Getting Around Morocco

To go from Mattakech to Agadir just use Supratour bus, which is new and very comfortable and costs 100 dirhams. You can use another local bus operator (forgot the name) but will pay the same price and have much worse conditions.

To check the current timetable the best solution is to go to the bus station, as ONCF web page seems not to be up-to-date.

Bargain in Morocco is unavoidable.

You must to bargain when you were told the taxi price otherwise you'll pay too much. As an example, taxi from Marrakesh airport to the city centre can cost 100 dirhams instead of 150 (grand taxi)! Or, in Agadir, you can pay 10 dirhams instead of 80, when taking the taxi from the La Tivoli Hotel to the bus station (petit taxi).

So, don't be shy, do bargain!

We rented a car last April with Sixts at the Casablanca int. Airport and were very satisfied with their service. The trip across the mountains to Ouarazazate took about 8 hours. The road on the Marrakech side is very windy, but with very fine views. The road via Meknes took us through the valley of the Ziz, but was even longer. It even better, though. And we liked Meknes too. All in all the road quality is reasonable. The tollway is perfect and not expensive.
I can reccommend the Kasbah "Le Petit Nomade" in Tingehir, valley of the Todra, it is about 3 hours drive from Ouarazazate. The desert is further to the East.

flights to various airports in and around Morocco from the UK and around Europe - a number of these airlines are particularly handy to know about because they can link flights around Europe and can be extremely well priced - Easyjet is a particular favourite, and Altas Blue, a budget subsidiary of Royal Air Maroc, have particularly good routes around Europe - with these lower priced airlines of course the earlier you book online - choose your dates for lower prices - the cheaper you can fly for!

www.easyjet.com - flights can be quite cheap between Milan Malapensa and Agadir or Marrakech, also flights between Madrid and Casablanca and Tangier, London Gatwick and Agadir and Marrakech etc

www.atlas-blue.com

www.thomson-fly.com - rather nice airline supplying charter flights between Marrakech and London and Manchester

www.royalairmaroc.com - the big mama of Moroccan air space - but lately had excellent deals for return flights to Marrakech - for online bookings at least a few weeks or month ahead

www.ryanair.com

www.airfrance.com

www.airarabia.com - do flights from Spain, Italy, Istanbul elsewhere areound europe

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Morocco is surprisingly quite European in their choice of land transport. I really had it easy as I relied on both trains and coaches to get around the country. Hardly broke into a sweat even though I hadn't booked tickets in advance.

TRAIN
The rail serves the major cities along the coast as well as a few major cities inland. The network is not as extensive as coaches but it will serve the needs of most tourists well since tourists tend to visit the big cities anyway.

For most budget travellers, the 2nd class seat is comfortable and economical enough.

ONCF runs the train network in Morocco.

Cost of some of my journeys (1 way) circa Jan 08:
Casablanca Airport to Casa Voyageur (Casablanca): 35 MAD (40 minutes)
Fes to Rabat-Ville (Rabat): 76 MAD (3.5 hours)
Rabat-Ville to Marrakesh: 112 MAD (5 hours)

COACH/BUS
There are actually a few companies but I relied solely on CTM (pronounced "set-tee-am") services. Seats are electronically allocated though plenty of Moroccans tend to ignore this arrangement and chose to seat at will. The seats are comfortable enough but a warning though: The buses do not come with toilets so, don't guzzle down that much a liquid! (There will be 1 or 2 toilet stops or more, at the whims of the drivers) I prefer the coaches more as the highways they went on tend to come with fantastic sceneries, especially along the coastal stretch from Casablanca to Tangier. (Immensely breathtaking)

Please note that you must pay an additional 5 MAD for handling of luggage at CTM Terminals BEFORE your journey.

Cost of some of my journeys (1 way) circa Jan 08:
Casablanca to Tangier: 140 MAD (7 hours)
Tangier to Fes: 113 MAD (6 hours)
Marrakesh to Casablanca: 70 MAD (4 hours)

It's just too simple and too sweet. The trains are generally clean, comfy, and if you go first class (which is practically no different in price) you are guaranteed the seat for the trip. (2nd means you could stand) It is safer than the buses (which have had a series of publicized accidents recently) and you get bathrooms, a little table to eat food on, the snack and sandwhich man..etc.

I would be taking trains everywhere in the States if they were this cheap, this lovely and this efficent.

Use the triotours site below as it is simply the most reliable helpful site imaginable for Moroccan travel, amongst other things.

http://www.triotours.com/faq/ma/train-timetable-download.htm

Bayti: Care for the Street Kids of Morocco
Morocco
Learn Arabic
Bargaining pt 1

Photos by Jamal Morelli, uploaded at Studio Shamharush

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The Moroccan Rail is almost on time and Class I is enough comfortable for the way. You can buy train ticket in any station and change the train in Casa Voyageur Station for Marrakesh. It takes about 4 hrs. They sell sandwich and beverages in the train but you need to change money in the Mohammed V airport.

Most of our travel around Morocco was by train. The trains are cheap and fairly reliable though a little slower than European trains. We usually travelled first class as there wasn't too big a difference in price between first and second.

The rail network is not comprehensive. It covers most of the big cities but many popular smaller towns such as Essaouira or Chefchaouan are not on it.

Times and fares for our journeys:
Tangier - Fes: 5 hrs, 141 Dh
Fes - Meknes: 1 hr, 20 Dh
Meknes - Rabat: 2.5 hrs, 80 Dh
Rabat - Marrakech: 4 hrs, 100 Dh