Agadir tide times

Agadir faces due west into the open Atlantic from a wide coastal plain at the foot of the Anti-Atlas mountains. The bay is large — the beach arc runs 9 kilometres from the port breakwater in the north to the Souss river mouth in the south — and the tidal cycle plays out across a gradual gradient that shifts the waterline 30 to 50 metres between high and low water. Mean tidal range is approximately 1.7 metres above Chart Datum; mean spring range reaches around 2.2 metres. The regime is semidiurnal: two highs and two lows per day, with roughly 6 hours between each.

The city that exists today was built after the earthquake of 29 February 1960, a magnitude 5.8 event that lasted approximately 15 seconds and killed around 15,000 people — roughly one third of the city's population at the time. The original medina, built on the coastal plain below the 16th-century kasbah on the hill, collapsed in two minutes. The kasbah walls on the ridge above the modern city survived; the ruins are preserved as a memorial and visible from the beach. The rebuilt Agadir is a modern low-rise city with broad avenues, the beach promenade at its centre, and the port at its northern end.

The beach at Agadir is wide, flat-graded, and sheltered from prevailing swell by the port breakwater to the northwest. This makes it calmer than the more exposed beaches north of the city — suitable for families and beginning swimmers, with consistent small-to-moderate shore break. Early morning low water in summer, when the sand is fully exposed and the offshore wind is light, is the best window for flat-water swimming and paddling. By late afternoon on most days, the Alizé — the northeast trade wind — picks up and pushes swell and chop onshore.

The port at the north end of the bay is an active commercial and fishing harbour. The day's catch — including sardines, sea bream, and squid — goes through the port fish market. A fish auction (lonja) runs in the late afternoon; the port-adjacent fish restaurants serve directly from the day's landing. Grilled sardines over charcoal, eaten at the quayside at dusk, is the most direct version of the port's offer.

South of Agadir, across the Souss river estuary, is the Souss-Massa National Park. The intertidal mudflats and sandflats of the estuary fill and empty with the tide; the brackish wetlands attract flamingos and white storks year-round. The tidal influence extends 5 to 8 kilometres up the Souss River; at high tide the estuary is full and the mudflats are submerged; at low tide, they are exposed and available to wading birds. Access to the estuary reserve is from the south bank of the Souss, reached by road from Inezgane.

Agadir is the regional hub for day trips to Taghazout (20 km north, surf), the Souss valley palm groves, and the Tiznit silversmithing town (90 km south). The road north along the coast to Taghazout passes several smaller surf breaks — Boilers and Hash Point — that work on the same northwest swells but with less consistency than Anchor Point.

Tide predictions on this page come from Open-Meteo Marine, a gridded global ocean model. Accuracy is typically within plus or minus 45 minutes on timing and 0.2 to 0.3 metres on height. For authoritative official predictions, consult SHOMAR — Service Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine, Morocco's official hydrographic authority.