Marrakech to Fes: train, bus, flight, car or through the Sahara?
Six ways from Marrakech to Fes in 2026, compared: the direct train, the CTM coach, flights, the motorway, the Middle Atlas road and three days through the Sahara.
By Ismail8 min read
The simplest way from Marrakech to Fes is the direct train: one leaves every hour, takes about 7 hours and costs roughly 200–320 MAD in second class. A flight takes an hour but only runs a few days a week, the coach is slower and hardly cheaper, and by car it's about 530 km, some 6 hours on the motorway. If you have three days and want to see the desert anyway, the most rewarding way is through the Sahara.
Everything below works in both directions: Fes to Marrakech is the same journey, on the same trains and roads. Prices are rounded 2026 figures, at €1 ≈ 11 MAD.
The quick answer
- Travelling independently, no desert planned: take the train. No change, a reserved seat, and you arrive in the afternoon.
- Short on time: look for a direct flight on your date. When it runs, nothing is faster.
- Three days, and the Sahara on your list: go through the desert, with a night in a camp at Merzouga on the way.
- You'd rather see something than a motorway: take the Middle Atlas road with a driver, over two days, by the Ouzoud waterfalls, the cedar forest and Ifrane.
The distance: about 530 km by the motorway via Casablanca and Rabat, or 485–545 km on the mountain road, depending on the detours.
Six ways compared
| Option | On the move | Door to door | Cost (about, 2026) | What you see | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct train | about 7 h | about 8 h | 200–320 MAD in 2nd class, 300–500 MAD in 1st, per person | plains, Casablanca and Rabat | independent travellers |
| CTM coach | 7–10 h | 8–11 h | 200–300 MAD per person | the same plains, more slowly | night departures, full trains |
| Direct flight | about 1 h | 4–5 h | from about 330 MAD, often much more | clouds | the right day of the week |
| Car or driver, motorway | about 6 h | 7–8 h with lunch | self-drive: hire plus about 700 MAD fuel and tolls; with a driver: 1,800–5,000 MAD per car | Rabat or Meknes, if you stop | families, groups, luggage |
| Middle Atlas road | 9–10 h | 2 days | a car and driver (or a hire car) for 2 days, plus a night | Ouzoud falls, cedars, Ifrane | travellers with a spare day |
| Through the Sahara | 3 driving days | 3 days / 2 nights | our tour: price on request | dunes, gorges, kasbahs | a first trip that includes the desert |
On comfort, the train and a private car are the easiest ways to spend a long day; the coach is the most tiring.
By train: the direct Al Atlas
ONCF's Al Atlas trains run straight through between the two cities, via Casablanca, Rabat, Kenitra and Meknes, with no change. The timetable ONCF published for the high-speed works, valid from 14 September 2026, shows a train every hour in each direction, from early morning until 17:35, taking just under 7 hours: about half an hour more than before the works. The 8:35 from Marrakech, for example, reaches Fes at 15:33. ONCF warns that the works can still cause delays, so check your train a few days before in the ONCF Voyages app or on oncf-voyages.ma.
Fares change with demand, and ONCF's booking site wouldn't show us prices from here, so these ranges come from travel guides and booking sites updated in 2026: about 200–320 MAD (€18–29) in second class and 300–500 MAD (€27–45) in first. First class is quieter and roomier, which counts over seven hours. Take water and lunch with you.
You'll need a taxi at each end. Marrakech station is in the new town, about 15 minutes by petit taxi from Jemaa el-Fna; Fes station is in the Ville Nouvelle, about 10–15 minutes from the medina gates in one of the city's red petit taxis. How to book, which foreign cards work and what the classes offer are explained in our guide to getting around Morocco.
The train also stops in Rabat and Meknes, so you can get off for a few hours and continue on a later train, with two tickets. There is no night train: the last direct one leaves Marrakech at 17:35 (18:35 on Sundays) and arrives around midnight, and the Marrakech–Tangier sleeper is suspended during the works.
By coach: CTM
CTM, the national coach company, runs direct coaches several times a day, some leaving in the small hours. The journey takes 7 to 10 hours depending on the departure, with stops on the way, and costs about 200–300 MAD (€18–27) according to booking sites in 2026. That saves little on a second-class train ticket and costs you two or three extra hours, so the coach makes sense mainly when trains are full (around Eid and school holidays) or when a night departure saves you a hotel night. Book on ctm.ma or at the CTM station, which in Marrakech is in the new town, a few hundred metres from the railway station.
