Car hire in Agadir from $31/day

Give the supplier your flight number and a contact number you can use on arrival. For a late flight, ask how to reach the agent and whether the agreed collection time can be changed; sharing a flight number alone doesn't guarantee that someone will wait indefinitely. Before leaving, record any damage with the agent, photograph the fuel gauge and check the vehicle papers. Travelling with surfboards? Confirm the luggage space and any roof-rack arrangement in the selected offer, rather than assuming a larger car includes a rack.

The airport sits about 25 km south-east of the bay, roughly 30 minutes by road to the beachfront hotel strip, and around an hour on to Taghazout if you're heading straight up the coast. For departure, settle the return point and contact arrangements in advance. Follow your contract's fuel policy, allow time for the car inspection as well as airport formalities, and keep the signed return record and photos afterwards.

The seafront promenade, the marina and the hotel strip are all walkable, and petit taxis cover everything else in town cheaply, so a rented car mostly sits in the hotel car park. Where it earns its keep is the coast north toward Tamraght and Taghazout, Paradise Valley in the foothills, the Souss-Massa park, a day in Taroudant, or a longer run up to Essaouira or Marrakech. A middle path works well for a lot of visitors: skip the car for the beach days and book it only for the days you're leaving town, with the car delivered to the hotel that morning and handed back that evening.

The floor here is a small manual car; across all 265 cars the median works out at about $81.83 a day, which is a better sense of what a typical week actually costs than the headline rate. Automatics make up 69% of the fleet and are the first to go in the busy winter-sun weeks and school holidays, so book those ahead rather than on arrival. Compare airport and city hand-over totals, including any delivery or out-of-hours charge. Filtering for no deposit narrows things too: 78% of listings need none, worth checking if you'd rather not tie up a card for the trip. As with most of Morocco, renting for a full week rather than three or four days tends to bring the daily rate down further, and prices generally firm up around the busiest holiday and winter-sun weeks, so book earlier for those.

The city was largely rebuilt after the 1960 earthquake on a wide, modern grid, with broad avenues, generous roundabouts, and a straightforward beachfront road running the length of the bay. Ask your hotel about overnight parking before booking. Around the marina and seafront, check posted parking signs and any attendant instructions before leaving the car. Souk El Had can get busy when it is open, so it's usually easier to park a short walk away rather than try to get close. On the roads out of town, police checkpoints are routine rather than a sign of trouble; keep your licence and the rental papers within reach. As anywhere, don't leave surfboards, bags or anything visible in the car at beach car parks.

North along the coast, Tamraght and Taghazout are about 25 to 30 minutes, an easy morning out for the surf beaches; Taghazout has its own guide if that's the focus of your trip. Further up, Imsouane is a longer coast drive, a quieter fishing bay worth a full day. Inland, Paradise Valley in the Imouzzer foothills requires a winding approach; check access and road conditions after rain. The Souss-Massa National Park and the river mouth are options for birdwatching; confirm the relevant visitor access point before driving. South-east, the walled town of Taroudant makes a satisfying half-day loop at about an hour and a quarter, and Tiznit is another option for a longer day out. For a longer trip, Essaouira up the coast road is about three hours, and Marrakech is a longer motorway drive; a one-way drop may be possible if the selected supplier permits it. On the roads toward Essaouira and Taroudant, it's easy to stop at one of the roadside argan cooperatives along the way.