South of Tiznit the coast changes character. The long sandy beaches of the Souss give way to red sandstone cliffs dropping straight into the Atlantic, with coves reachable only at low tide. Legzira is here, and a little further on Sidi Ifni, the former Spanish enclave with its art deco façades.
From Agadir it is 165 kilometres and about two and a half hours to Sidi Ifni. The day return is long but workable; over two days it becomes far more comfortable.
The route
The first part is quick: the N1 runs south through Inezgane, Aït Melloul and the Souss plain to Tiznit at kilometre 91. Wide road, heavy traffic for the first twenty kilometres, then clear.
After Tiznit you leave the N1 for the coast road down through Mirleft to Sidi Ifni. It is narrower, it climbs and drops constantly, and it holds the views. Mirleft is at kilometre 135, Legzira at around kilometre 155 and Sidi Ifni at kilometre 165.
Legzira announces itself with very little: a turning on the left coming from the north, about ten kilometres before Sidi Ifni, with a dirt car park on top of the cliff and a few guesthouses. If you reach Sidi Ifni, you have driven past it.
The Legzira arch: what is left
This needs saying plainly, because many visitors still do not know: the great arch at Legzira collapsed on 23 September 2016. It was what gave this beach its reputation and its place on lists of the world's finest beaches. The blocks are still lying on the sand.
A second, smaller arch is still standing. It is at its best late in the day, when the low sun comes through underneath and lights up the sandstone. But if you arrive with the photographs of the double arch in mind, you will see one.
The rest of the site is unchanged: two kilometres of sand beneath red cliffs, walkable at low tide. The tide, and only the tide, decides how your visit goes.
The tide is the only timetable that matters
At high water the sea reaches the foot of the cliff along several sections of the beach. You cannot pass under the arch, you cannot reach the northern end, and you can find yourself cut off between two headlands if you set out at the wrong moment.
Two simple rules cover it:
- Check a tide table for Sidi Ifni before leaving Agadir. An online search gives the day's times, and the difference between Sidi Ifni and Legzira is negligible.
- Arrive two hours before low water. That gives you four comfortable hours, and the late light if you are aiming for the evening low.
The path from the car park down to the beach is steep, on earth and loose stone. It takes ten minutes down and a bit more coming back up. It is not passable with a pushchair, and closed shoes are worth having.
Sidi Ifni, the Spanish enclave
Sidi Ifni remained Spanish until 1969, and it still shows in the architecture: white buildings with rounded corners, blue ironwork, a former Plaza de España now Place Hassan II, and a lighthouse above the town. The whole thing has aged without being restored, which is exactly what gives it its character.
Three things repay the time: the fish market late in the morning, the beach below the town, and a walk through the streets on the plateau where the administrative buildings of the period survive. The town takes about two hours.
The fish is very fresh and cheap, particularly in the small places near the market rather than on the seafront.
What catches people out on this road
- Fog. This coast is often under dense sea mist even when Agadir is in full sun. In winter and spring it can sit all morning and cut visibility badly on the Mirleft road.
- Wind. It blows almost constantly at Sidi Ifni. A windproof jacket is not excessive, even in summer.
- Filling stations. Plentiful as far as Tiznit, much rarer afterwards. Fill up at Tiznit if the gauge is below half.
- Road surface. Between Mirleft and Sidi Ifni the surface breaks up in places, with potholes at the edge of the carriageway after winter. A small car copes easily, but you need to watch the road rather than the view.
One day or two
There and back in a day is five hours of driving and four or five hours on the ground, and the low tide has to fall inside that window. It works when low water is around midday, much less well when it falls at six in the evening.
With a night in Mirleft or Sidi Ifni everything relaxes: you see Legzira at sunset, sleep on the coast, and drive back the next day with a stop in Tiznit. If you would rather stay closer to Agadir, Taghazout and Tamraght is twenty minutes from town instead of two and a half hours.
This coast is done by car or not at all. There is no practical link between Legzira, Mirleft and Sidi Ifni, and tide times do not negotiate with a driver's schedule. The available cars are on the car rental in Agadir page, and the paperwork is covered in the complete guide to renting a car in Agadir.
Photo : Roy Egloff via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