By plane
Ryanair flies direct between Marrakech and Fes in about 1 hour 5 minutes, but only a few days a week: four in the schedules listed for November 2026, and the days change with the season. Fares start at around 330 MAD (€30) booked early and climb as the date nears, with hold luggage extra. Royal Air Maroc connects via Casablanca, which rarely beats the train.
Count the airports, and the one-hour flight becomes a half-day. Marrakech airport is about 7 km from the medina; Fes–Saïss airport is about 15 km from the city, and a taxi to the medina costs about 150–200 MAD (€14–18): agree the fare before you get in. On the right day it's still the quickest option, and handy at the end of a trip if you finish in Fes but fly home from Marrakech.
By car or with a driver: the motorway
The motorway goes via Casablanca and Rabat: about 530 km, 6 hours of driving, 7 to 8 with a lunch stop. On the motorway company's published tariff, tolls come to about 160–180 MAD (€15–16) for a car, and a typical diesel car needs roughly 30–35 litres, about 500–600 MAD (€45–55) at November 2026 prices. Private transfers with a driver listed online in 2026 cost about 1,800–5,000 MAD (€160–450) for the car, depending on the vehicle and what's included.
The motorway itself is mostly farmland, so make the stop worth it: lunch and a walk in Rabat, or a turn-off at Meknes for the Roman ruins of Volubilis, which makes it a full day. Our guide to Morocco's imperial cities suggests how to fit them in. Hire car or driver? Our article on driving in Morocco compares the two, with the rules and the real costs.
The scenic way: the Middle Atlas
The old road between the two cities, the N8, runs along the foot of the Middle Atlas through Beni Mellal and Khenifra to Azrou and Ifrane. It is mostly a two-lane national road, slower than the motorway, but it passes some of the best sights of central Morocco:
- The Ouzoud waterfalls, the tallest in Morocco: 110 metres of cascades in a green gorge, about 3 hours from Marrakech and a detour of some 60 km. Our day trip to the Ouzoud waterfalls describes the walk down to the pools.
- The cedar forest near Azrou, where Barbary macaques live along the road. Please don't feed them.
- Ifrane, the alpine-looking town the French built in 1929, often called the "Switzerland of Morocco".
With the Ouzoud detour the route is about 545 km and, by routing estimates, 9 to 10 hours of pure driving: too much for one day with stops. Split it. Drive from Marrakech to Ouzoud on day one, spend the afternoon at the falls and sleep there or in Beni Mellal; then take the cedars, Ifrane and Fes on day two (about 290 km from Beni Mellal). Without Ouzoud, via Beni Mellal and Azrou, it's about 485 km and roughly 8 hours of driving.
In winter, snow can close the roads around Ifrane and Azrou until the ploughs clear them, as it did in January 2026: check the forecast before you set off.
The long way: three days through the Sahara
For many travellers the best route between the two cities is not a straight line at all. Our 3-day desert tour from Fes to Marrakech crosses the Middle Atlas by Ifrane and the cedar forest, reaches Merzouga for a camel ride at sunset and a night in a camp in the dunes of Erg Chebbi, then heads west by the Todra Gorges and the Dades Valley to Ait Ben Haddou and over the High Atlas to Marrakech. It runs just as well from Marrakech to Fes. Our page on desert tours from Fes sets out the options, and Marrakech to Merzouga: the route explained describes the stops on the southern half.
The catch: three long driving days, about 1,000 km in all. But if the Sahara is on your list, it saves a separate round trip from Marrakech to Merzouga, which takes three days on its own.
Which one should you choose?
- Tight schedule: the flight if it runs on your day; otherwise an early train, which gets you to Fes by lunchtime.
- Budget: a second-class train ticket booked a few days ahead. The coach rarely saves enough to justify the extra hours.
- Families with luggage: a private driver on the motorway, door to door, stopping when the children need it. The train comes next, with a taxi at each end.
- First trip, no desert planned yet: go through the Sahara. Fly into Fes and out of Marrakech, and you have Itinerary A of our Morocco in 7 days.
- Photographers: the Middle Atlas road over two days, so you reach Ouzoud and the cedars in the morning or late-afternoon light rather than at noon.
What's coming: the high-speed line
The Kenitra–Marrakech high-speed line is planned to open in 2029, and the announced journey time from Fes to Marrakech is about 3 hours 40 minutes. Until then it's the classic train; our news article on the high-speed train to Marrakech follows the works.
Arriving in Fes? Our guide to Fes covers the medina and the city's highlights. Not sure which way suits your dates? Send them to us on WhatsApp or through our contact page, and we'll tell you honestly whether the train will do.