This discussion is according to a conversation alongside Nina Ottevanger, 31, a surf instructor and co-owner of Ilyana Surfhouse, a small endeavor in Rabat, Morocco. It has been edited for dimension and clarity.
Eleven years ago, I was traveling in Morocco alongside two friends. While in Rabat, we wanted to surf and established a location online. We were greeted by a man named Ilyass. The chief collection had already left, but he offered us a personal lesson. Something clicked between us.
He shared his figure in case we wanted to go out that evening, but we chose an first night so we could continue traveling the next morning. I texted to say I hoped our paths traversed again, and we kept chatting. He suggested I complete my trip alongside a come back visit to Rabat, which I did, and we hit it off.
I'd fair completed my second twelvemonth studying global tourism and leisure administration at a university in the Netherlands, anywhere I'm from, so starting a long-distance association had to awareness right. Thankfully, it did. I saw Ilyass in Rabat all few months during study breaks.
In 2016, he took a job managing a surf campsite on Morocco's Atlantic coast. I established a six-month internship at another nearby surf camp. Sharing an flat gave us a sensation of normal existence together.
But I motionless had one twelvemonth remaining in school, part of which I spent in Bali, penning my thesis and doing market investigation for a retreat.
One ft in the surf, one ft in Western Europe
Ilyass had worked at his uncle's accommodation and surf academy in Rabat, anywhere he's from, for years, but continually wanted his own business. I'd been looking for a way to toggle the Netherlands for location I could be exterior year-round. Running a B&B had continually appealed to me, so we dreamt up a surf concept. But we had neither the prosperity nor adequate cognition to build it.
The following year, I graduated and got a job at a journey agency in The Hague, and Ilyass moved to the Netherlands. We got wed on Kijkduin coast in 2021.
Ilyass realized he wasn't built for chilly winters, so I discontinue the agency and joined him at a coast association and surf academy in The Hague. We accepted to activity there in the summer and expend winters in Morocco evolving our business.
Ilyass' students in the Netherlands wanted to arrive to Morocco for lessons, and many booked without knowing anywhere they would sleep. They trusted us.
For three years, we ran Ilyana, a mashup of our names, as a surf school, arranging accommodation through local homestays. But splitting the twelvemonth between two countries tired us out. It was difficult to build a existence whenever we were lone there fractional the time.
Renovating an abandoned riad
In 2024, we started searching for a riad — a traditional Moroccan house built about a courtyard — on the sea flank of the medina, so guests wouldn't have to transport their boards far.
We established a extremely rundown one alongside no bathrooms. Except for a few birds, it had been abandoned for complete 20 years, but it had gorgeous features, including traditional tiling. It was priced higher than another riads in the medina, but we afterward learned that the first particulars made it additional valuable. We wanted to reconstruct that beauty.
We bought it outright, paying 40% alongside our funds and 60% alongside loans from family and friends. We started renovations in April 2025.
At first, my parents idea we were mad, but they were convinced whenever they saw it. My dad, who had worked on akin projects, helped me diagram all area and design the architectural plans.
We project-managed the renewal ourselves, using local plumbers, electricians, and builders. We evaluation we spent €75,000, or concerning $86,800. After five months of operating day in, day out, we welcomed our archetypal guests in October.
The five visitant rooms at Ilyana Surfhouse sleep 16 people, alongside rates starting at 500 Moroccan dirhams, or concerning $53, per night, including dawn meal and dinner. Ilyass' mother cooks dinner, his sister makes dawn meal and welcomes guests, and his brother helps teach surf lessons.
We're blessed alongside how the endeavor is going. Our anticipation is that the home volition be break even alongside our profits inside eight years.
Making the most of Rabat's surf scene
It's been a huge and satisfying manner change. We live in wetsuits and do much small than before. We keep additional at the end of the duration since there's small to expend on. On Sundays off, we go to the coast and discover our entire companion collection there. We laugh, portion food, and chill.
Morocco is getting additional expensive, though, particularly Rabat. A uncomplicated existence current is affordable, but item considered choose or luxe, akin yoga or Pilates, expenses much additional than in the Netherlands.
We chose Rabat since it's anywhere my hubby grew up and since of the surf scene. Here, you're in the h2o alongside 10 or 20 people, not hundreds. Our allies are teachers, engineers, shop owners, and barbers, and we desire to display group a normal life, not a surfer's paradise.
We're a awesome team. We all have our own specialties and affection swapping stories at the end of the day. It's crucial that we're hubby and wife, too, so we create period for fun things fair the two of us.
Editor's note: Ottevanger did not portion the cost they paid for the property. Comparable riads in Rabat's medina are listed for approximately $230,000 to $550,000, according to current listings on Moroccan asset location Avito.
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Megan writes concerning topics that blend civilization and lifestyle, digging profound into how we think, activity and consume. She writes long-form features in imprint and online for a range of b2b and editorial publications, including WIRED, Courier, and the BBC. She additionally average talks and panel events.
