Getting Around Morocco By Train

Should You Rely on Trains to Get You Around Morocco?

Trains represent a super easy way to travel internationally, especially if you’re from the United States and you don’t live in an area with easy access to trains. When you build your itinerary for Morocco, one of the decisions you’ll make is how you’ll travel around. Will you use flights, trains, taxis, buses, rental cars, or some sort of combination of them all?

Your choices probably depend on how long you plan to stay in Morocco, as well as the activities you’ll pursue while visiting. For my trip, I found that the trains were a much better choice than flights when traveling between the major cities of Casablanca, Marrakech, and Fez. The distances were just long enough that I could have taken flights, but taking trains ended up offering a much less stressful experience.

Having taken public transportation in several countries, I can confidently say that taking the train almost always wins out over flying. Not only is it greener, but it’s also much easier to waltz onto a train and take a seat than it is to get to the airport and fight with all the hassles that come along with boarding a plane in the modern era.

Fortunately, Morocco has several high-speed trains, meaning you can crisscross the country in just a few hours due to their quick speeds. However, even if the trains weren’t considered high-speed, you could still make the choice to travel around on the train system, simply due to its simplicity and reliability. Using trains is easy in Morocco. Let me share with you my experience traveling throughout Morocco on trains.

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How is the Quality of the Trains in Morocco?

From what I read before I traveled to Morocco, some of the trains in the country aren’t in the newest condition, so I was initially prepared for some less-than-stellar traveling conditions. However, I’m not too picky when it comes to my environment while traveling. I can easily block out whatever I need to, whether it’s a small space, an unkempt area, or old machinery.

Regarding the trains in Morocco, I didn’t find any of them to feel rickety or excessively old. The bathroom was a little dicey, and it was clear a lot of passengers had used the trains for several years, but overall, they were safe, comfortable, smooth, and in good working order. We never experienced any delays or issues along the way.

I decided to book “first class” on the train, which apparently meant we shared a smaller cabin area with four other passengers rather than the entire train car. However, the price difference was only a few dollars per ticket (I’m writing in American dollars here rather than the local currency, just for reference). I read a few articles suggesting that the environmental controls were better in first class, but the temperature wasn’t obscenely hot during our trip, so I don’t feel I can truly comment on the temperature.

As far as the overall quality of the seats and such, each train we rode was comfortable, and there was a nice amount of space for each seat. I’d consider myself a normal weight (I’m not an excessively skinny person, but I’m not fluffy either), but I think you’d still feel comfortable in the seat even if you were on the fluffier side of life. The seats are definitely more generous than an economy-size airline seat, which I barely fit in even though I’m a “normal” size.

Can You Get Everywhere By Train in Morocco?

I used the trains in Morocco to reach the major cities on our trip. So, we took a train between Marrakech and Casablanca and then another between Casablanca and Fes. Now, if I’d had more time (and I’ll definitely do this in the future when I return and visit Tangier and the Blue City), I’d have used the high-speed train between Casablanca and Tangier, too, which I assume would have given me the same general experience as I had on the other trips.

It’s important to note that all of the trains in Morocco aren’t considered high speed, which means they don’t all travel at the same rate. When you make your reservations, take note of the travel time. If you’re looking at a train ticket from Marrakech to Casablanca and see a train that takes more than about 2.5 hours, it’s not an express train.

If you’re creating an itinerary that includes the smaller cities in Morocco, you’ll probably end up traveling by bus or car, which is particularly common when you’re taking day trips from the major cities. For example, we stayed in Marrakech for several days at the start of our trip and took trips out of the city with drivers who took us to our destinations and then drove us back in the evening.

When we concluded our time in Marrakech, we boarded a train to get to Casablanca, our next major point of interest. It’s worth noting that there are plans to build more high-speed trains in the future throughout Morocco, so it’ll become easier to get to some of the cities around the country other than Marrakech, Casablanca, Rabat, Fes, Tangier, and some little stops along the way.

Book Train Tickets in Morocco

If you do a search for train tickets in Morocco on Google, you’ll get a few advertisements for ticket-buying services for trains in Morocco. Do not click on these services. You’ll pay an unnecessary fee when you book with these third parties. My advice is to book directly with the train company. You can either do this online through their official website or you can stroll up to one of the windows at the train station on your day of departure.

If your travel plans are fluid and you’re not quite sure when or what day you’ll depart, you can definitely buy your ticket on the day you want to leave the city. From what I’ve seen, the train station wasn’t ferociously busy, but the train was reasonably filled by the time it departed. If you decide to wait until you’re in the country to buy your tickets, you might consider going to the station the day before you leave to buy your tickets a day in advance.

When you purchase your tickets online, the train company will email you your ticket and it will have a QR code in it that you can show the ticket person on the train who will come through at some point in the journey to check your tickets. You can also print out the tickets ahead of time if you’re nervous about having access to your phone. A screenshot of the ticket also works, as long as the brightness on your phone is up to full.

Don’t be nervous about booking your train tickets. Riding the train in Morocco is easy, and it’s a popular option for locals. The price is so affordable, too, that it’s worth paying a few dollars more than you would for a bus ticket, which would take about ten times longer. Okay, maybe not ten times longer, but the train is probably your fastest option, even when considering flights since you have to get to the airport so early when flying these days.

Should You Consider Renting a Car in Morocco?

Several of our Moroccan tours had drivers who took us to our destinations, and I don’t think I’d recommend renting a car in Morocco unless you’ve got nerves of steel. If you’re driving in the middle of nowhere, you can probably get around okay, but driving in busy places like Marrakech and Fes is absolutely dangerous.

We saw no less than three accidents occur right in front of us. Not fender benders, either. Full-on really bad accidents where someone needed an ambulance. We also saw more than a few bumps and scrapes where cars just looked like they were playing a game of pinball with one another. It’s just the way drivers are in Morocco. You have to drive aggressively, or you just can’t get out into traffic and get anywhere at all, especially during rush hour.

As someone who regularly drives in Los Angeles, which I would consider one of the most hectic areas to drive in the United States, the driving environment in Morocco would be too much even for me to handle. It’s possible that you could handle it if you were only visiting Casablanca, but really, who only goes to Casablanca on a Moroccan vacation?

Further, catching a taxi from the airport when you arrive is pretty inexpensive, and the trains are really affordable, too, in Morocco. Not only would I definitely recommend using trains whenever possible during your Moroccan vacation, but I’d also avoid renting a car unless you have experience driving in an environment like Morocco already. If you’re from Vietnam, you’ll have no trouble driving in Morocco. If you’re from Kansas, don’t even think about picking up a set of car keys.

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