The idea of a car trip through Morocco arose with no much previous planning, irradiated by the shiningly and genuinely free combination of vivid adventure and time saving operation.
We decided to take a car to maximize our short stay there, also taking into account the drawbacks implicitly connected with the local public transportation, still grounded in fragmentary schedules and intermittent territory covering.
To drive in Morocco you do not need anything other than your national driving license and renting a car is also very cheap. We paid just 192,00 Euro for 7 days of rent.
We had to struggle a bit to find the cheapest and most reliable solution for our purpose: 10 days travel from Fez to Agadir, where we had frugally decided to set our trip posts.
Although you have multiple local chances to rent a car on the spot, it is probably better to book it in advance to make sure you have the option to deliver it in a different city and you do not lose too much time in browsing the national car renters.
Furthermore, apparently cheap local renters may present you with:
- Vehicles not always in good shape and not fit for long journeys on the rough Moroccan ways, especially in the mountains and near the desert
- Contracts including hidden costs and deceitful clauses.
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The first option, as usual, is looking up on the international portals like rentalscars or moroccocar, which sometimes may offer good deals, because they buy high volume services from the providers; otherwise you can directly go for the long established providers like Avis, Hertz, Budget, Sixt, Europcar, etc.
After a long research on the pages of those companies, we found out that we were always asked for the “drop off at a different location” fee, generally within 50 and 100 Euros for an economy vehicle.
The only company allowing the drop off and no explicitly charging for it was Europcar.
We went for it!
I would certainly then recommend to add the extra insurance (“Super Loss Damage Waiver” or better “Super Plus Loss Damage Waiver”) for just 5 euros (SLDW) or 10 euros (SPLDW) extra a day to avoid any claim later. This applies to economy vehicles. Bigger cars may present higher rates. Be aware that the more you insure your vehicle, the less the company retains from your credit card as insurance deposit in case of damage. Without insurance you may be held several hundreds of Euros.
The car provided was indeed not the same as advertised in the website, but a similar one, fairly dusty and dented. However in a working status. The contract was actually not showing the damages and we did not realize at the beginning.
Always ensure to check that the existent damages are reported in the contract.
- Drive in the cities
Driving in Fez, Marrakesh and Agadir (the three main cities we touched in our trip) may result a bit burdensome. Hindrances are represented by the congested circulation; the great amount of swarming motorcycles popping out from everywhere; the patchy lighting and signage (generally in French and Arab, sometimes only in Arab); the missing street names; the frantic flaring of car horns to call attention or show impatience, the narrow streets in or near the medina or mellah (Jewish district) and all sorts of “misbehaviour” from other drivers, which is inevitably almost worldwide unfortunately. Nonetheless that may be safely overcome with a bit of extra focus and determination, especially arriving at crossroads.
- Drive in the Middle Atlas
Once you get out from the big cities, you are faced with a quieter environment. The national road linking Fez-Meknes-Ifrane-Azrou is wide and calm, with no particular dangers during the day, when we did it.
We started to encounter some inconveniences when taking the route from Azrou to Khenifra (passing through the Sources de l’Oum-er-Rbia), where the “beloved” potholes and roadworks began…Be careful with the scattered rocks on the often uneven roads.
They might pierce the tyres or crack the windshield, for which you are maybe not insured with your car rental company. Deviations are quite frequent as well.
- Drive at night in the High Atlas
Since we did not plan any accommodation in advance (apart the first two nights in Fez), we often had to improvise according to the opportunities we were offered on the road. Furthermore, in our first day of driving we miscalculated the daylight timeline, so that we happened to drive during the night through the mountains.
As you approach the Sources de l’Oum-er-Rbia, roads gradually become more arduous and narrow.
You will find soft and unpaved sections, which deserve more attention, due to lack of visibility, long sequence of blind curves and people walking on the streets. Luckily you hardly bump into other vehicles in the way. In Khenira you take again the wider national road towards Marrakesh, where the amount of traffic even during the night is vexatiously astonishing compared to the previous mountain placidity. You will encounter disarming, clogging queues of trucks, uneasy to overtake at night. Be careful with the overtakings and the misbehaviour of Moroccan night drivers, prone to take many risks.
The situation changes again when entering the R503 to Aghbala and Imilchil, at night almost ghostly desert: no cars in any direction; narrow and abrupt streets and no lighting.
Also make sure you have enough gasoline to get to Imilchil, because you have around 150 Km through the mountains without gas stations (we almost run out of petrol ourselves!). You will just find tiny and scattered villages. Again many roadworks , unpaved stretches, dangerous potholes and narrow deviations. Be careful to avoid unpleasant tyre punctures. The check point at Imilchil was indeed a relief to tank up and give a break to the overheated compact car…
- Drive from Imichil to Tineghir
You will fast realize how “misleading” are road distances in these areas. Due to all the obstacles (roadworks, holes, deviations, people on the street…), it can take 2 hours and a half to cover 100 Km, even with no traffic. At the same time, landscapes are fascinatingly breathtaking and so worth to be seen. We enjoyed a lot this part of the trip. People will greet you everywhere and children will try to playfully run after your car. Before Tineghir you will only pass through 4 “main” villages, one of which – Tamtattouchte – is really impressing.
Streets are still very curvy and uneven. No many cars in the way but you will have another captivating challenge: crossing small rivers on the road as you approach to the bewitching “Gorges du Todgha”.
