MOGA Essaouira, 30 September to 4 October: Two Free Days, Then Three Ticketed Ones

MOGA runs in Essaouira from 30 September to 4 October 2026, marking its tenth year there. It is not one event but two, and the distinction matters more than most coverage suggests.

The two halves

MOGA OFF runs Wednesday 30 September and Thursday 1 October, across various locations in the city. Ticket sellers list it as free access. The programme is described by the festival as music, cultural, wellness and community activities rather than club sets alone.

MOGA IN runs Friday 2 to Sunday 4 October at Hôtel Le Golf d’Essaouira & Spa, in Diabat, just outside the city. This is the ticketed part. Listings give the daily running time as roughly 2pm to 3am.

If you have seen the Sofitel named as the venue, that appears on at least one festival aggregator but not on any of the official ticket sellers, which consistently list Hôtel Le Golf. Check the festival’s own site before travelling.

Tickets

Passes are sold separately from accommodation, contrary to what you might assume from the package deals that also exist. Single-day passes for Friday, Saturday or Sunday are available, along with two-day and three-day options, through DICE, Shotgun, SeeTickets, Xceed and Fever among others.

Day passes carry a condition worth noticing: several sellers state the ticket grants venue access before 6pm, with a penalty fee for late arrival. Read the specific terms on whichever pass you buy.

Accommodation bundles exist as a separate product, including packages at Hôtel Le Golf itself and at partner riads. Since the MOGA IN venue is a hotel resort, some attendees stay on site while others base themselves in the medina and travel out each day.

Age policy

This is genuinely unresolved and worth checking yourself before buying.

SeeTickets, an official seller, states the event is for six and over. A festival aggregator states 21 and over. Those cannot both describe the same event, and we could not establish which applies to the Essaouira edition specifically. The festival’s own FAQ appears to carry content from its Portuguese edition alongside Essaouira information, which may be the source of the confusion.

Confirm the age policy on the ticket page for the specific pass you are buying, not from secondary listings including this one.

Getting there

Hôtel Le Golf is in Diabat, a short distance south of Essaouira. If you are staying in the medina you will need transport out and, more importantly, back at the end of a night running to 3am. Sort that before you go rather than at 3am.

Essaouira is roughly two and a half hours by road from Marrakech, which makes the weekend feasible as a trip from there. From Casablanca it is closer to five hours, so an overnight either side is more realistic.

Who is playing

The announced lineup includes Jamie Jones, The Martinez Brothers, Rhadoo, Fort Romeau, Fantastic Man, Tornado Wallace, Voigtmann, Kalabrese and Viken Arman, alongside Moroccan artists including Amine K and Mamba Skar.

Check the festival’s own programme for day-by-day scheduling, since lineups shift and day passes mean the split across Friday, Saturday and Sunday matters.

Accuracy note: dates, venue, ticketing terms and age policy are set by the festival and its ticketing partners, and details here were checked in September 2026 against ticket seller listings. The age policy in particular could not be resolved. Confirm everything on the official site before booking.