Fish Market

Traditional fish market with lots of fresh selection. We wanted to buy our own fish and get a local to cook them. Lots of locals offer this service, but be careful for what you sign up for. Make sure to get the sellers to explain everything including prices. They’re happy to explain. Plate of food for four cost 900 dirhams.

The fish markets of Essaouria are amazingly busy places. Very slippery and smelly but a fantastic insight into the local industry and how it supports tourism. Lots to see

TOURIST SCAM! DO NOT EAT HERE. Unless you are a local I would reccomend that no tourist eat here! They have you choose your fish and sit down then they give you the price. The original price for 1 small dorado fish , 1 small squid and some shrimp was almost 400 dh!! Once we told them to take out some sides and the shrimp we still paid 220dh for a very mediocre meal. I have had better fish for much cheaper. We were told by a local we were scammed and should have only paid 50dh in total. Very sad experience as we were very excited to go

Fresh catches of the day, you can buy the seafood and the restaurant there cook it for you. Delicious

Learn a bit of Arabic. Be patient and pick what you want to eat. Buy. Get it cleaned. Find the place where to eat. They will BBQ it. Wonderful. Just remember that you are going there for the experience.

Tourist trap if you choose to have the fish cooked on site. We did this and ended up paying twice as much as in the port area where you will get the same experience, but in a much more pleasant setting.

Decide on a purchase with the vendors and make the exchange with them if you intend to take some fish to a restaurant and have them cook it. Beware the touts. You will almost certainly be approached by touts looking to help you with the fish and grill it for you. They WILL take a big premium for this. I recommend that you do not engage with them. MAKE THE PURCHASE YOURSELF WITH THE FISHMONGER AND TAKE IT TO A RESTAURANT OF YOUR CHOOSING FOR THE BEST EXPERIENCE.

A very good advice for non local people, or shall i say foreign people, verify prices before buying and its a "souk= local market" so its a self-serving you negotiate prices with the fisherman and also the charges with the so called restaurant, we had a worth value total for half price there or less, tea and table (grilling fishes) and chips for 50dh so the total or 170dh