Morocco's 10 best beaches

With thousands of miles of coastline, Morocco, a country known for dunes and The Sahara, offers up some pretty lovely coastal landscapes great for a day at the shore.

Two-and-a-half miles south of Mirleft is this truly wild beach, accessible down a set of steps, featuring caves, cliffs and crashing waves great for surfing.

There's an outpost of Spot-M here for board and wetsuit rental and Biscou Surf School also brings students here. But the beach is gorgeous and ocean relatively mild, whether or not you're on a board.

Essaouira’s wide, sandy beach is great for walking and kitesurfing, but sunbathing and swimming can be difficult when the winds are strong.

For swimming, stick to the town stretch, as Plage Safi to the north has dangerous currents. Beach soccer is a popular weekend activity and camel owners ply the sands to the south.

If you want to take a walk, head south across the Ksob River (impassable at high tide) to see the ruins of the Borj El Berod, an old fortress and pavilion that’s partially covered in sand.

From here you can walk inland to the village of Diabat or continue along the sands to the dunes of Cap Sim.

The beach is big and rarely busy. While frequently rough waves make swimming inadvisable, its position beneath dramatic cliffs – as well as its significant length – invites sunset strolls.

The odd construction just offshore is the remains of an old land-sea conveyor, which was used to take cargo from ships to the old Spanish port.