Totally Moorish

After such a long and cold winter, we decided that a family holiday was in order, and a stay at Paradis Plage, a surf, yoga and spa resort on the sunny Moroccan coast, ticked all of our boxes.

Flights to Agadir, a major coastal city in the south of Morocco, are not currently available from Bristol Airport, so we hired a car from Enterprise in Bristol and drove to Gatwick. We saved about £100 by dropping the car at Crawley, just ten minutes from the airport, rather than at the airport itself, but we did have to take car seats for our young children as they weren’t provided.

The flight was quick and easy, and we quickly passed through customs at Agadir and picked up our hire car on the other side without any problems. The resort we were staying at, Paradis Plage, is a 45-minute drive from the airport along a coastal road. We found driving in Morocco to be an interesting experience and one to be approached with confidence. If in doubt: do as the locals do and use the horn randomly and often.

Self-catering accommodation at Paradis Plage

Paradis Plage is a compact hotel, created by the Australian founders of surf brand RipCurl, and is situated a ten-minute drive from a little town called Taghazout. Hiring a car is definitely recommended, as the hotel is in the middle of a small fishing village with little else within easy walking distance.

However, there’s plenty to do at the hotel itself. With lessons taking place in the small waves of the hotel’s beach, the surf school and stand-up paddle boarding is perfect for beginners. For those who have surfed before, travel a little way up the coast to reach waves of a better size, but haggle in Taghazout first to avoid expensive board hire on the beach.

If all the messing about in the surf has left you sore, the 90-minute yoga classes, which take place three times a day at the hotel, will sort you out. These are run by yoga teacher Karsten, who is very engaging and can run classes that cater to all abilities. The studio overlooks the ocean and is a magical oasis of calm. The hotel also has a kids’ club and a beautiful spa.

The hotel has its own surf school, suitable for beginners

While all-inclusive packages are available at the hotel, all the rooms have small kitchens. We stayed in the apartments, situated a ten-minute stroll along the beach from the main resort. The TV had no English kids’ channels and the WIFI was patchy, but the rooms were large and comfortable and were cleaned every day. Our ground floor apartment had an enclosed outdoor area for the kids to play that led straight out to the pool, making it easy to pop back in to grab towels, suncream and snacks.

The apartments are set back from the beach, which was quiet at this time of year. There were some gorgeous camels and well-kept horses on the beach for tourists to ride, and the locals looking after them were very friendly and not too pushy. Sadly, quite a lot of plastic does get washed up onto the beach each day.

The food at the hotel was very hit-and-miss, so we took to driving into Taghazout for a more authentic experience: rustic restaurants offering tasty fish tagines overlook the sea, and the town is filled with surf hostels and shops selling Moroccan trinkets, fruit and supplies. We also discovered a small French restaurant that was a five-minute walk from the main hotel called Quartier d’ete, which served delicious food and was and run by a fantastic guy called Christian.

The nearby fishing village of Taghazout

Putting the hire car to good use, we also drove back to the main city of Agadir on a couple of occasions and often wound up at Souk El Had, a huge indoor market selling everything from carpets to vegetables. It’s a great place to go and haggle, sit down for a traditional mint tea and then get lost in the winding alleyways. To keep the kids happy, we also visited the Crocoparc – a series of gardens and aquariums that are home to more than 300 Nile crocodiles – which was a favourite with the kids. It’s a clean and well put together park, and wasn’t too busy out of season.

All too quickly, the trip was over and we were back on the flight to England, but the relaxed feeling we brought back with us will certainly last, even after our tans have faded.

Find out more and book a stay at www.paradisplage.com