Explore The Atlantic coast: Rabat to Essaouira
Between Rabat and Casablanca lies a number of sandy beaches, popular with locals from both cities, especially during the summer holiday months. Apartment complexes are steadily taking over large tracts of the coastline here, supplying an increasing demand for city workers willing to commute.
Thirteen kilometres south of Rabat, the town of Temara is notable primarily for its small kasbah, which dates from Moulay Ismail’s reign during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. However, most visitors come here for it’s beach, Temara Plage, 4km west of town. Packed in summer and deserted for the rest of the year, it’s a pleasant if slightly wild stretch of golden sand; the sea here offers the odd wave for surfers but only confident swimmers should venture out past the breakers.
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Coup on the coast
Coup on the coast
The Royal Palace at Skhirat Plage, between Rabat and Mohammedia, was the site of a coup attempt by Moroccan generals during King Hassan II’s birthday celebrations in July 1971. The coup was mounted using a force of Berber cadets, who took over the palace, imprisoned the king and killed a number of his guests. It was thwarted by the apparently accidental shooting of the cadets’ leader, General Mohammed Medbuh, and by the strength of personality of Hassan, who reasserted control over his captors. Among the guests who survived was Malcolm Forbes. The palace still stands, though it has understandably fallen from royal favour.
