A short blog to share with you the routes I could try in various cities during my stay in Morocco, whether I was travelling for work or for fun.
I couldn’t try and compare different routes as I only ran once in every city (except Tangiers but I just sticked to the corniche). Each time, I was looking for routes around me using apps such as Komoot or OpenRunner.
You can find out here about my favourite routes and their pros and cons in Casablanca.
Running in Rabat
Rabat is a bit strangely organised between different neighbourhoods. The city is kind of cut in two: Rabat ville corresponds to the old part, this is where you’ll find the main touristic interests: the old medina, the kasbah, the Mausoleum and Hassan II tower.
Rabat Agdal, with its long straight streets full of shops is a more mordern area where most offices and business activities are located. I stayed in Agdal for work, and took advantage to go running (finally) in one of Rabat’s biggest park. The “urban forest” had all the advantages of the large parks for me: wide enough for a pretty long run, full of small dirt tracks but also long straight alleys for interval traning, and plenty of shade. Only drawback: it’s far if you are in Rabat ville for a touristic visit.
Running in Marrakesh
I’ve been in Marrakesh 4 or 5 times both for work and tourism, and ran there twice, once for a morning routine run and once to run the half-marathon. As from April, it starts to get hot, so make sure to go (very) early.
It’s pretty impossible to run in the old part around the medina and the kasbah, but the new city with its long streets is fine (there are large pavements). The Menara park is also good for a touristic run, though there is almost no shade and it gets quickly terribly hot.
Running in Tangiers (favourite!)
Tangiers is sort of a small Casa, modern, with a vibrant cultural and night life, and a beautiful sea front. Just like Casa, the corniche is long, wide with plenty of space to stay away from the road, but also lacking trees and shade. The villa Harris Park in the new city is pretty nice if you’re looking for freshness.
Running in Essaouira (2nd favourite!)
One of my favourite city in Morocco (if not my favourite one). The long alley along the endless beach of Essaouira is perfect for a run, even though again, it’s lacking shade. When the tide is low, it’s even possible to run directly on the beach, from Essaouira to Diabate.
Unfortunately I forgot to record that run, but below is pretty much what I did, going from Essaouira to Diabate by the road and coming back on the beach (that river in Diabate actually does not exist), around 8km in total.
Running in the middle of nowhere (Dadès gorges)
Short morning run during a roadtrip in the South of Morocco, with a spectacular view.
Bonus: open water swimming in Morocco
When I moved to Casablanca, I first thought that I would go swimming in open water very often. But after seeing the waves of the Atlantic and trying the water temperature, I finally signed-up for the public swimming pool.
But as I was preparing my first open water race in August 2023 (and the pool was closed for one month), I thought I should train in open water. I went once in Tangiers (the Mediteranean sea has less waves), and once in Bouznika, between Casablanca and Rabat. Unfortunately, I didn’t record these sessions. I could also recommend Essaouira for open water swimming as the beach is protected from the waves (but the water is freezing!), and Rabat at the mouth of the Bouregreg.
And you, what are your favourite running and swimming spots in Morocco?