MOGA Essaouira 2026: the practical guide to your stay

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Last updated: 29 August 2026.

This guide contains only information we could verify at the source. Every figure comes with a link to the official body that publishes it. Where something is not published officially, we say so plainly rather than invent it: you will find the full list at the end.

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The essentials before you leave

• When : Wednesday 30 September to Sunday 4 October 2026.
• Two halves : MOGA OFF , free, on 30 September and 1 October, across several venues in town. MOGA IN , ticketed, from 2 to 4 October.
• Where : MOGA IN takes place at the Hôtel Le Golf d’Essaouira & Spa, Domaine Mogador, Diabat 44000 .
• MOGA IN hours : 2 pm to 3 am , every day.
• Minimum age : 18 .
• Tickets : from 650 MAD for entry before 5 pm, 800 MAD for a full day, 1,900 MAD for the three-day pass and 4,500 MAD for the three-day VIP pass. Group packs for 4 to 6 people are also available.
• The site is 5.6 km from the medina by the coast road , about 9 minutes, and up to 30 when the festival empties.
• No official shuttle has been announced. Plan this before anything else.
• No re-entry : once you are in, you stay in until the end. Eat beforehand.
• Payment on site is cash in dirhams or a top-up wristband. No bank cards at the stands, and no cash machine in Diabat.
• On your way out, walk 200 to 300 metres before looking for a taxi. At the roundabout the wait can reach an hour.
• No Moroccan public holiday falls between 28 September and 8 October 2026.
• No visa for French, British and US nationals for stays of up to 90 days.

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The festival: what is officially published

Two events, two logics

The festival’s own description, distributed through Resident Advisor which is one of its official ticket partners, draws a clear line:

Source: the official event page on Resident Advisor , consulted on 29 August 2026.

MOGA OFF is free. The exact 2026 venues have not been published: the festival only announces « multiple locations » around town. In 2025 the OFF spread across some thirty venues in central Essaouira, but nothing guarantees the 2026 map will be the same . Watch the official Instagram account, @mogafestival , in the days before you travel.

MOGA IN is ticketed and takes place on a single site in Diabat, south of Essaouira. 2026 is the festival’s tenth edition.

Hours

2 pm to 3 am. These are the hours the festival itself publishes for MOGA IN. You will find different times elsewhere, notably 4 pm or 4 am: those are ticketing-platform metadata describing the overall window of the event, not door times. Day-by-day schedules and artist set times have not been published.

Minimum age

18. That is the figure carried by iTicket.ma , an official seller, and confirmed by a second official seller, DICE. Beware of the festival’s Skiddle page: although listed among the official partners, it has not been updated and states a minimum age of 6, along with a venue that is no longer correct. Do not rely on it if you are travelling with children.

Whether ID is required at the gate is not specified officially. Bring your passport to be safe.

Tickets: the seven official sellers

The official festival site lists exactly seven ticketing partners:

The festival’s own direct ticketing runs through Tidar , which the official site links to.

One caution: several other platforms sell tickets for this festival without appearing on that official list. They are not necessarily fraudulent, but if you want certainty, buy through the festival’s own Tidar ticketing or one of the seven links above.

Prices

Prices differ by seller and by currency. The full grid, with remaining stock category by category, is published by the festival’s own ticketing platform. Here are the prices recorded on 29 August 2026:

• Entry before 5 pm , Friday, Saturday or Sunday: 650 MAD .
• One-day pass : from 800 MAD .
• Three-day pass : 1,900 MAD (second release; the 1,800 MAD first release is sold out).
• Three-day VIP pass : 4,500 MAD .
• Group packs for 4 to 6 people, and VIP upgrades to add to a pass already bought.
• DICE shows « from €72.76 » .

The categories on offer are: one-day pass, two-day pass, three-day pass, VIP packages, a reduced rate for entry before 5 pm, group packs for 4 to 6 people, and VIP upgrades that are added to a pass already bought. We are not publishing a dirham-to-euro conversion table : the ranges quoted by the different sellers do not line up exactly, and an approximate table would mislead you. Check the price with whichever seller you choose.