You will find yourselves in the middle of enchanting canyons and deep gorges. When you arrive at the wondrous “Gorges du Todgha”, you will bump into a sudden cluster of vehicles which will slow you down a little bit. At Tineghir you get back to the comfortable national road (N10).
- Drive towards the desert
The section Tineghir-Tinejdad-Erfoud-Rissani-Merzouga is quite easy. Large , fluent roads with speed limit at 100 Km/h.
The pitfalls here are the speed traps and the bustling villages intermittently placed in the route. Be careful with the speed limits, police has manual radars and is often placed at the entrance of the residential areas. We were stopped once because of only few Kms of speed excess. Luckily they jokingly accepted our subdued apologies and let us go, maybe because I was with my girlfriend and I promised to marry her in front of them : )
Also ensure you have the seatbelts buckled.
Sometimes we forgot to do that and eventually in Rissani a policeman stopped us and luckily let us go again, compassionately accepting our servile apologies…it worked again. As you approach to Merzouga and the desert, you will see less and less vehicles. Roads are still very fluent, tidy and in really good conditions. No need for 4X4 here. Any vehicle will do until Merzouga. However when accessing Merzouga or Hassi-Labied (where we spent the night), be careful because some areas could be quite sandy and thus impassable for a normal compact car. We almost “beached” once.
Better to arrive there during the day to have better visibility of these dangers.
- Rissani-Ouarzazate-Marrakesh-Essaouira-Agadir
The road connecting Rissani to Ouarzazate (N10) is very simple and straightforward. The temperatures here are oppressively scorching and may represent a problem for the vehicle integrity.
We preferred to drive fairly slowly to avoid engine overheating and tyres wear. Besides, keep an eye on the level of oil and gasoline, as the petrol stations are not so frequent here. On a whole, the road is really rapid and you will get to Ouarzazate in few hours, unless you find a brave storm as it happened to us : )
Storms in Morocco may beat down with devastating impetus, transforming the streets in stony rivers, which you will need to dare to cross with your small car. Quite an adventure !
Few hours later, past Ouarzazate direction Marrakesh, we bumped into another whipping tempest which made the tortuous bends of the N9 a challenging deed ! The N9 clambers up to high peaks which can become quite dangerous with those torrential showers and after dusk. The massive presence of heavy trucks makes it even more troublesome. Watch out !
The N8 towards the long-coveted seaside and Essaouira is indeed relaxing. Pay attention to the speed limit because police is again at the entrance of almost each town, manually checking the velocity with radars. The limit there is always 60 Km /h.
The coast linking Essaouira with Agadir is again uncomplicated. We recommend to take the panoramic coast road P2201 through Sidi Kaouki and Imsouane, from where you can charmingly admire the rough ocean and stop at the wild beaches for a swim or a surf session, if you are up to….and why not, stop for really delicious seafood !
- Sleeping in the car
Once we decided to maximize the car benefits and save some accommodation money by sleeping in the car. The seaboard might be proper for it, since you do not get many unwanted visitors like in the cities. However, we had some problems with the rigorous guardians of the huge construction sites nearby Taghazout and up to Agadir. They are everywhere ! They allowed us to park and sleep by the building sites but they were spookily coming back and forth with their blinding flashlights, besides the swarms of mosquitoes entering through nobody knows where ! Not the best experience ever : )
- The parking attendants
A final mention goes to the (unlicensed) parking attendants: a true, established caste in Morocco !
They are “recognizable” by their fluorescent jacket and they are everywhere: cities, towns, villages and near any tourist attraction indicated in the main guides.
Be prepared to have loose coins with you and bargain the “fares”. They are vigilant like pit-bulls and run after you in case you try to escape without paying. They also exactly memorize all the plates in their jurisdiction and the number of days you have parked there. Since their network is quite strong, it’s maybe better to avoid problems and pay the due, though giving them the half of what requested. If asked about their authorization to operate, they answer they have no badge but only a “written” paper in Arab that they do not bring with them. Definitely a lost cause !
FINAL SUMMARY
I would definitely recommend to rent a car in Morocco because:
- It’s totally affordable (less than 30 Euros / day for a compact car).
- Gasoline is cheap (1 euro or less per litre of unleaded gasoline. Diesel even cheaper)
- Connections with public transportation is complicate and time-consuming, especially with a limited amount of days. Morocco is really a big country and distances there are quite relevant.
- You have air-conditioning and, trust me, you will need it in summer near the desert with almost 50 degrees !
- You can basically park everywhere, but always for a small fee : )
- More flexibility (stop everywhere and visit less accessible places) on your schedule.
Nevertheless, pay attention to the following pain points:
- You need great focus to avoid a series of unexpected obstacles on the swarming roads, like people wandering about in the middle of the road at any hour of the day and the night; animals with or without trailers (sometimes with no lights at night: ); sudden small village fairs and markets; wild parking, teeming motorcycles, etc…
- Be careful with the roadworks, the potholes and the deviations, especially at night.
- Be watchful with the speed limit and police controls, quite frequent nowadays.
- Be prepared for long stretches without petrol stations, bars or other facilities.
- Ensure the vehicle is quite new and in good conditions to go through the changing and demanding roughness of the Moroccan territory (high and steep mountain roads, uneven pavement, sandy roads, floods, sultry temperatures, etc..).
But we survived and we are preparing the next trip !!! : )
