Surfing in Morocco in January

Conditions in January

Swell : 2.2 m
Period : 12.5 s
Water temp. : 18 °C
Wetsuit : 3/2 mm, 4/3 mm for long sessions
Air temp. : 21 °C
Sunshine hours per day : 7.6 h
Rain : 32 mm, 3 days
Workable wind : 57 %
Crowds : High
Prices : High

January is the middle of the Moroccan season. North Atlantic depressions send long-period trains, 2.2 m at 12.5 seconds, and the period is what matters: at the same height, a 12-second swell wakes up points that a summer swell leaves flat. The wind is workable seventeen days out of thirty, the best figure of the year alongside February.

What that reliability costs is everybody else. Crowds and prices are both at their peak, and camps want six to eight weeks' notice. It rains on three days for 32 mm, which is not much, and the sun gives 7.6 hours a day, among the lowest of the year.

The water sits at 18 °C: a 3/2 mm suits most people, a 4/3 mm makes the long sessions comfortable. Air reaches 21 °C in the afternoon, which means changing out of a wetsuit is not the ordeal the water temperature suggests.

Learning in January

For learning : Good

January is not closed to beginners. It is closed to the points, which is a different thing. Devil's Rock in Tamraght is a sandbar that stays surfable when Anchor Point is too big, and Imsouane bay is the most forgiving wave on this coast at any size. A first week in January happens there, not at Hash Point. What you get for it: a school, people at your level, and 18 °C water that does not end the session early.

Where a beginner goes in January

These spots are reachable all year. What the month changes is the size of the waves, not the access.

For an experienced surfer

Surf : Excellent

This is the month people come for. Anchor Point earns its reputation in January, Killer Point offers the same walls with far fewer people on them, and Boilers and La Source take over when the swell outgrows what the points hold. The only real decision is the hour: the wind is offshore in the morning, and that window is shared.

Intermediate
Advanced
Expert

Spots that suit January

Where to base yourself

Taghazout

Camps in the region

Ten sheets taken from the operators' own sites, published prices included.

How January compares

All twelve months, side by side

Where these figures come from

Air, rain and sunshine: WMO / NOAA 1991-2020 normals for Agadir Al Massira, a station some twenty kilometres inland and so a little warmer than the coast in summer. Swell, period and share of workable wind: Swell Archive and surf-forecast. Water temperature: seatemperature.org and weather-and-climate. Crowds and prices are an editorial judgement, not a measurement.