As of 29 August 2026, the first-release three-day pass (1,800 MAD) and the three first-release three-day group packs were already sold out, and the second-release three-day pass was on sale at 1,900 MAD. Other categories were still available, some with low stock. Prices rise as the event approaches: buy early.

Line-up, day by day

The MOGA IN programme is published. The MOGA OFF programme is not yet.

Friday 2 October: Jamie Jones, Rhadoo, Richy Ahmed, Florentia, Gawdat, Hamadeus, Jakaw, Jhobei, Jilali, Julian Anthony, Mov., N4bz, Othman Kabbadj, Oz & Rem, Piticu.

Saturday 3 October: The Martinez Brothers, Sonja Moonear, Fantastic Man B2B Tornado Wallace, Alexis Cabrera (live), Abel, Baruck, Calabasa, Halfpint, Hyde, Jazzee & Meyzz, Jesse Calosso, Malika, Matisa, Mamba Skar, Memed Awad, Moruki, Mumsfilibaba, Notre Dame, Rain, Ramyen, Silvie Loto, Voigtmann, Yamagucci, Yaya (ma).

Sunday 4 October: ANOTR, Bradley Zero, Fort Romeau, Kalabrese, Viken Arman, Amine K, Cesar Merveille, Daox, Doudou MD, E.lina, Ebba, Enrica Falqui, Loewenthal, Ousseki, Polyswitch, Tunik, Yahya (live).

Source: Resident Advisor , matched word for word by Shotgun.

On site: what the festival does not publish, and how to prepare for it

This needs saying clearly, because it is unusual and it changes how you plan your day: the festival publishes no site rules at all . We looked at the official site, its Essaouira subdomain, the ticket page, the credits page and the pages of all seven official sellers. There is no practical-information page and no FAQ. Nowhere published:

• what you may bring, in particular bags, bottles and cameras;
• which payment methods are accepted on site;
• whether there is a cloakroom;
• whether camping is possible;
• whether ID is checked at the gate.

We can, however, tell you what happened in previous years.

Payment on site is in cash dirhams, or by wristband. At previous editions you paid at the various stands either in Moroccan cash or with credit loaded onto a wristband, which could be topped up online before the event. No bank cards at the stands. Two practical consequences: load your wristband before you set off if the festival offers it again, and carry dirhams in cash . There is no cash machine in Diabat; they are in town.

You cannot leave and come back. Once you are in, you stay. Leaving and returning was not accepted, other than in exceptional cases we have never actually seen granted. This is the single most structuring rule of the day: you go in for the duration, until 3 am. You will not be able to head back into town for dinner and return. Eat before you go, and take everything you will need with you.

The rest is simple prudence, given that no rulebook is published:

• Travel light. With no cloakroom announced, whatever you bring you carry all night.
• Bring a jacket. October nights on the Atlantic coast are cool and windy, nothing like a night in Marrakech.
• Bring your passport and a power bank.

For a specific question, write to contact@mogafestival.com , the only address the organisation publishes, and watch the official Instagram account, @mogafestival , in the week before.

Festival contact

contact@mogafestival.com , mogafestival.com , Instagram @mogafestival . No telephone number is published. Source: the credits page of the official site .

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Getting to Essaouira

Flying straight into Essaouira

Essaouira-Mogador airport (IATA code ESU, ICAO code GMMI) sits 18 km south-south-east of the town , about 30 minutes by road to the medina.

That 18 km figure is the one published in the ONDA’s official aeronautical documentation and it matches the road calculation. You will sometimes see 15 or 16 km elsewhere, including on other ONDA pages: those are wrong.

It is a small airport: a 3,000 m² terminal, capacity for 300,000 passengers a year, two aircraft stands. Source: ONDA .

Airlines serving ESU. The ONDA’s « Guide des Compagnies » page lists only Transavia, Ryanair and Arkia: it is out of date. Four airlines serve Essaouira in autumn 2026: – Transavia, from Paris-Orly , about 3 hours 35 minutes. Source: Transavia . – Ryanair, from Brussels-Charleroi . Source: Brussels South Charleroi Airport . – easyJet, from Bordeaux and Lyon , two weekly flights from each city. – Vueling, from Barcelona and Seville .

