Saidia

Saidia (also spelled Saîdia and Saïdia - nicknamed "the Blue Pearl") is a Moroccan seaside resort located on the Mediterranean coast, 58 km away to the north of Oujda and at 100m of the Algerian border.

The city has around 18,000 inhabitants. It has tens of kilometers of fine sand and its ideal climate during the second half of the year makes it one of the seaside resorts of Northern Moroccan.

Many tourist projects are being developed at the city. Among them the 750 hectares restores that will contain 10 hotels and hundreds of villas and many golf courses as well as a marina. The project is managed by the Spanish group Fadesa Immobiliaria.

History

The history of Saidia is relatively young compared with the history of Morocco. Arabs of the area founded the city around 1548 and established mosques. In 1881, sultan Hassan I seized Saidia and built a citadel and two mosques. In 1913, it was placed under the French protectorate. The city was then changed into a seaside resort by the French. After independence, this function has not ceased and Saidia became one of the main tourist poles of Northern Morocco.

Saïdia is one out of a handful of resorts designed for Moroccans on holiday, but it is a good destination even for foreigners.

The beach is first class, and as clean as it gets, the city lively, and people easygoing. But with the present situation in Algeria, and with the border no more than few hundred metres away, Saïdia has lost much of its attractiveness.

There is little to see around here, but the traditional folk music festival of August gives the city a distinct attraction, which every year entices a good number of foreign tourists. But by September, the city empties so drastically that you almost can feel the absence of the summer visitors.