's Atlantic coast.
Oualidia is a fishing village on Morocco's Atlantic coast, halfway between El Jadida and Safi, and it sits on a lagoon that separates sea from land like a curtain. Behind it calm water, oyster beds, salt pans, flamingos. In front, the Atlantic, with waves that bring surfers from Casablanca.
The village itself is small: a few streets, a market, restaurants where the lagoon's oysters come to the table for little money. Mohammed V had a summer palace here; it still stands, slowly decaying, and explains why the royal family came here for decades.
Oualidia isn't a destination you tick off. It's a place you stay three days and on the third understand why.
The coast between Marrakech and Casablanca has little to offer. Oualidia is the exception.
We recommend Oualidia as the final stop of a Moroccan journey: after the medina and the Atlas, the sea. La Sultana sits on the hillside above the lagoon, twelve stone rooms with terraces and jacuzzis, a jetty into the water, three restaurants with an oyster bar. It's the only house of its kind in the village — and that's enough. Come in spring or autumn. In summer fog lies over the coast; in winter it's cool. Eat the oysters in the village at lunch and at the house in the evening.
