Michael Edwards discovers Kasbah d’eau at Sidi Kaouki an authentic Morocco far from teeming souks and trinket hawkers
Sat above sand dunes sculpted by Trade Winds, the elegant Kasbah d’eau looks across mile after mile of beach. It’s Bondi Beach meets Fistral Beach. But here camels, donkeys, goats and horses outnumber the surfers. Aromas of grilled sardines and mint tea drift across the pods of wet suits.
Sidi Kaouki is a mere 15-minute taxi ride from Essaouira’s tiny airport, a three-hour drive south to Agadir or a hypothetical swim of some 4,260 miles across the Atlantic to Florida. That’s how far south we have come to flee winter at a 17 key boutique hotel that is coolness personified. The Kasbah d’eau could become a Mecca for architects and interior designers.
Although Sidi Kaouki may sound like a local midfielder hoping to make it big in the Premier League, he was in fact a 19th century Sufi Saint. Historians are vague on his exact skills. He may have ended a drought with prayer or cured goats of the plague. Whatever his claim to fame, it justified a squat shrine on the beach.
Now dilapidated and in desperate need of a major makeover it is still a draw for local families. They frown at quad bikes bumping over sandy ridges. Though if a quad bike had been available for Peter O’Toole’s Lawrence of Arabia, David Lean’s epic may have come in at under three hours.
In complete contrast to the shrine, the Kasbah d’eau, The Water Castle, opened in 2024, is utterly pristine. The hotel is both contemporary eclectic art gallery and a tribute to Morocco’s heritage. Sun-bleached ancient doors, decorated with both religious and geometrical designs, uniquely adorn the restaurant’s walls, symbols of the hotel’s warm welcome.
You almost expect to see a Vogue Arabia photographer around every corner. Perhaps capturing lavish outsize glossy books arrayed on a huge door now repurposed as an uber-stylish coffee-table. Similarly, suites mix hefty dark wood furniture with flat-screen TVs, featuring Netflix and Prime Apps, and essential refrigerated mini-bars.
A choice between Seaview Suites and Mountain View Suites is more complex than it seems. Tempting as a day bed overlooking the shimmering Atlantic, the Mountain View rooms enjoy the morning sun. Obviously, both have air-conditioning.
Two immense Paul Gauguin reproductions bring towering South Sea colour to a central atrium that looks out over the infinity pool. This is the prime pre-dinner cocktail spot for framing camels silhouetted against a sun sinking into the Atlantic. Sidi Kaouki is always photogenic. Boasting many clear nights and negligible light pollution it is also ideal for Dark Sky views.
Back in 2004, The Rough Guide to Morocco identified this stretch of coastal paradise as a likely target for mainstream development. Somehow it has escaped the bulldozers. Goats still graze in the sand dunes. Donkeys believe they have right of way on the roads. Local Berbers in djbellas push their handcarts towards the village’s two shops. The population remains below 5,000 and the surf pounds relentlessly as it has for millennia.
No surprise that surf schools outnumber shops. Undoubtedly ghosts of 1960s hippies linger around the sand dusted VW camper vans. Remember that apocryphally Jimi Hendrix put in a bid to buy the local village of Diabat. Here on the edge of a continent, where Africa slides away into the ocean, through mists and mirages, some surfers appropriate the thick wool of a djbella as they head for a surf shack and a warming coffee. Sidi Kaouki has an enviable ability to soak up change.
Less than half an hour bus ride north along the coasts, countless blue bobbing boats are moored in Essaouira’s fishing harbour, so no surprise that seafood dominates the Kasbah d’eau’s menu, fish of the day, grilled squid, octopus tagine. Often for half the price of what you would pay in one of Morocco’s bustling cities.
“But what have you done here for a whole week?” asks one guest as she dashes off to the next destination on her whistle-stop tour of Morocco, completely missing the point of Fleewinter’s immersive Morocco, ignoring the pleasures of slow exploration and discovery.
Time shrugs and takes a time-out in Sidi. Pausing for a massage or hamman in the Kasbah’s spa. Perhaps lingering over mint tea and a book from the library. Striking out a day in the diary for a cookery course with the Kasbah’s chef.
Fleewinter provides intimate, intensely Moroccan experiences. Hussain and his camels, collect us from the Kasbah and we trek through stony, arid terrain, dotted with argan trees whose roots reach down 100 feet in the search of water, as we head for Hussain’s home in a Berber hill village.
There we lunch on a chicken tagine, eating with our fingers and sitting on the floor, as Berbers have for centuries. After lunch, Hussain’s mother demonstrates how she distils Argan oil, breaking the fruit with heavy stones before grinding the kernel into the precious liquid gold. Sustainability is not a new concept for the Berbers. They have always fed Argan husks to the camels and burnt the rest for winter fuel. “Good for knees”, suggests Hussain pointing to the oil and my misshapen knees.
Days start gently, in true Moroccan style, whilst the early horse-riders gallop through the surf. All the Kasbah’s staff are Moroccan and as our waiter delivers very freshly squeezed orange juice, he persuades us to try a Berber omelette. Arriving in a tagine, there are herby hints to a tomato sauce that hugs the omelette. All part of the Morocco that the Kasbah d’eau presents to its privileged guests.
Tell Me More About Fleewinter and Kasbah D’eau at Sidi Kaouki, Morocco
Fleewinter’s Morocco experts will put together a package that can include flights, transfers and accommodation at the Kasbah d’eau. Fleewinter will also make recommendations for an itinerary that enables guests to explore an authentic Morocco without fear of missing out any of Sidi’s fascinating attractions. Prices at the Kasbah d’eau begin from £140 per night B & B for two people sharing a room.
For your escape to the sun Fleewinter covers dozens of countries across all continents from Europe to Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean.
T: 020 7112 0019 E: escape@fleewinter.com
Prices begin from £140 per night B & B for two people sharing a room.
