Agadir, Morocco: Sun, Sea & Souks

Almost a month ago now Matt and I went on a long over due summer holiday to Agadir in Morocco. It was absolutely beautiful and we had such an amazing time that I knew I had to blog about it. Over the course of the week I didn't actually end up taking that many pictures, purely because we wanted to relax and immerse ourselves in the holiday rather than trying to capture everything on film (or should I say memory card!) We stayed in the Riu Palace Tikida Hotel which was 5* All Inclusive and one of Thomson's premier hotels so our flights, full board and hotel transfer was all taken care of. It was absolutely beautiful from the rooms, to the pool and the service we really didn't have any complaints at all. It's safe to say the week went way too quickly for our liking but we would absolutely love to visit the country again.

We flew from Gatwick (which has the most amazing duty free by the way) and the flight took us around 3 and a half hours. The transfer was pretty quick too on the coach and we were greeted with cocktails while we checked in. The hotel was huge and beautifully furnished but even though it was large it didn't lose any character. Our room was much bigger than we thought with it's own private balcony and one of the best bonuses was that the mini bar was free!! Luckily it is the same time zone in Morocco as England so we didn't have to worry about being jet lagged at all.

One of our favourite days was when we visited the Souks which was recommended to us before we went away. When you stay in a hotel it can be tempting to stay by the pool every day and not really immerse yourself in any culture but we really wanted to see the local life and considering it was only a short and very cheap taxi ride away it would have been a waste not to go. Unlike my experience in Egypt, the people in the Souks were hardly pushy at all. If anything everyone was very friendly and once they realised you weren't interested they were very gracious. The hardest part was bartering which is a massive thing in Morocco and something us Brits aren't very good at! We managed to get a few lovely bits in the end to take home as momentos which you can see below. The hotel served the most amazing mint tea (yes mint tea can actually be amazing!) so I was really excited to buy the proper herbs to make it at home. We had no idea that 5 different ingredients went into making the tea including dried stevia leaves, rose buds and three different types of tea leaves.

Talking of the hotel, we were lucky enough to be situated right by the beach as well as having the large pool. The hotel also offered so many other things including a spa, activities such as beach volleyball, aqua classes, a gym, an indoor pool, and entertainment every night which was always good fun.

Moving onto the food, we knew it would be a bit of a gamble as all inclusive can tend to go either way. However I am pleased to say the food was absolutely amazing! They had two theme nights in the week but the traditional Morccan food was so delicious featuring melt in your mouth meat and vegetarian tagines with cous cous and chicken pastillas to a pasta bar, loads of different meats and vegetables, and the puddings were incredible too! For breakfast there was a range of fresh fruits, cereals, cooked breakfasts, pancakes, doughnuts, champagne and more. They also had a snack bar open in between meals so it really was 24/7 food. I'm so pleased the quality was fantastic and the chefs knew what they were doing.

The staff were all incredibly friendly too and made us feel at ease in all aspects of our holiday. If you are thinking about visiting Morocco then Agadir is a little bit more touristy than Morocco but I highly recommend it if you are new to the culture. Thomson also offer a variety of trips which we would have loved to do if we were there for longer so you can really engage with the Moroccan lifestyle.

This was a bit of a whistle stop, generalised post of our holiday but honestly I can't say how impressed I was with the hotel and country xxx