Kitesurfing in Morocco: every spot, and which ones are working right now

Where the Sahara tips into the Atlantic: kilometres of turquoise lagoon so flat it mirrors the sky, sheltered from the swell by the peninsula and smoothed by a wind that rises almost every afternoon. The big learning area around the camps is shallow, sandy and side-shore — you can stand, you fall without fear: the dream when you’re starting out. Mind the tide: at low tide sandbanks surface and the standing zone shrinks. The world’s flat-water pilgrimage.

At the southern tip of Lassarga, a thin spit of sand separates the Atlantic from the great lagoon — and on the inner side lies one of the finest learning grounds on the Atlantic Sahara: glassy water, sandy bottom, standing depth up to 300 m from shore, side-shore to side-onshore. Don’t mix it up with the ocean shore across from it (offshore, for confident riders). You reach it by shuttle, 4x4 or zodiac from the camps — an organised body of water more than a public spot.

The lagoon’s legendary flat-water stretch, built for speed and freestyle. Everything hinges on the tide: at low tide a sandbank emerges and the water turns “like glass” for hundreds of metres — but the north-easterly trade wind blows straight out to sea, fully offshore. This is NOT a beginner spot: you must be able to ride upwind and handle self-rescue, or you drift out to sea. A record-setting playground you earn — the right level, the right tidal window.

Dakhla’s ocean face: about half an hour from the camps, a long, clean right-hander — a point break that can hold up to 3 m and barrel on the bigger days. Good news for safety: here the trade wind runs along the coast (cross/side-shore), carrying you along the wave and back to shore. Two traps though: a gusty wind hole inside the bay near the Westpoint Hotel, and rocks that uncover at low tide at the entrance to the point. A wave-riders’ spot, not a place to learn.

The tip of the peninsula, where the lagoon meets the Atlantic: a wild wave spot right in front of the bungalows. In winter (Oct-March) a clean right-hander runs nearly a kilometre along the point; in summer the water flattens and the wind builds. Hazard number one is what makes it beautiful: here the trade wind blows side-offshore to offshore — it smooths the wave but pushes you out to sea. You skim the shore on glassy water, then walk back to the peak. For intermediate and confident riders only; beginners go to the lagoon next door.

Dakhla’s hidden face: the ocean side, an immense beach of fine sand the Atlantic pounds, reached only by 4x4 or on an excursion from the lagoon. No crowds, no bathers — a beach-break swept by the trade wind, which runs along the shore (side-shore) and brings you back to the beach. Cleaner, longer waves in winter; wind often strong and blown-out in summer. Fishing nets in the break, total remoteness: a spot for solid intermediates and up, never to learn on.

The “Wind City of Africa”, and likely where you learned if you started in Morocco. A wide half-moon of sand below the medina, sheltered from the open sea by the island of Mogador: clean, shallow, forgiving water, with a side-onshore trade wind that nudges you back to the beach. In the morning it comes in soft — an ideal learning ground, schools at every step. On summer afternoons the thermal ramps up hard (often 25-35 knots, gusty): lessons are taken early. One sector to avoid: near the medina the wind tips cross-offshore and hides rocks.

Halfway between Tangier and Rabat, a flat lagoon you can often stand in, backed by Morocco’s largest bird reserve. In the heart of the lagoon, on a good summer thermal and well away from the inlet, it’s more of a beginner-to-intermediate spot. But two caveats: no rescue on site (you rely on yourself), a less reliable wind than Dakhla, and above all an inlet with a strong tidal current. Note: the lagoon is a RAMSAR reserve whose kite status is unsettled — ask locally before you rig.

Twenty kilometres south of Essaouira, where the riders escape the crowds: a single dune-backed village, kilometres of empty sand, and the open Atlantic with its swell. Forget the sheltered learning bay — here it’s a beach-break, big wind (up to a documented 40 knots) and real waves. The whole game is the trade wind’s angle: side-shore it hands you a superb canvas; let it back to the NNE and it tips side-offshore, out to sea. Violent shore-break, rips, a localised reef, no rescue boat: intermediate to advanced only.