The comparison our competitors are too nervous to publish — including where the others genuinely win.
We run kite camps in Morocco, so treat this with appropriate suspicion. But the comparison is worth doing honestly, because the right answer genuinely is not Morocco for everybody — and a school that pretends otherwise is not worth trusting on anything else.
The short version
- Cheapest, most metronomic wind: El Gouna, Egypt
- Strongest wind, best all-round scene: Tarifa, Spain
- Best flat water anywhere: Dakhla, Morocco
- Best winter trade winds: Cape Verde
- Best mix of kiting and an actual holiday: Essaouira, Morocco
On price
Egypt is the value leader and it is not particularly close. A 12-hour beginner course runs roughly €350 to €500 in Egypt against €800 to €1,200 in mainland Europe.
Morocco sits between the two and closer to Egypt. Our 10-hour course in Essaouira is €250 in a group, and the Dakhla camps start at €420 for four days with 10 hours of instruction and accommodation included.
Tarifa is European pricing for everything — lessons, food, beds.
On wind
El Gouna has the most reliable wind of the four. Consistent, moderate, thermal, and it turns up. If your single priority is "I do not want to lose a day", Egypt wins.
Tarifa has the strongest wind, and that is a double-edged thing. Levante days are powerful and gusty and not what a beginner wants; Poniente days are gentler. It is a superb intermediate destination and a mixed beginner one.
Dakhla has over 300 windy days a year, thermal and steady rather than punchy — arguably the best wind for *learning* of the four, even if Egypt edges it on raw reliability.
Cape Verde owns November to May with its trade winds, filling the window when Europe is cold and Morocco is quieter.
On water
This is where Dakhla is genuinely unmatched. A forty-kilometre lagoon, flat and shallow enough to stand in across much of it, protected from Atlantic swell by a sand peninsula.
For a beginner, standing water removes the single biggest fear. For a freestyler or a speed rider, it is a surface you will not find in Tarifa or Cape Verde.
El Gouna's lagoons are also flat and shallow and very good. Tarifa is open ocean with real chop, which builds better riders and frustrates newer ones.
On everything else
Getting there: Tarifa is easiest from Europe — fly to Málaga or Gibraltar and drive. Egypt is a direct charter flight to Hurghada. Morocco is easy for Essaouira via Marrakech, and awkward for Dakhla, which has no direct flights and a full travel day each way.
Off the water: Tarifa is a proper town with bars, a scene and Andalusia around it. El Gouna is a purpose-built resort — comfortable, slightly artificial. Essaouira is a UNESCO medina with a fishing port. Dakhla has essentially nothing, which for some people is exactly the point.
Bringing a non-kiter: Tarifa or Essaouira. Not Dakhla, ever.
So who should come to us?
Dakhla if the flat water is the reason — you are learning and want the gentlest possible surface, or you are riding freestyle and want the best.
Essaouira if you want to kite and also have a holiday. Trade wind almost every afternoon April to October, a walled town, waves in the morning, and a two-and-a-half hour drive from Marrakech.
Go to El Gouna if budget is the deciding factor and you want the most riding hours per euro. Go to Tarifa if you are already good, want strong wind and a scene, and do not mind European prices.
That is the honest map. If your priority is on it and it does not point at us, we would rather you had a good trip somewhere else.