Agadir vs Marrakech: The Golf Debate

Ask most British golfers about Morocco and they say Marrakech. Amelkis Golf Club, Royal Golf de Marrakech, Palmeraie — these are the names that circulate. They are fine courses. Amelkis in particular, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr, has proper conditioning and interesting holes. But the city that hosts them creates complications that nobody in the golf travel industry seems willing to talk about.

Marrakech traffic is not a minor inconvenience. The Medina and Gueliz districts, where the good riads are, sit 30 to 45 minutes from the golf courses depending on the time of day. That transfer adds an hour of your day, round trip, on every playing day. The roads are unpredictable, the signage is Arabic, and you are almost certainly dependent on a driver you cannot communicate with fluently. This is not a catastrophe. It is a persistent friction that accumulates across a five-round trip.

Agadir is not Marrakech. It is a beach city on Morocco's Atlantic coast, 50 minutes by air from Marrakech or a direct 3h45 from London Gatwick on easyJet. The courses here are 10 to 20 minutes from the hotels. When I say 10 minutes, I mean 10 minutes. You can play a morning round and be at lunch by 1pm without negotiating a single souk.

Golf du Soleil runs two championship 18-hole courses in Agadir — both in better condition than any of the Marrakech layouts I have played in the past three years. I recognise that statement will irritate people who are attached to the Marrakech courses, but condition is condition. The Agadir courses are watered by the Atlantic climate, not fighting 40-degree heat, and the greens show the difference. Add Soleil 2, Dunes Golf, and Founty AU Golf, and you have five quality courses within 20 minutes of the airport.

The green fee at Golf du Soleil runs £60 to £80 per round in winter. This is not a distressed-asset price — these are courses that play to a genuine championship standard. A riad in Marrakech for a party of four, worth staying in (meaning well-located, well-reviewed, not a tourist trap), starts at £120 per night. A 4-star hotel in Agadir with Atlantic views starts at £90. Flights to both cities from London are comparable: Marrakech on Ryanair from £40 each way, Agadir on easyJet from £45.

The weather comparison is where Agadir wins outright. The Atlantic position means Agadir runs 18 to 22 degrees Celsius throughout winter — December through February — and rarely exceeds 28 in summer. Marrakech in summer hits 42 degrees. This is not an exaggeration and not a reason to avoid Marrakech in winter, but it means Agadir has a longer operational window. An October trip to Agadir is comfortable; an October trip to Marrakech requires checking the forecasts carefully.

The non-golfing member of the group question, which matters for about half the trips I put together: Agadir has a 9-kilometre beach. The Atlantic is cold — do not expect Mediterranean swimming — but the beach, the seafood restaurants along the corniche, and the general ease of the city make Agadir work for a group where not everyone is swinging a club. Marrakech works for this group too, but in a different way — it requires engagement, energy, navigation of the Medina. For a relaxed mixed trip, Agadir has less friction.

One honest negative, and I will not soften it: Agadir is not a cultural destination. You will not emerge from a week in Agadir with a profound sense of having experienced Morocco. The souks are smaller, the atmosphere is more resort-town than ancient city. If you want the full Moroccan immersion — the Djemaa el-Fna at dusk, the spice market, the labyrinthine Medina — Marrakech is correct and Agadir will disappoint. Know which trip you are booking before you book it.

The combination that makes the most sense for golfers, and which I have been recommending for three years now, is the Atlantic Arc: three nights in the Algarve at the end of the Portuguese season, then fly to Agadir for four nights and three rounds. The combined routing adds Morocco to a Portugal trip without the Marrakech transfer problem, and the weather window in October makes both legs comfortable. Agadir and the Algarve both face the Atlantic. The arc feels coherent.

Marrakech will keep getting the attention because Marrakech is Marrakech. The food, the architecture, the atmosphere are genuinely compelling. But for a golfer who wants to play five rounds in five days, finish each day at the hotel in time for dinner, and not spend 10 hours across the week sitting in traffic — Agadir is the answer. The courses are good enough that you are not settling.