In short
Agadir was destroyed by an earthquake in 1960 and rebuilt elsewhere, in concrete and at right angles. It has no old medina: this is a modern seaside town, not a historic city.
The bay is ten kilometres of sheltered sand, and the region is the gateway to the Souss and the Anti-Atlas.
What it really costs
Agadir is cheaper than Marrakech and Essaouira, with plentiful hotel capacity born of European mass tourism.
Taghazout, twenty minutes away, concentrates the surf scene and a community of long-term residents. Rents there have risen faster than in Agadir itself.
What nobody tells you
Anyone coming for the Morocco of the medinas will be disappointed: for that you go to Taroudant, an hour and a half away, or to Tiznit.
The Atlantic is cool all year — eighteen to twenty-two degrees — and the swell is strong. That is what built the coast's surfing reputation.
Paradise Valley and Souss-Massa park, less than an hour away, are the region's real outdoor trips and appear on no beach-resort circuit.