By Train, Marrakesh

There are 8 trains departing for Meknes.

Journey time 7 hours.

Tickets are around 154 dirhams in 2nd Class.

It's worth it to pay abit more and go 1st. still very cheap.

Please use prices as a rough guide only.

There are 8 trains departing for Fes.

Journey time 8 hours.

Tickets are around 171 dirhams in 2nd Class.

It's worth it to pay abit more and go 1st. still very cheap.

Please use prices as a rough guide only.

There are 9 trains departing for Rabat.

Journey time 4 hours.

Tickets are around 101 dirhams in 2nd Class.

It's worth it to pay abit more and go 1st. still very cheap.

Please use prices as a rough guide only.

There are 9 trains departing for Casablanca.

Journey time 3 hours.

Tickets are around 76 dirhams in 2nd Class.

It's worth it to pay abit more and go 1st. still very cheap.

Please use prices as a rough guide only.

Took the train to Marrakesh from Casa. Cost DH140 in 1st class - seats allocated.

Generally it was fine, but it left 30 minutes late and had lost another 15 minutes by the time it arrived.

It had a refreshment trolley to sell you a sandwich & Coke at your seat. Bring your own beer.

Leaves from Casa Voyageurs station. Check the ONCF website for times.

The first half of the trip (coastal plain) is uninteresting, but once you get into the dry semi-desert it is more fun.

What a wonderful thing to do in mid December – bouncing along on the mid morning Marrakesh Express through bright red semi desert watching the goats flee the excitement.

From Marrakech you can take only the train to the north, to Casablanca (3-4 hrs), Rabat (4 hrs), Meknes (7hrs) or Fez (8 hrs). There are several trains a day to Casablanca, some direct trains to Meknes and Fez and overnight trains to Tangier.

To other places in Morocco you can take the ONCF related supratours busses. For all actual schedules of the trains and the supratours busses you have to look at the website of ONCF.

The railwaystation is the Ville Nouvelle about 1 km west of the Place du 16 Novembre. When I visited Marrakech in march 2007 and january 2008 the reconstruction of the new railwaystation was still in progress.

Getting to Casablanca - and out of - by train is very comfortable. Trains are mostly on time, cheap and quite nice. There are two classes - and the second class is more than adequate and quite roomy. We travelled once in first class and noticed very little difference, except perhaps that seats are reserved. Basically: take second class if you are departing from where the train is originating - and this is always the case in Marrakech, since it's the end of the train line. Try to be there some 30 minutes before your departure, as trains are normally there quite a while earlier to be cleaned - and hop on as soon as possible.

An added bonus of Marrakech station is that it is right beside an Ibis hotel - which means that you can use a clean toilet as soon as you arrive, since toilet trains are never too clean (well, in Morocco they are not that bad either).

If you want to make sure you get a seat buy a first class ticket, the first class is the front cars.
Generally I found Moroccans to have an almost German-style efficiency about things, the return trains were late though.