Getting Around Morocco: Trains, Buses and Taxis (2026)

Getting around Morocco is easier than it looks: trains link Tangier, Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakech and Fes, CTM and Supratours coaches reach almost every other town, shared grand taxis cover the short hops between them, and metered petit taxis work inside each city. What public transport does badly is the last miles: there is no railway south of Marrakech, so the Sahara, the Atlas valleys and Essaouira are all reached by road.

Below, our team in Marrakech explains how each option works in 2026: where it goes, how to book it, how long it takes, roughly what it costs (at €1 ≈ 11 MAD), and where a driver saves you a day.

The short answer

How	Where it goes	Best for	How to book
Train (ONCF)	Tangier, Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakech, Meknes, Fes, Oujda	the cities of the north and centre	oncf-voyages.ma, the ONCF Voyages app, station counters
Coach (CTM, Supratours)	almost every town, including the south and the coast	Essaouira, Agadir, Ouarzazate, anywhere off the railway	ctm.ma; Supratours on oncf-voyages.ma; their stations
Grand taxi	short and medium hops between towns and villages	Asni and Imlil, the Ourika valley, regional trips	at the grand-taxi station, pay the driver
Petit taxi	inside one city only	rides across town, three passengers at most	hail one in the street or at a rank
Domestic flight	long distances	Oujda, Tangier, the far south	airline websites
Driver or tour	wherever you want to stop	the Sahara, the Atlas, several stops in a day	an agency with licensed vehicles

If your trip is Marrakech, Essaouira and the desert, you may never board a train. If you link Fes, Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakech, the train is the backbone.

Trains (ONCF)

The national railway, ONCF, runs three kinds of train that matter to visitors:

Al Boraq, the high-speed train, runs only between Tangier, Kenitra, Rabat and Casablanca: in summer 2026, 30 round trips a day, roughly hourly from 6:00 to 22:00.
Al Atlas intercity trains use the classic lines to Marrakech, Fes, Meknes, Oujda and the other cities (70 connections a day in summer 2026).
TNR shuttles serve the suburbs and Casablanca's Mohammed V airport: in summer 2026, 36 airport trains a day, hourly from 6:00 to 23:00. During the high-speed works the airport train has been replaced by coaches at times, so check before you fly.

There is no railway beyond Marrakech: no train to Essaouira, Agadir, Ouarzazate, the Atlas or the desert. Supratours coaches take over there.

Classes, journey times and fares

Al Boraq and Al Atlas trains have first and second class. Second class is fine for a few hours; first class is quieter and more likely to have seats left on busy days. Since summer 2024 you can choose your seat online, free of charge, on Al Boraq and Al Atlas trains.

Route	Train	Journey time
Marrakech–Casablanca	Al Atlas	about 2 h 55
Casablanca–Tangier	Al Boraq	about 2 h 10–2 h 30
Marrakech–Tangier	Al Atlas, then Al Boraq (one change)	about 6 h
Marrakech–Fes	Al Atlas, direct	about 7 h

ONCF fares have varied with demand since 2018, so there is no single price: book early and travel off-peak, and you pay less. ONCF's ticket site wouldn't load for us when we checked, so these ranges come from travel guides updated in July 2026: Marrakech–Casablanca costs about 90–160 MAD (€8–15) in second class and 140–220 MAD (€13–20) in first; Casablanca–Tangier on Al Boraq about 150–220 MAD (€14–20) in second and 230–360 MAD (€21–33) in first. Promotions come and go: in summer 2026 ONCF sold 250,000 "Yalla Al Atlas" tickets at 49 MAD (about €4.50) to travellers who booked ahead.

For the long day to Fes, our guide to getting from Marrakech to Fes compares the train with the coach, the flight and the desert route.

How to book

Online: oncf-voyages.ma sells every train and the Supratours coaches, with an e-ticket on your phone. It has accepted international cards since a 2019 redesign.
App: ONCF Voyages, in English, French and Arabic, sells the same tickets and keeps them on your phone.
At the station: staffed counters (cash in dirhams) and ticket machines.

