Gnaoua Festival Essaouira: Dates, Tickets and Planning
The Gnaoua festival is a three-day music festival held every June in Essaouira, on Morocco’s Atlantic coast. This guide covers the dates the official site announces, the ticket prices for each stage, how passes are collected and how to get to town. For the city itself, see the Essaouira travel guide.
Sources checked 5 November 2026: the festival’s own tickets page and homepage, press reports on the 2026 edition, and our own coach checks. The official site is inconsistent in places (the header shows 2027 dates while the ticket details refer to the 2026 collection dates), so we flag every figure that could change. Check the official site and ticket.ma before you buy.
Gnaoua festival at a glance
| Item | What we found |
|---|---|
| Where | Essaouira, Morocco |
| Next dates (official site header) | 24 to 26 June 2027, announced as the 28th edition |
| Last edition (press) | 27th edition, 25 to 27 June 2026 |
| Stage passes (last edition) | From 300 MAD for a day on the Beach stage to 1,200 MAD for 3 days at Moulay Hassan |
| Intimate concerts | 250 MAD per evening, sold at the official festival store |
| Refunds | Passes are non-refundable |
The catch is that the 2027 prices were not published separately when we checked. The ticket page shows the 2026 grid, so use it as a guide to scale and confirm the new prices when sales open.
Dates and what happens
The festival’s homepage says to see you from 24 to 26 June 2027 for the 28th edition. Press reports on the last edition give 25 to 27 June 2026 as the 27th edition, over three days. The official site also lists a numbering that does not match the press, so confirm the exact dates before you book transport and a room.
Press reports describe hundreds of artists, but the figure differs by source (about 460 in one, more than 400 including 42 maalems in another). Gnawa maalems are the master musicians of the tradition. The festival also has a training programme with Berklee, which ran from 22 to 27 June in 2026, and a human rights forum.
Gnaoua festival tickets and prices
The official tickets page lists these prices in dirhams for the last edition. Stage passes are sold through ticket.ma, and passes for the intimate concerts only at the official festival store.
| Stage or pass | Price (MAD) |
|---|---|
| Moulay Hassan stage, 3-day pass | 1,200 |
| Moulay Hassan stage, Thursday | 400 |
| Moulay Hassan stage, Friday or Saturday | 600 |
| Beach stage, 2-day pass | 500 |
| Beach stage, Friday or Saturday | 300 |
| Borj Bab Marrakech, Friday or Saturday | 300 |
| Intimate concerts (per evening) | 250 |
- An online confirmation email is not a valid pass. You exchange it for a badge and a wristband at the Moulay Hassan parking area. In 2026 the exchange ran from Wednesday 24 June to Saturday 27 June, 11:00 to 23:00.
- E-tickets are used directly and do not need to be exchanged.
- Unaccompanied children under 12 are not allowed in the area in front of the stage.
- Passes are non-refundable, including for lost or stolen passes.
Is the Gnaoua festival free?
It depends on whom you ask and which year. The official tickets page lists paid passes and does not mention free events. A Morocco World News piece from earlier editions says general entry is free to most main stages, including Moulay Hassan, and the festival’s own site also describes reserved front-of-stage passes. Older travel guides call some open-air stages free.
Our advice: treat the paid passes as the way to get a reserved spot near the stage, and check the official site for what is open to everyone in the year you travel. Do not assume a free concert has space, because the area fills early on peak evenings.
Getting to Essaouira for the festival
Most visitors come from Marrakech. In our coach checks in late October, Supratours listed 6 departures a day, 3 hours each, at 100 to 125 DH in 2nd class, and CTM had one departure at 08:30 for 105 DH. These are from a normal day, so festival days may differ, so book early if you can. For the wider network, see Getting around Morocco and Marrakech to Essaouira.
If you plan other stops, the Marrakech travel guide and the Morocco itinerary help you fit Essaouira into a route.
Planning your stay
- Book a room as early as you can, because a town the size of Essaouira fills up during a festival weekend. This is common sense rather than a sourced rule.
- Arrive a day early to collect your badge and wristband without queues, if you have an online pass.
- Bring a light jacket, because Atlantic evenings can be cool, and comfortable shoes for the old town.
- Keep your phone and wallet secure in dense crowds, see the Morocco travel tips.
- Budget for passes plus accommodation, see Morocco travel cost.
If you cannot go in June, Essaouira has live music in smaller venues through the year, but we did not find an official schedule, so check locally.
Frequently asked questions
When is the Gnaoua festival?
The official homepage announces 24 to 26 June 2027. The last edition ran from 25 to 27 June 2026, according to press reports.
How much are tickets for the Gnaoua festival?
At the last edition, Moulay Hassan stage passes were 400 to 600 MAD per day or 1,200 MAD for 3 days, the Beach stage 300 MAD per day or 500 MAD for 2 days, and intimate concerts 250 MAD per evening. Confirm the new prices.
Is the Gnaoua festival free?
Sources disagree. The official tickets page lists only paid passes, while earlier press says general entry to most stages was free. Check the official site for the year you travel.
Where do I buy Gnaoua festival tickets?
Stage passes are sold on ticket.ma, and passes for the intimate concerts only at the official festival store.
Can I get a refund on my pass?
No. The official page says passes are non-refundable, including lost or stolen ones.
Can children attend?
Unaccompanied children under 12 are not allowed in the area in front of the stage. Check the rules for the stage you plan to visit.
How do I get from Marrakech to Essaouira?
By coach, about 3 hours. In late October we found 6 Supratours departures at 100 to 125 DH and one CTM departure at 105 DH.
Sources checked
Checked on 5 November 2026. Ticket prices are from the festival’s page for the 2026 edition, and dates for 2027 are as announced on the homepage.
- Gnaoua and World Music Festival, tickets
- Gnaoua and World Music Festival, homepage
- World Music Central, 2026 edition
- Supratours, coach times and fares
- CTM, coach times and fares
Prices and times can change without notice. Confirm them before you pay or travel.
