Oualidia

Oualidia is a lagoon village on the Atlantic between El Jadida and Safi, named for Sultan El Oualid who built a kasbah here in the 17th century. The lagoon — a crescent of calm water sheltered from the ocean by a spur of rock — is its whole reason: a warm, shallow nursery of oysters, a beach safe for children, and a horizon of low cliffs. The oyster farms here, founded in the 1950s, supply some of Morocco's finest.

This is for the family beachgoer, the oyster lover, and the traveller who wants calm water on the Atlantic. It is small and seasonal; book ahead in summer, or come in the shoulder months for the lagoon to yourself.