Some foreign cards are still refused at payment. Travellers reported in 2026 that the website stalled while the app worked, or that one card went through where another failed. If nothing works, buy at the station. A day or two ahead is usually enough; book earlier for Al Boraq, first class, weekends, school holidays and the days around Eid, when seats sell out. ONCF's customer line is 2255 from a Moroccan phone.

Works on the Marrakech line

The Kenitra–Marrakech high-speed line is being built, and the works affect today's trains. No train reached Marrakech station from 21 to 23 April 2026 (they stopped at Sidi Brahim and coaches covered the last stretch), and on 14 September 2026 ONCF brought in a new timetable, with changed times, shortened routes and some small stations closing. ONCF warns that the works can mean delays and longer journeys. Check your train in the app a few days before you travel, and leave a margin if you're connecting with a flight. Our news article on the high-speed train to Marrakech follows the works and the planned opening.

Long-distance coaches: CTM and Supratours

Coaches go where trains don't. Two companies matter:

CTM, the national coach company, links almost all cities from its own stations, in Premium, Confort Plus and Confort classes. Buy on ctm.ma or at a CTM station. The e-ticket on your phone is enough. Tickets aren't refundable, but you can change them up to 12 hours before departure.
Supratours, ONCF's coach company, connects with trains and serves towns off the rail network: Essaouira, Agadir, Ouarzazate and further south. Its tickets are sold on oncf-voyages.ma and in the ONCF Voyages app, so you can book train and coach together.

Both are air-conditioned and far more comfortable than local buses. Around school holidays and Eid, book a day or two ahead.

A few practical points:

Luggage: CTM takes two bags in the hold, each up to 20 kg, for a fee that starts at 5 MAD a bag; hand luggage is limited to 40 × 50 × 16 cm. You hand bags in at the coach, not at the counter.
Stations in Marrakech: CTM leaves from its own station on Boulevard Abou Bakr Seddik, Supratours from beside the railway station on Avenue Hassan II. They are a few hundred metres apart in the new town; check which one your ticket names.

Example: Marrakech to Essaouira takes about 3 hours and costs about 80–120 MAD (€7–11) one way, according to 2026 guides. If you'd rather make it a day out with stops on the argan road, our day trip to Essaouira does just that.

Grand taxis: shared cars between towns

Grand taxis are shared cars and vans running fixed routes between a town and its neighbours. They wait at grand-taxi stations and leave when full, with up to six passengers. Fares are per seat and set by the local authorities (a prefectoral order fixes them line by line), so ask the price of a seat, "une place", before you get in, and pay the driver.

In a hurry? Buy the empty seats and the car leaves straight away. Buying two seats also gives you more room.
Whole car: you can hire a grand taxi for a private trip; the price is then agreed with the driver.

From Marrakech, grand taxis are useful for Asni (change there for Imlil), the Ourika valley and other short regional trips. Each direction leaves from a different station, and the stations move, so ask your riad which one you need.

The sector may change: in December 2025 the Interior Ministry said its strategic study of taxis had finished its diagnosis and was drafting reform scenarios.

Petit taxis inside the cities

Petit taxis are small cars that stay within one city, and each city has its own colour: ochre-beige in Marrakech, red in Casablanca and Fes, blue in Rabat, light blue in Tangier. They take three passengers at most, children included; four or more of you need a grand taxi or two cars.

The meter (le compteur) is the rule. Ask for it as you get in. If the driver refuses, agree a price before the car moves, or wait for the next one.
Night tariff: fares go up at night, from about 20:00 or 21:00 depending on the season. Guides usually put the supplement at 50 %.
Shared rides: the driver may pick up another passenger going your way.
Pay in cash, with small notes. A short ride in central Marrakech costs about 15–20 MAD (€1.40–1.80) on the meter.

