Goats in trees. This is something I would pay to see. We passed some travelling from the airport to The View Hotel in Agadir. Tragically, I was facing the wrong way, and the only person in my group who saw them clearly didn’t realise that this was a very real golden ticket moment. I spent the rest of the trip searching for that ticket, but to no avail. Plenty of goats near trees, but none in them. Agadir boasts Croco Parc and Dolphin World, but no Goat-in-Tree Land apparently. It’s a modern-day tragedy….
The View Hotel exterior is purposely gentle and unimposing, it’s large wooden doors mark the threshold to an eye-watering and memorable reveal, an impressively designed and presented spacious interior reception area with jaw-dropping views through the biggest windows I’ve come across, on display are Palm trees, swimming pools, immaculate beaches, and the deep blue/green hues of the South Atlantic Ocean like a vast natural infinity pool blended with the cloudless bright sky.
The View is a newly transformed luxury hotel in Agadir. Boasting 272 rooms, 6 bars and restaurants, pools, gym, a beautifully designed spa, and a business centre. The lobby’s contemporary design aesthetic seamlessly blends with traditional Moroccan elements, creating a sense of timeless charm. Warm earth tones, intricate tile work, and plush furnishings evoke a feeling of serenity and relaxation, we checked in over mint tea and macaroons in the Chay Lounge. The hotel doesn’t have a traditional reception desk. It’s a very friendly and welcoming start. Nothing was too much for the hotel staff. I must say that The Moroccans are a very hospitable and friendly people in general.
The hotel bedrooms are simple in their colour scheme, creams and sea blue stripes. All rooms have a walk-in shower or bath, an interior seating area and balconies with more seating and that glorious view. The larger suites provide a secondary living area and larger balconies with a dining area. With prices starting at £185 per night including breakfast, it doesn’t feel excessive.
There are any number of food choices available without leaving the grounds.
Le Dielli is a pool/beachside cocktail bar and light-bite outdoor restaurant offering salads, skewers, burgers, and light doughy pizzas. We watched the sunset from there every night. The hotel calls it the ‘sunset ritual’ and offers up a specially designed mocktail not dissimilar to a pina colada to say goodbye to the sun with, fear not, they also make strong traditional cocktails for thug hotel guests like me, who prefer their senses dulled slightly to properly soak up the sun show.
La Sensya is an Italian restaurant led by Head Chef Francesco Franzese. He won a Michelin Star at his previous restaurant. Large glass windows overlook the intrinsically tiled Terrace. The food is conventional Italian, with Starter, Primi and Secondi courses. Francesco is clearly a fan of truffles, and they feature prominently in the pasta and meat dishes. The fish dishes are light fluffy sea bass and prawn based. The waiters are attentive, friendly, and learning on the job. But I have no doubt they will achieve excellence very soon.
Mima Kitchen is brought to us by head chef Assia Manor, she is a delight. Mima is an orthodox Moroccan affair with modern twists. Service was very relaxed, our empty dinner plates took an hour to be cleared, meanwhile, at one end of the room, two Moroccan musicians played and sang melodic and authentic songs. The food highlights included a very large Lobster Roll starter, Tagines, Couscous, meats, and fish utilising all the sweet spices and delightful smells of the National cuisine.
The food highlight for me at the hotel is The Berber Breakfast at Le V (included in the room rate). It’s a feast of delights. The room is broken into various service areas. A coffee area, a fruit juice bar where the staff prepare smoothies with a smile, a sundry of pastries and breads with a heavy French influence. Go in further and you’ll find a cheese counter with 20 different offerings, a fresh fruit section where staff peel and prepare the fruit in front of you, an omelette and egg section cooked while you wait with all manner of freshly prepared fillings, a honey counter, a superfood buffet including spinach and broccoli, I skipped this, nobody should have to eat broccoli at breakfast. The breakfast highlight was Mohamed. He was exceedingly jolly and prepared me avocado and smoked salmon on fresh toasted bread with harissa, his limited English did not prevent his smile and demeanour adding to the general joy that breakfast brought me.
Upon arrival at the hotel, I surveyed the surrounding area, on the opposite side of the road is a now-defunct row of shops underneath a now-closed but once bustling Luxury hotel.
Agadir and the surrounding area is undergoing a transformation in both local infrastructure, with a major new dam being completed in the mountains north of Agadir which will be a game changer in an area where rainfall is scarce, and internationally with new flight routes opening up from the UK, British Airways, Ryanair, Jet 2 and EasyJet all flying direct in around 3 and a half hours.
With an average of 340 days of glorious sunshine each year, 12km of perfect sandy beaches overlooking the South Atlantic Ocean, the View is a fantastic place to do nothing except lounge about, but Agadir offers something for everyone.
The hotel organised some outings for us clearly wanting to prove this point. We explored mountains and hidden wild swimming waters on the Paradise Trail.
We met the local ladies who laboriously hand-grind the seed of the Aragon fruit, which is used in moisturisers and shampoos around the world. It turns out that the goats climb the Aragon trees to get to their fruit, they chew away the flesh and spit the hard nut shell out which is gathered up and broken open revealing the actual nut, which is then ground into oil.
We hung out with pro surfers on a nearly deserted beach near Agadir in Taghazout while a French chef prepared fish tagines on a wood fuelled grill, local cats, and dogs meandered around looking for leftovers and breeding in the breezy sun.
We sandboarded while camels watched on. Sandboarding is good fun, climbing (or crawling in my case) back up the dunes less so.
There are golf courses, horse riding and extreme water activities, like jet skis, windsurfing and waterskiing amongst a plethora of things to do and see.
The Souk in Agadir is the biggest market in Morocco. It mainly sells luxury brand forgeries, local dresses, hand crafted leather goods and tourist tat. Be prepared to haggle. It seems that most major currencies are acceptable. I used Pounds and Euros, but Dollars are also widely accepted. I only found this out because my bank card wouldn’t let me draw any cash out. I’d take a little local currency mainly for tipping purposes.
The View Hotel is the perfect luxurious base for all the delights that Agadir and the surrounding areas have to offer and will help organise anything that your heart desires in terms of outing or activity. A haven for couples. I will definitely go back for the opening of Goat-In-Tree Land assuming somebody is listening to me at Moroccan Tourism.
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