Western Sahara Things to Do

  Place Oum Saad, Laayoune
by maykal
 
  • Place Oum Saad, Laayoune
      Place Oum Saad, Laayoune
    by maykal
  • Dunes, Laayoune
      Dunes, Laayoune
    by maykal
  • Near Dakhla
      Near Dakhla
    by lotharscheer
  • Near Dakhla
      Near Dakhla
    by lotharscheer
  • Near Dakhla
      Near Dakhla
    by lotharscheer
 

Reviews from VirtualTourist Members

Laayoune

by Pieter11

Laayoune is by far the biggest city in Western Sahara and is the capital of the country. The population at this moment as approximately 200.000, but the city is enormously fast growing. In the city there are three main-areas: the old Spanish centre, the modern Moroccan centre and the fast growing suburbs with big, square, high buildings.The Spanish centre is the oldest part of the city. It is situated at the banks of the river, far below the modern centre. In this area you find a lot of very interesting architecture and small markets, but this is clearly not the best part of town.The modern centre is full of bombastic monuments and big public buildings. This is where is the booming business-centre is situated, where you find the banks, the busstations, the tourists agencies and the most of the restaurants and hotels. But you'll also find the biggest souk here and lots of small teahouses...

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New "'Moroccan'' towns

by sachara

After the Spanish left Spanish Sahara, 350.000 Moroccan civilians walked into the Western Sahara, the so-called Green March of 1975, orchestrated by the Moroccan King Hassan II. I was at that time In Marrakesh. I didn´t know exactly what was going on, looking at the impressive procession of thousands of people of all kind like young, old, traditonial, modern, male and female. After the ceasefire between the Moroccans and Frente Polisario in 1991, Morocco poured money into infrastructure and housing projects. Moroccans from the north have been lured to move to here by tax-free living and prospect of employement.In the desert we saw many new built houses and urban areas. As an European townplanner it was interesting for me to see, how newtowns are built in these desert areas.

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Stop in Dakhla.

by pfsmalo

Apart from Laayoune, Dakhla is the only town of note worth stopping in and then only to replenish stocks, fill the tank and perhaps sleep the night. Close by the Hotel Sahara on the market square it does get lively in the evening.

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''Castle'' at the north edge of Laayoune

by sachara

At the northbank of the Oued Saquira el-Hamra at the edge of the town just south of the town gate, we saw this building, looking like a castle. Like more of the castle-like buildings in the town and area, it was signposted as a military or police building, not a museum or castle to visit by the public anyway. WARCS wrote me about this building: What you named as "Castle" in El Aaiún (Laayoune) was the edification where the Headquarters of the Spanish Legion (Tercer Tercio sahariano D. Juan de Austria) were located in El Aaiún until 1975.

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Laayoune, Oued Saquira el-Hamra

by sachara

We left Laayoune, looking like a new Moroccan town now. We didn't see the areas, housing Saharawi refugees. Us it told that these are off limits to foreigners. We left Laayoune at the northern side in the direction of Tarfaya and Tan Tan. Here we had to cross the Oued Saquira el-Hamra. In the oued we saw water. The oued was also lined with trees at some places. Quite a change after all the barren sand in the south.

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Laayoune, Place Dchira

by sachara

In Laayoune you can not find an obvious centre. From the Place du Mechouar, along the Boulevard de Mekka and around Place Dchira you will find several hotels, like hotel Mekka. Here are also restaurants, cafés, banks and several shops. At the Place Dchira we found an office to arrange our Moroccan insurance for the car. The banks at this square have also ATMs. It was the first place, where we could get Moroccan dirhams after entering from Mauritania.

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Laayoune, Moulay Abdel Aziz Mosque

by sachara

East of the Place du Mechouar stands the Moulay Abdel Aziz Mosque of Laayoune. This mosque is built in the standard architecture for modern mosques of Morocco.The mosque forms also an important part of architecture around the Place Mechouar and along the Boulevard de Mekka.

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Laayoune, at the Place du Mechouar

by sachara

All the buildings around the Place du Mechouar and the four towers are made in the same kind of Moroccan architecture, which unity is intensified by the use of the same red-pink colour. During the day we didn't see much activity at the Place du Mechouar. And I can't imagine there will be often in the evening.

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Laayoune, Place du Mechouar

by sachara

Entering the town from the west, coming from the coast, the first orientationpoint you will see is the Place De Mechouar. Like in other Moroccan cities it is the big central square whithout any shade or protection against the hot sun at the square itself. Laayoune's place is built by the Moroccans as the town's showpiece, made up with four towers and the Palais de Justice as the central point.

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Laayoune or Al-'Uyun

by sachara

Laayoune (or Al-'Uyun, Aaiún, Aiun) lies in the Wadi Hamra region, in the northern part of Western Sahara. The town was founded in 1930 by the Spanish, allthough there were also allready before 1930 settlements in this area. This first town grew up at the southern shores of the wadi Seguiat al Hamra, becoming important as the administrative centre of the phosphate industry. From 1940 to 1975 Laayoune was the capital of Western Sahara or Spanish Sahara, an African overseas province of Spain.In 1975 Morocco annexed Laayoune and so it became after 1975 the -not internationally recognized- capital of the Laayoune province of Morocco. A second town centre grew up on the hills over old Laayoune. Today the town has more than 200,000 inhabitants and survives most on Moroccon governmental subsidies.

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Fun things to do in Western Sahara
 
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Things to Do: Cities in Western Sahara
  1. Laayoune Plage Things to Do
  2. Ad Dakhla Things to Do
  3. Laayoune Things to Do
  4. Cabo Bojador Things to Do
  5. Semara Things to Do
  6. Guelta Zemmur Things to Do

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Questions and Answers

travelthrough profile photo

Q:  Hi, I´d need to know if there is still a ferry service going from Cran Canaria to the area of Western Sahara in... 

pfsmalo profile photo

A: Even the cargo service is interupted at the moment, relations between Morocco and Spain not being at their best. Other than that no normal type of ferry service in... 

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