Marrakech has a known problem with this. In spring 2026 TelQuel described drivers who pick their passengers, refuse the meter or quote inflated prices. The authorities do act: more than 300 taxi licences were withdrawn or suspended in Marrakech between January 2023 and February 2024, and nationwide the Interior Ministry counted about 5,000 taxi offences in 2025, with more than 1,500 drivers' permits suspended or withdrawn.

Ride-hailing apps are an alternative in some cities: Uber returned to Marrakech at the end of 2025. Our article on Uber in Morocco explains how it works and how it compares with a petit taxi.

From Marrakech airport to the medina

You have three ways into town.

Taxi at a fixed fare. Airport taxis don't use the meter: fares are fixed by zone by the province of Marrakech. The tariff reported in January 2024 is 80 MAD (€7) by day and 120 MAD (€11) at night for a petit taxi to the nearest zone, and 120 MAD by day and 180 MAD at night beyond Oued Issil. Travel guides updated in 2026 report paying about 70–100 MAD by day and 120–150 MAD at night to the medina or Gueliz. Groups of four to six need a grand taxi, which costs more (from 100 MAD for the shortest distance in 2024).

The taxi counter. Since May 2023 ONDA, which runs the airports, has had a taxi counter at the arrivals exit. You give your destination, pay the fixed fare by card or cash, and get a receipt and a queue ticket for the next taxi. The booking address announced at launch, order.kech.cab, now leads to wetaxi.ma, a fixed-price taxi service that covers Marrakech airport. The counter isn't flawless: in 2025 drivers' unions complained of system breakdowns and wrong addresses, so have your riad's address, phone number and nearest gate written down.

Bus 19. The airport bus, run by Alsa, leaves from opposite the arrivals hall about every 20–30 minutes from early morning to late evening, stopping near Jemaa el-Fna, in Gueliz and at the railway station. A ticket costs about 30 MAD one way (about 50 MAD return), in cash to the driver.

Riad pick-up. Many riads arrange a transfer. Cars can't enter most medina lanes, so the driver stops at the nearest gate or square and someone from the riad, often with a handcart for the bags, walks you to the door. Our tipping guide gives the usual amounts for porters.

Domestic flights

Royal Air Maroc offers about two-thirds of domestic seats (65 % in summer 2026, according to OAG data), mostly through its Casablanca hub. Ryanair, which has flown domestic routes since 2024, and Air Arabia Maroc share most of the rest. From Marrakech, Ryanair flies direct a few times a week to cities such as Fes, Tangier, Tetouan, Oujda and Errachidia. Routes and days change with the season, so check the airline's own site.

A flight makes sense for long distances: Marrakech to Oujda or Tangier, or the far south (Laayoune, Dakhla), mostly via Casablanca. For a first trip it rarely does: with airport transfers, check-in and flights only a few days a week, the train or the road is often about as quick. Errachidia, the nearest airport to Merzouga, is still a couple of hours by road from the dunes.

The desert and the Atlas without a car

This is where public transport runs out of road.

The Sahara: coaches reach Ouarzazate in about 4 to 4½ hours, and a daily coach leaves Marrakech in the morning for Merzouga, about 12 hours away according to booking sites' timetables. You'd still need a camp, a camel trek and a way back, across the High Atlas by the Tizi n'Tichka pass. Our article on the Marrakech to Merzouga route describes the road and its stops.
The High Atlas: grand taxis go from Marrakech to Asni and on to Imlil, and the Ourika valley works the same way. You get there, but with no guide for the walk and no fixed ride back.

Here a tour or a private driver earns its cost: one vehicle from your door, stops where you want them, and no waiting for a car to fill. Our Sahara tours from Marrakech take 2, 3 or 5 days, and our Atlas Mountains day trips bring you back to Marrakech the same evening.

Car hire or private driver?

On the coast and between the big cities, a hire car gives you freedom. On the long mountain roads to the Sahara, or if you'd rather watch the landscape than the bends, a driver makes more sense. Our guide to driving in Morocco compares the two, with the rules and the real costs.

Planning a route that mixes trains, coaches and a few days with a driver? Send us your dates on WhatsApp or through our contact page, and we'll tell you which legs are easiest by public transport.