Essaouira
Morocco
June 23–30, 2026
June 23–30, 2026
A gathering in Essaouira during the Gnawa and World Music Festival, June 25–27.
Medina mornings, festival nights, long dinners, the city and the sea.
Good people, in good company.
Hosted by Dwayne Rodgers
7 nights, a private bedroom in a riad, excursions, most meals, VIP festival access.
$3,500 per person.
Limited to 8 guests.
Two places remain.
Registration closes June 1.
Considering joining? Send a note.
An Invitation
Essaouira
A labyrinth of passages and turns. Coastal Morocco. A city of wind, water, and sun revealed through slowness, wandering, and repetition.
Dust clinging to whitewashed walls. Sea-salted air. Music, color, and craft woven into daily life.
Amazigh, Arab, West African, French, and Portuguese histories live in its DNA.
This week is for those who usually travel solo or in pairs, value autonomy, and are drawn to the intimacy of a small group.
You value depth over spectacle, and you’re drawn to staying in one place long enough for its textures, moods, and surprises to reveal themselves.
You like being thoughtfully hosted, without feeling managed. You may arrive with something to sit with, leave behind, or leap into.
You like to linger over long meals, wind through the streets at dusk, and let a bit of chance carry you into the night.
You’ll need to be a walker: Essaouira’s medina is pedestrian-only. Got your comfortable shoes and your eyes wide open?
Who This Is For
The Week
An active week with room to exhale.
A Non-Festival Day
Morning
The day starts with no rush. Breakfast at the riad, prepared by the in-house cook and served in the courtyard, on the rooftop, or in your room. After that, we head into the medina to spend time with a weaver, an herbalist, or a musician. Some days we observe. On others we do.
Midday
Lunch at the fish market by the sea, where we choose from the fresh catch and have it prepared on the spot. Afterward, free time: a walk on the beach, a meander through the souk, a tucked-away rug shop, a group of Gnawa musicians performing on the street, an unexpected conversation, or a visit to the hammam for steam, black soap, and stillness.
Late afternoon
We reconvene and make our way outside of town, some days to the beach for sunset on horseback or camel, other days into the dunes by buggy.
Evening
Back in town for rooftop sunset cocktails and an intimate dinner: good food, good company, nowhere else to be. Afterward, a slow return through the medina to the riads, keeping possibilities open. Perhaps this will be the night for a Lila.
A Festival Day
Morning
Breakfast at the riad, prepared by the in-house cook. Festival days begin slowly, with time to ease into the day before the city starts to fill.
Midday
A long lunch together in town. After that, the afternoon is yours — the ramparts, the alleys, a cold drink somewhere with a view, perhaps a midday yoga class before returning to the riad to rest. The festival runs late, and it’s good to arrive with some energy still in reserve. Save something for the night.
Late afternoon
By late afternoon, we come back together and head into the medina. The streets fill, music starts coming from different directions, and the city shifts to a different register.
Night
The night belongs to the festival. Main stages by the sea, smaller sets tucked into courtyards, music coming from directions you didn’t expect. The city is loud and alive, full of strangers who have come from everywhere for exactly this. VIP access gives us more ease and proximity, while still leaving the night open to smaller discoveries. At some point we step out for a proper dinner — a table, good food, a chance to reset — and then back into the current of it.
A few particulars remain flexible to accommodate the natural rhythm of the group.
At the heart of the week is the Gnawa and World Music Festival: three days of music, storytelling, celebration, and deep cultural exchange that transform Essaouira into a global commune.
At the festival’s center is Gnawa music and ritual — a lineage rooted in various parts of West Africa and carried north into Morocco through the trans-Saharan slave trade. Preserved and expanded through ritual, it endures within Moroccan culture as a living tradition.
The seven-day journey surrounds the three-day festival. We arrive early. I prefer to meet the city on its own terms before the crowd arrives.
This year’s festival brings together Gnawa Maâlems from across Morocco, including Hamid El Kasri and Hassan Boussou, alongside musicians from around the world such as Carlinhos Brown, Richard Bona, and The Harlem Spirit of Gospel.
The scale is expansive: main stages by the sea, late-night jam sessions in tucked-away spaces, workshops, talks, and rooftop DJs.
Much to choose from. Much to be enchanted by.
The Festival
Where We Stay
We’ll stay in three riads centrally located in the medina, all within a few minutes’ walk of one another. Each has been thoughtfully renovated, retaining its own historic character while bringing it into the present.
Inside, the spaces are layered: tiled courtyards, carved doors, filtered light, rooftop terraces, and relaxed common areas.
Each guest has a private bedroom with a double bed. Bathrooms are shared between two rooms, as is traditional in riad architecture.
Taken together, the riads form a private world for the week: intimate, restful, and alive. With eight guests maximum, the scale stays personal and relaxed.
What’s Included
Seven nights in private riads, with a private bedroom for each guest
Housekeeping throughout the week
VIP access to the Gnawa and World Music Festival: priority access and stage proximity
Daily breakfast, four lunches, and six dinners, from market meals to fine dining
Time spent with local musicians, artisans, and cultural practitioners through studio visits and hands-on workshops
A traditional hammam, herbal workshop, and a Moroccan cooking class
Villages along the coast, vineyards, horseback riding at sunset, and time in the water
Local support on the ground
Not Included
Flights to and from Morocco
Travel insurance
Airport transfers (coordination assistance provided)
Alcohol
Personal purchases
Independent activities outside the program
I’ve been to Essaouira, and it’s a magical place. I often think about returning. If you’re up for some adventure off the beaten path, I can’t think of anyone better as a guide than Dwayne. — Samuel F. Reynolds
The Host
Six months here. Six months there. A season by the sea. A season in the desert. Learning how places breathe, and how I breathe within them. Light, sound, gesture, voice — the cadence of life, both intimate and spectacular. Travel, particularly long-form travel, has been foundational for me: a spiritual and worldly education.
My adult life has been nomadic at times, not as escape but as devotion to curiosity. I’m drawn to the ancestral as it lives in contemporary ritual and practice. Food and craft as portals to Zapotec cosmology in Mexico. Water as the site of pilgrimage and purification in India, Haiti, and France. Music and movement as acts of remembrance and resistance in Brazil, Morocco, and Nigeria.
I don’t move quickly. I favor a lived rhythm over itinerary. I stay. I return. Over time, that has opened doors: studios, homes, ceremonies, rehearsals, late-night kitchens. Rooms where culture is made in real time. In some of those spaces, I’ve been a guest. In others, a collaborator. This trip is shaped in part by the month I spent in Morocco in late 2023.
I’ve designed this week to bring people into meaningful contact with each other, and with the music, craft, food, and people of Essaouira. Not as spectators, but as participants in the life of the place. This week offers a particular way into Essaouira: through rhythm, relationship, and the kind of hosting that opens doors.
Dwayne Rodgers
Things To Know
Questions about travel, safety, the riads, and the festival are answered below.
Read more
Pricing
The cost is $3,500 per person. That includes a private bedroom in a riad, excursions, most meals, and VIP festival access.
An initial payment of $2,600 reserves your place. The $900 balance must be paid by June 1, 2026. Full payment and accommodation details are here.
I would not consider this if the invitation came from a generic company, but I couldn’t resist it coming from such a genuine and inspired source. —A.C.
Send a Message
If you’re considering joining, or simply have questions, send a note.
If helpful, we can set up a short call to get a feel for the week and whether it’s right for you.
Two places remain. Registration closes June 1.