Restaurants, hotels, bars and wineries in Essaouira from the En Primeur Club guide.
Accolades in Essaouira
Heure Bleue Palais, Le Salon Oriental, and Le Grill de La Terrasse have wine lists. Le Salon Oriental and Le Grill de La Terrasse have extensive wine lists, and Heure Bleue Palais and Le Grill de La Terrasse pour craft cocktails.
In Medina, Heure Bleue Palais pairs gastronomic Moroccan cooking with a wine list and craft cocktails. It sits in a historic restored palace with rooftop pool views over the medina, and it holds a Relais Chateaux Award (2025).
In medina, Le Salon Oriental serves Moroccan fine dining in a luxurious riad setting. Its wine list and extensive wine list support a more formal meal, and it holds a Relais Chateaux Award (2025).
In medina, Le Grill de La Terrasse focuses on sea-focused Moroccan rooftop grill cooking. It comes with an extensive wine list, and craft cocktails, plus a Relais Chateaux Award (2026).
Essaouira’s main restaurant story sits in the medina, where Moroccan cooking appears in refined, coastal, and inventive forms.
In Medina, The Oriental restaurant is housed in Heure Bleue Palais and serves modern coastal Moroccan cooking. Chef Ahmed Handour, who comes from Beni Mellal, Morocco, cooks with sardines, lobster from Essaouira, and argan oil. Weekly cooking workshops at the palace show his recipes to guests. The restaurant holds a Relais Chateaux Award (2026).
In Medina, Heure Bleue Palais serves gastronomic Moroccan cuisine a la carte, with a wine list and craft cocktails. It holds a Relais Chateaux Award (2025), and the restored palace has a rooftop pool with panoramic views over the medina. Chef Ahmed Handour cooks in that restored palace.
In medina, Le Grill de La Terrasse brings a rooftop frame to sea-focused Moroccan cooking. The terrace looks over Essaouira and the Atlantic, and the menu is shaped around regional produce.
The medina holds most of Essaouira’s serious dining. The strongest restaurant names in our guide, including Heure Bleue Palais, Le Salon Oriental, Le Grill de La Terrasse, and The Oriental restaurant, are there.
Essaouira has no Michelin-starred restaurants in our guide. Heure Bleue Palais in Medina, Le Salon Oriental in medina, and Le Grill de La Terrasse in medina have wine lists. Le Salon Oriental and Le Grill de La Terrasse have extensive wine lists.
The strongest wine programmes are in the medina. Heure Bleue Palais, Le Salon Oriental, and Le Grill de La Terrasse all have wine lists, and Le Salon Oriental and Le Grill de La Terrasse have extensive wine lists.
Heure Bleue Palais, Le Salon Oriental, and Le Grill de La Terrasse pair dining with rooftop or riad settings and wine lists. Heure Bleue Palais is a riad-style restored palace in Medina with a wine list and craft cocktails. Le Salon Oriental is a riad in medina with an extensive wine list. Le Grill de La Terrasse is a rooftop grill in medina with an extensive wine list.
By Emmett Haley · Updated October 8, 2026 · Editorial standards
Essaouira
Selected entries from the current guide for Essaouira.
Essaouira, Morocco
A Relais & Châteaux property occupying a riad-style palace within Essaouira's UNESCO-listed medina, Heure Bleue Palais anchors Moroccan coastal hospitality at one of the Atlantic coast's most characterful addresses. Under chef Ahmed Handour, the kitchen works within a tradition of slow-cooked, spice-layered Moroccan cuisine. it sits at the upper tier of Essaouira's dining scene.
Essaouira, Morocco
A rooftop lunch address in Essaouira where the city’s coastal identity does the heavy lifting: Atlantic light, Medina rooflines, Mogador Island in view, and a seafood-led menu shaped around regional produce. Chef Ahmed Handour’s name gives the kitchen a local anchor, but the real story is the midday grammar of the port city: lighter cooking, open air, and terroir read through the coast.
Essaouira, Morocco
Le Salon Oriental brings Moroccan fusion cooking to Essaouira's medina quarter, where chef Ahmed Handour applies creative technique to the country's deep grilling and spice traditions. The address places it within the Oum el Aïoun area, making it a considered stop on any serious circuit of the city's restaurants.
Essaouira
Selected entries from the current guide for Essaouira.
Essaouira, Morocco
Among Essaouira's riads, Dar Maya earns its reputation through restraint rather than ornamentation. Five rooms, each anchored by a marble bathtub, sit within whitewashed walls that mirror the coastal city's own palette. The roof terrace, looking out over minarets and the Atlantic beyond, frames the case for staying here more plainly than any description could.
Essaouira, Morocco
A Relais & Châteaux riad occupying a traditional medina building in Essaouira, Heure Bleue Palais offers 35 rooms and suites across four design schemes, a rooftop pool overlooking the old city, and a kitchen that puts freshly landed Atlantic seafood at the centre of its dining programme. Rates start from US$252 per night.
Essaouira, Morocco
A ksar-style boutique hotel set outside Essaouira's coastal medina, Le Jardin des Douars converts a cluster of traditional earthen buildings into 24 rooms organized around garden paths, two pools, and two restaurants. The property separates adult and family spaces deliberately, pricing from $577 per night for guests who treat the walls themselves as the destination.
Essaouira, Morocco
A Michelin Selected riad-hotel on Rue Youssef El Fassi in Essaouira's medina, Madada Mogador places itself in the smaller, design-focused tier of Moroccan coastal accommodation.
Essaouira, Morocco
Salut Maroc sits on Rue Ibn Rochd in Essaouira's medina, earning 91.5 points on the 2026 La Liste Top Hotels ranking, a score that places it among the more formally recognised properties in a city better known for windswept Atlantic charm than for structured hospitality accolades. Its address positions guests within walking distance of the ramparts, the souks, and the port-facing seafront that defines the Essaouira experience.
Essaouira, Morocco
A Michelin Selected riad in the heart of Essaouira's medina, Villa de l'O at 3 rue Mohamed Ben Messouad brings Moroccan architectural tradition into a small-scale, design-conscious format. The property sits in a city where Atlantic winds, Portuguese ramparts, and centuries-old street patterns shape every building decision. For travellers who prioritise place over amenity count, it represents a considered point of entry into the medina tier.
Essaouira, Morocco
A MICHELIN Selected property outside Essaouira's medina walls, Villa Laba sits in the rural periphery of a city that has long attracted a particular kind of traveller: one drawn to Atlantic light, gnawa music, and the slower rhythms of the Moroccan coast.
Essaouira
Selected entries from the current guide for Essaouira.
No venues found.
Essaouira
Selected entries from the current guide for Essaouira.
No venues found.
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