Ryanair also advertises routes from London Stansted, Marseille, Paris-Beauvais, Madrid, Weeze and Tangier. The exact flight schedule for 30 September to 5 October 2026 is not published : check directly with the airlines. No direct Casablanca to Essaouira flight appears on the Royal Air Maroc site for this period.

Airport parking , official ONDA rates: free up to 10 minutes, 6 MAD for 1 hour, 22 MAD for 5 to 12 hours, 33 MAD for 12 to 24 hours . Source: ONDA .

Taxi from the airport. The ONDA states that « the recommended fare is 150 MAD per trip between the airport and the town of Essaouira ». Source: ONDA . Note the word recommended : this is not a regulated fare, and it is negotiated before you get in.

Flying via Marrakech

This is the most common route, because Marrakech-Ménara is served by far more airlines.

Marrakech-Ménara (RAK) to Essaouira: 184.8 km, about 2 hours 42 minutes by road in free-flowing traffic. Central Marrakech to Essaouira: 183.7 km, about 2 hours 41 minutes.

These distances and times are calculated with the OpenStreetMap routing engine, car profile, excluding traffic and stops. A coach with stops will take noticeably longer.

From Agadir and Casablanca

• Agadir to Essaouira: 174.8 km, about 2 hours 52 minutes.
• Casablanca to Essaouira: 361.5 km, about 4 hours 38 minutes.

By coach

Two national operators serve Essaouira from Marrakech, Agadir, Casablanca and El Jadida: CTM and Supratours , a subsidiary of the national rail company ONCF.

We are deliberately publishing no coach fares or timetables. Real prices and departure times are only available inside those operators’ booking engines, and CTM’s own descriptive pages contradict themselves, including journey times that are physically impossible. Book directly:

• CTM : booking.ctm.ma and ctm.ma . Customer service: +212 5 21 64 06 40.
• Supratours (ONCF) : supratours.ma .

CTM luggage policy , from the official terms and conditions : two hold bags of up to 20 kg each, with the sum of the dimensions under 170 cm, plus one cabin bag of 40 × 50 × 16 cm. Arrive 30 minutes before departure if you have a hold bag, 15 minutes otherwise. Standard tickets are non-refundable unless you take the CTM Flex option at purchase.

By rental car

Three international companies have a desk at Essaouira airport.

• Hertz : desk inside the terminal, open 7 days a week, out-of-hours pickup possible if you give your flight number. Phone +212 8 02 00 77 78. Official page .
• Avis : Essaouira airport, open 7 days a week from 7 am to 11 pm. Phone +212 522 66 72 72. Official page .
• Europcar : airport branch, official page . Opening hours and phone number not published online.

None of them publishes a firm rate: the prices they display are indicative averages that vary by season and duration. We are not reproducing them here.

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Getting around, and above all getting back from Diabat at night

This is the most important question of your stay. Settle it before you buy your ticket.

The real distance

From the Essaouira medina to the festival site: 5.6 km by the coast road, about 9 minutes. You follow the bay the whole way on the P2201, cross the bridge over the Oued Ksob, and arrive at Diabat. The road is tarmac and drivable at night: your GPS takes you straight there.

Six kilometres is not far by car. But it is an out-of-town road with no continuous lighting, and not one you walk at three in the morning.

There is no announced official shuttle

We looked properly, and we would rather be clear: no shuttle between Essaouira and the festival site is mentioned on any official source. On 29 August 2026 we checked the festival site and its Essaouira subdomain, the ticket page, the credits page, the pages of all seven official sellers, and the page of the official travel partner. The /info , /faq and /lineup pages of the official site do not exist.

That does not prove no shuttle will exist. It proves that as of 29 August, none is being communicated, which means no festival-goer can plan around one.

The only officially offered transport is a return airport transfer , included in the packages sold by the official travel partner FSTVL , who also sell flight plus hotel plus pass. Prices for those packages are not published online. This is a transfer between the airport and your accommodation, not a shuttle to the festival site.

