Safi Marrakesh, Morocco
Morocco
13
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Atlas Ocean Voyages (3 Cruises)
Aurora Expeditions (1 Cruises)
Silversea Cruises (2 Cruises)
Star Clippers (5 Cruises)
Frequently Asked Questions
Right in the heart of the city, about a kilometre and a half from the medina. Fifteen to twenty minutes on flat ground is all it takes: no shuttle is required.
Dar el Bahar fortress as you leave the port, then the medina, then Potters' Hill, which is the highlight of the call. A last detour past the fishing harbour before heading back aboard.
Technically yes, but it eats up the day: about 150 kilometres, close to two and a half hours of driving each way. Those who stay find an unvarnished city where everything can be done on foot.
The heart of the city's ceramic tradition, on the hill facing the medina: dozens of workshops where you watch throwers raise a bowl in a few movements, painters trace freehand the blue motifs that made Safi's name, and wood-fired kilns pour out smoke.
Yes, and that is the whole point of Potters' Hill. The craftspeople welcome curious visitors and explain firing, glazing and pigments. Leaving with a tagine dish or a blue platter bought at the source means taking home a piece of the country.
The castle of the sea, a 16th-century Portuguese fortress standing guard on the shore, the first landmark as you leave the port. It still has its bronze cannon pointed at the Atlantic, and from its ramparts the view takes in the colourful fishing boats and the white roofs of the old town.
There is one, unfinished. Tucked down a medina lane hides the chapel of a cathedral begun by the Portuguese around 1519 and never completed, its Manueline vaults an oddity among Moroccan houses.
Grilled sardines, plainly, at the small eateries beside the fishing harbour: trawlers land tonnes of them every day, weighed, sorted and shipped out amid a cheerful racket. It is hard to eat fresher, or more local.
No, and that is its strength. There is no polished waterfront and no signposted circuit: the city works, fishes and fires clay as it has for centuries. Travellers who like real calls, where you shake hands rather than follow a raised umbrella, get their money's worth.
The Moroccan dirham, which cannot be taken out of the country. Bring cash: the workshops on Potters' Hill and the medina stalls run on cash.
