DISCLAIMER: I’m writing this in case anyone ever asks for advice about trip to Morocco. It will probably be quite boring to read. Consider yourself warned.
Transportation
The major airports for tourists are Marrakesh, which is centrally located for a lot of the attractions of Morocco, and Casablanca, which was cheaper for us. There are nice trains (oncf.ma) that run from Casablanca to Marrakech (3 hours about 75 dirhams or 10 dollars) and between other northern cities.
To go east from Marrakech to the Atlas Mountains and then the Sahara or west to Essaouira and the Atlantic coast, you have to drive or take the bus. What is probably the nicest bus company is ctm.ma and they have a proper website with schedules and prices, which I quite appreciate. The train company also runs buses to supplement the train routes under the name of Supratours. They have the advantage of having bus stations right next to the train stations, so transfers are easy, but their website is horribly uninformative. Then there are loads of local bus companies which don’t have websites, but run lots of buses for slightly cheaper rates. CTM made the occasional announcement about rest stops in French, but the local bus we took didn’t say a word. It was okay, but I preferred CTM. I also felt much more secure about the safety of my under-the-bus luggage on CTM.
There are also long distance taxis which are supposed to a be decently priced, but we never took one.
Food and Water
I'm thrilled to say we did not get sick, though plenty of people we met had been. We washed our own vegetables and otherwise stuck to really hot food, yogurt, nuts and baked goods.
The CDC says to drink bottled water everywhere, but Lonely Planet said the water in major cities is okay. We drank tap water in Casablanca, Rabat and Marrakesh and filtered and treated our water in Mhamid and Essaouira.
Sahara Outings
In Marrakech you will be flooded with offers for guided outings to the desert (and also the mountains). The high end tours have website, but there’s lots of comparably priced trips for reasonable prices.
We took the CTM bus to a village called M’Hamid (for about 100 dirham or $13), reserved our own hotel and then negotiated a day trip from the village rather than taking a package all the way from Marrakech. For reference, we paid 1200 dirham (or $145) for a whole day in a 4x4 car with a driver and a guide who spoke French, a one-hour camel ride in the dunes and a delicious lunch at the dunes. We drove about 130 kilometers round trip and stoped at L’Oaisis Sacrée and the Chegaga dunes.
If I were to go back to Morocco someday, I would want to travel with 5 or 6 friends and do a longer camel trek of about 6 days. I would spend only an evening in Marrakech.
Transportation
The major airports for tourists are Marrakesh, which is centrally located for a lot of the attractions of Morocco, and Casablanca, which was cheaper for us. There are nice trains (oncf.ma) that run from Casablanca to Marrakech (3 hours about 75 dirhams or 10 dollars) and between other northern cities.
To go east from Marrakech to the Atlas Mountains and then the Sahara or west to Essaouira and the Atlantic coast, you have to drive or take the bus. What is probably the nicest bus company is ctm.ma and they have a proper website with schedules and prices, which I quite appreciate. The train company also runs buses to supplement the train routes under the name of Supratours. They have the advantage of having bus stations right next to the train stations, so transfers are easy, but their website is horribly uninformative. Then there are loads of local bus companies which don’t have websites, but run lots of buses for slightly cheaper rates. CTM made the occasional announcement about rest stops in French, but the local bus we took didn’t say a word. It was okay, but I preferred CTM. I also felt much more secure about the safety of my under-the-bus luggage on CTM.
There are also long distance taxis which are supposed to a be decently priced, but we never took one.
Food and Water
I'm thrilled to say we did not get sick, though plenty of people we met had been. We washed our own vegetables and otherwise stuck to really hot food, yogurt, nuts and baked goods.
The CDC says to drink bottled water everywhere, but Lonely Planet said the water in major cities is okay. We drank tap water in Casablanca, Rabat and Marrakesh and filtered and treated our water in Mhamid and Essaouira.
Sahara Outings
In Marrakech you will be flooded with offers for guided outings to the desert (and also the mountains). The high end tours have website, but there’s lots of comparably priced trips for reasonable prices.
We took the CTM bus to a village called M’Hamid (for about 100 dirham or $13), reserved our own hotel and then negotiated a day trip from the village rather than taking a package all the way from Marrakech. For reference, we paid 1200 dirham (or $145) for a whole day in a 4x4 car with a driver and a guide who spoke French, a one-hour camel ride in the dunes and a delicious lunch at the dunes. We drove about 130 kilometers round trip and stoped at L’Oaisis Sacrée and the Chegaga dunes.
If I were to go back to Morocco someday, I would want to travel with 5 or 6 friends and do a longer camel trek of about 6 days. I would spend only an evening in Marrakech.
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