What actually happens at the exit

The car park fills up. Cars stack up around the site and end up blocking each other on the way out. If you drive, do not park as close as you can. A space gained on arrival costs you thirty or forty minutes stuck at the exit. Park further away on purpose, even if it means a five-minute walk when you arrive: you will leave when you want to.

Finding a taxi at the exit can take an hour. Everyone leaves at the same time, taxis get caught in the same jam as the cars, and the roundabout at the site entrance becomes the worst place in the area to catch one.

The move: walk 200 to 300 metres back up the road , past the jam, and take your taxi there. You skip the entire queue, and a driver who is not stuck is far more willing to take the fare. Three minutes of walking saves you an hour.

Taxis

We publish no taxi fare table for Essaouira, and here is why. There is no national Moroccan taxi tariff. Fares are set by decree of the governor, at province or prefecture level, and the decree that applies to Essaouira is published nowhere online . Any table you read elsewhere presenting itself as « the official fare » is therefore either invented or approximate.

The only fare we can source is the ONDA’s 150 MAD « recommended » rate for the airport run.

In practice: agree the price before you get in , and especially so at night.

What we suggest you actually do

1. Arrange your way back before you leave your accommodation , not at 3 am outside the exit.
2. If you are a group, book a car with a driver for the nights you go out, with a meeting point agreed away from the roundabout. Split between six or eight people it costs less than a taxi negotiated under pressure, and it saves you the hour of waiting.
3. Do not leave at the exact moment it ends. Leaving twenty minutes before the very end, or waiting twenty minutes for the crowd to thin, changes the whole experience of getting out.
4. Keep cash on you. Cash machines are in town, not in Diabat, and payment on site is cash or wristband.
5. Keep battery. A dead phone at 3 am, five kilometres from your bed, is the real problem of the night. Bring a power bank.
6. Write down your accommodation address in Arabic and in French on paper, not only in your phone.

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Paperwork, money, tourist tax

Entering Morocco

No visa is required for a tourist stay of up to 90 days for French, British and US nationals.

• France : passport required, valid for the whole of your stay. A national ID card is not enough. Border officers may ask for a return ticket and proof of sufficient funds. Source: France Diplomatie .
• United Kingdom : passport valid for at least 3 months after your arrival date. Source: FCDO .
• United States : passport valid for at least 6 months , with a blank page. Source: US Department of State .

Validity requirements differ by country. The safest approach is to travel with a passport valid for at least six months.

The dirham

Importing and exporting dirhams is prohibited , with an allowance of 2,000 dirhams per traveller, both in and out. Source: Office des Changes .

In practice: change your money on arrival, and do not fly home with a wad of dirhams.

On the way out , non-resident foreign travellers may change dirhams back on presentation of the original exchange receipt, up to 20,000 dirhams, or 2,000 dirhams per passport at banks inside airports on presentation of a boarding pass. Source: General Instruction on Exchange Operations 2026, article 34 .

Declaring foreign currency on entry : compulsory from 100,000 dirhams equivalent, optional below that. Source: Office des Changes . You will find a threshold of 15,000 dirhams quoted elsewhere, notably in the US Department of State country page: the figure that governs is the one published by the competent Moroccan authority.

Tourist tax

It exists and applies to your accommodation. Law 47-06 on local authority taxation sets legal ranges, per person per night, which each municipality then fixes precisely:

Children under 12 are exempt. The exact rate applied in Essaouira is not published online: it appears on your invoice.

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Health, emergencies, safety

Emergency numbers

Sources: the French Embassy in Morocco and France Diplomatie , matching the US Department of State « 911 Abroad » sheet.

The French Embassy also lists 112 as a police number reachable in Morocco.

An honest caveat: the British Foreign Office publishes different numbers, 150 for fire and ambulance and 190 for police. We could not access the official ANRT numbering plan to settle it. In an emergency, try 19 and 15 first, and 112 if you are calling from a foreign mobile.

Other useful numbers published by the French Embassy: SOS Médecin +212 522 20 20 20 , poison control centre +212 801 00 01 80 .

Medical care in Essaouira

Clinique Internationale de Mogador , avenue Mohamed V, Essaouira. Phone 05 24 47 80 80 . Emergency department open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week , 166 inpatient beds. Private facility of the Akdital group, opened in 2024. Source: the facility’s official site .

Hôpital Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah , the public hospital, avenue de l’Hôpital. The name of the facility is confirmed on a Ministry of Health domain, ispits.sante.gov.ma , which hosts its training institute there. The number 05 24 47 50 47 is widely published locally, but we could not confirm it on a ministry source: in a real emergency, dial 15 rather than spending time on a switchboard number.

The British Foreign Office notes that « public health facilities in Morocco provide limited medical care; private clinics are available and operate to a higher standard ». Source: FCDO .

France Diplomatie warns that facilities « may require full payment before the patient is discharged ». Insurance covering medical costs and repatriation is strongly recommended , and that goes double for a festival trip.

Duty pharmacies. In Morocco the pharmacy duty rota is set by the provincial governor on the proposal of the regional council of the order of pharmacists: that is article 111 of law 17-04, the medicines and pharmacy code . There is therefore no national list to consult online. The list of duty pharmacies in Essaouira is displayed in the window of pharmacies around town. If you cannot find it, message us: we know which ones are open.

Safety

No specific advisory targets Essaouira or the Marrakech-Safi region.

• France maintains general heightened vigilance and formally advises against the border areas with Algeria and Mauritania, which does not concern Essaouira.
• The United Kingdom advises against no region of Morocco and warns about pickpocketing and snatch theft, including from mopeds.
• The United States classifies Morocco at Level 2, « exercise increased caution » , since 21 April 2025, without singling out any region.

Consulates

• France, Consulate General in Marrakech , competent for the Marrakech-Safi region which includes Essaouira: rue Camille Cabana, Hivernage, Marrakech. Phone +212 5 25 29 10 19. 24-hour emergency line, life-threatening situations only: +212 6 61 34 42 89. Source: Consulate General of France in Marrakech .
• United Kingdom, Embassy in Rabat : 28 avenue S.A.R. Sidi Mohammed, Souissi, Rabat. 24-hour emergency line: +44 20 7008 5000. Source: gov.uk . An honorary consulate exists in Marrakech; its contact details are not published.
• United States, Consulate General in Casablanca : corner of rue de la Mer and rue Louwaya, Pôle Urbain Casa Anfa. Phone +212 5226 42000. After-hours emergency: +212 5376 37200. Source: travel.state.gov .

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Staying connected

A local eSIM costs less than roaming and activates in minutes.

Maroc Telecom, visitor eSIM , valid 30 days, including 20 MAD of call credit valid for 3 months:

Buy online or in a shop, activate by QR code. Source: iam.ma/e-sim .

inwi offers an eSIM pack with top-up at 120 MAD , including 20 MAD of credit valid for 90 days, compatible with smartphones and smartwatches. Source: inwi.ma/esim .

Orange Maroc also offers an eSIM, with terms that are not readable online.

A passport is enough to buy and register a prepaid line in Morocco: it is one of the three officially accepted documents, alongside the national ID card and the residence permit. Source: Orange Maroc .

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Weather, sea and wind: where to find the information

We publish no average temperature, wind or sea temperature figures for October in Essaouira, and we owe you the explanation. Morocco’s national meteorological service publishes its 1991-2020 climate normals only as annual national maps , with no monthly station data, and Essaouira is also absent from the World Meteorological Organization database. Every monthly figure you will find online comes from private sites or models, not from an official source.

For forecasts closer to your trip, go directly to maroc-meteo .

What can be said without risk: Essaouira is a windy town, which is what makes it a year-round watersports destination, and evenings there are cool even in early autumn. Bring a jacket for the nights, festival included. A night on the Atlantic coast is nothing like a night in Marrakech.

Tides. Official times are published in the « Tide tables for Moroccan ports » produced by the Royal Navy’s Hydrography, Oceanography and Cartography Division, which operates a tide observatory at Essaouira. Its website, dhocmr.ma, was unreachable at the time of writing.

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Your stay around the festival

Calendar and special days

No Moroccan public holiday falls between 28 September and 8 October 2026. We checked against the official list of public holidays published by the Ministry of Digital Transition and Administrative Reform. Shops, banks and public offices run normally. Public administrations are open Monday to Friday, 8.30 am to 4.30 pm.

Daytime, when you went to bed at 4 am

MOGA IN starts at 2 pm. So your mornings and early afternoons are free, and you will probably spend them recovering. What Essaouira does best in that state:

• The medina and the ramparts , a UNESCO World Heritage site, best walked slowly.
• The fishing port and its blue boats , late morning when the boats come in.
• The beach , vast, a few minutes’ walk from the centre.
• The wind , which makes Essaouira one of Morocco’s great surf, kitesurf and windsurf spots.
• Diabat and the dunes , on horseback, by camel or by quad bike, right next to the festival site.

The Essaouira-Mogador Regional Tourism Council is at rue du Caire, 44000 Essaouira, phone 05 24 78 35 32 . Source: Moroccan National Tourist Office .

Eating, and eating late

We deliberately publish no list of places open at night, and we would rather explain why than give you three names that will be wrong.

Essaouira is not Marrakech. It is a small town, and festival week is the busiest of its year: accommodation is full, tables are too, and many places change their hours for the occasion without publishing it anywhere. A list written in late August and read at two in the morning on 3 October would send you to closed doors.

What is structural, on the other hand, and what you can plan for right now:

• MOGA IN starts at 2 pm, and you cannot leave and come back. That is the decisive point: you will not nip back into town for dinner between sets. Eat properly before you set off, in the middle of the day. Do not head to Diabat on an empty stomach counting on the night.
• Book your tables in advance , starting now for the evenings of 30 September and 1 October, when you will be in town. During that week, turning up without a booking often means not eating.
• After 1 am, the choice narrows sharply. Carry something to keep you going, and do not count on a last-minute opening.

Staying a few days longer

The festival ends on Sunday 4 October. Many people leave on the Monday, and regret it. Early October is one of the best moments of the year in Essaouira: the town empties, the light drops low and golden, prices come down, and the ocean is still swimmable.

If you are thinking about extending, now is the time to decide: availability in town is extremely tight during the festival, but it opens up from 5 October.

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What we could not verify

This guide asserts nothing it cannot source. In fairness, here is what we could not find on an official source, and will therefore not invent:

• The exact MOGA OFF venues for 2026. Only « multiple locations » is announced.
• The MOGA OFF programme and the set times for MOGA IN.
• Day-by-day hours for MOGA IN, beyond the overall 2 pm to 3 am window.
• The site rules : permitted and prohibited items, cameras, bottles, cloakroom, camping. Nothing is published by the organisation. What we say about payment, no re-entry and access conditions comes from our observations at previous editions, not from an official source, and may change. For a definitive answer, write to contact@mogafestival.com.
• Prices for the official travel partner’s packages and the names of the partner hotels.
• CTM and Supratours fares and timetables , available only inside their booking engines.
• Official taxi fares in Essaouira. There is no national tariff and the provincial decree is not published online.
• The public hospital switchboard number , widely published locally but not confirmed on a ministry source. The name and address of the facility are confirmed.
• Monthly climate normals and sea temperature.
• The exact tourist tax rate in Essaouira.

If you find that anything in this guide has become wrong, write to us and we will correct it.

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Who writes this guide

Mogador Conciergerie is a private concierge company based in Essaouira, at 12 rue Chenguit, Lot Skkala. We manage villas and apartments in Essaouira and Marrakech, and we organise tailor-made stays: transfers, drivers, private chefs, activities, bookings.

We are not a festival partner. We wrote this guide because nobody had, and because every year we watch travellers complicate a stay that should be simple.

During festival week, from 29 September to 5 October, our WhatsApp answers everyone, client or not. A full restaurant, a driver, a pharmacy, a piece of advice: write, and we answer.

Message us on WhatsApp · mogador-conciergerie.com

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Every piece of information in this guide was verified on 29 August 2026 against the sources cited. Prices, times and availability can change: always check at the source before you book.