Marrakech Airport Transfers

If there is an airport where it is worth hiring a pick-up service in advance, it is the airport of Marrakech (Menara). On arrival you will find cabs, unofficial vehicles (and not very safe) and virtually no one accepts payment by card.

The distance from the Menara airport to the center is only 6 km. This does not mean that the airport is well connected to the city center by public transport. I will tell you the best ways to get around:

If you are traveling with someone this is the best option. With a price starting from 6 euros per person, a reliable professional driver will pick you up on arrival and take you to your hotel. If you need to hire this service to transfer you from your hotel to the airport it is also available on your return for the same price. Booking this shared transfer from the airport to the center of Marrakech can be done in advance and is very easy.

When you book online you will receive an email asking for your flight and hotel details. This is necessary for the driver to meet you on arrival (even if your flight is delayed). You will be informed by email of the meeting point, but normally the driver will be waiting for you with a sign with your name on it, so you won't get lost. This reservation guarantees you, in addition to a fair price, the safe arrival at your hotel.

This private transfer service from the airport to the center of Marrakech is similar to the previous one, but with the big difference that you will not have to share the vehicle with other travelers. The driver will be waiting exclusively for you and your group and will drop you off at the door of your hotel without intermediate stops.

The procedure is the same as when booking a shared transfer: provide your flight details online and arrange the pick-up point with a reliable driver upon arrival at Marrakech airport. The difference is that the services are slightly better and you do not need to travel in a group to use this service as it is available on an individual basis for a price starting from ten euros.

Another advantage of this option is that you will be able to understand your driver in English, Spanish or French, something quite convenient in a country where the predominant language is Arabic. In short, a premium transportation option to your hotel for a quarter of the price it would cost you in many other airports.

You can also hire this service in reverse: private transfer from the center of Marrakech to the airport, the driver will pick you up at your hotel in time for you to arrive at the airport in time for your flight departure. Remember to correctly provide the address of your hotel or riad so that he can set a meeting point nearby in case he cannot get the car to the door.

Ana's Traveller Tip:

Do not be lured by drivers who approach you upon your arrival at the airport; the prices they offer to take you are inflated and it is not safe.

There are two types of buses from the airport. The ALSA bus (line 19), stops at key points such as Jamaa el-Fna square, Gueliz, Hivernage, the bus station or the train station. From 6:15 in the morning to 23:30 at night the service of these buses is uninterrupted, they pass with a frequency of 20 to 45 minutes, the journey takes about 20 minutes (if there is no traffic ... in Marrakech times are always approximate) and costs about 3 euros.

At a stop a little further away from the airport (you will have to leave the terminal across the parking lot and walk along the road out of the airport) is the bus line 11. It is the cheapest way to get to the center so for only 50 cents, you will have stops in the Yamaa el-Fna square or in the Menara gardens. Of course, you will have to be patient because in Marrakech bus schedules may vary.

There are always cabs. If you have not booked transport in advance and do not want to use the bus, upon arrival at the airport you will surely have several cabs waiting for you; the really difficult thing is to distinguish them among the thousands of drivers who will offer their services "for free". The official cabs are beige and have the identification plate on the top.

The most controversial issue with cabs in Marrakech is the taximeter: not all are willing to put it and not all taximeters work. This means that the most common is to fix the price of the transfer by the bargaining method in which the drivers will always go for the high end of the ride. Their first offer may even be around 50 euros; then, depending on your reaction, they will lower the price to start negotiating more realistically.

Always agree on the price of the trip in advance or urge the driver to put the meter on and take into account the price that private drivers charge in advance for the trip from the airport to the city. Keep in mind that after nine o'clock at night you enter the night rate and prices increase by 50%. In any case, for safety reasons, an official cab is better than one of the independent drivers offered to you when you arrive at the airport.

Remember to always carry cash because practically none of them accept credit cards. If you intend to pay them in Euros, surely they will not refuse, but they will apply a surcharge.

Most travelers arriving at the Menara airport have the center of Marrakech as their final destination, particularly inside the Medina. However, it is possible that upon arrival you may consider (or need) to go to another destination. The transportation options are similar, but there are some differences in distance and prices that you should be aware of.

To the Sahara Desert

I head the list with the most famous desert, not because it is a viable option to get from the airport, but to take into account the distances between different points of the country or, what is more accurate, the state of transport and roads. If your trip to Morocco has as its main objective the Sahara desert you will have to first pass through Marrakech.

This desert is quite a distance from the city and is visited, in most cases, with organized transfers and excursions. No transport will take you from the airport to the desert; your only possibility to avoid passing through Marrakech would be to arrange with an organized excursion, in exchange for a supplement, to pick you up there if the arrival of your flight coincides with the departure time of an excursion. I leave you here an article I have written on 10 Day Trips and Excursions from Marrakech so you can plan your visit.

To Essaouira

Essaouira is one of the most common excursions from Marrakech, but it is similar to the Sahara desert: unless the company organizing your excursion is willing to pick you up at the airport instead of your hotel, it is better to visit Marrakech first and book an organized excursion. Read more here: Essaouira Day Trips from Marrakech.

To the train or bus station

If your final destination is the city's train or bus station you will not have a hard time getting there. Both are centrally located (north of the Menara Gardens) before reaching the interior of the Medina. Both pre-booked shuttles and cabs should have no problem getting you there for the same price. However, make sure they don't give you a higher price making you think that the station is further away than it really is.

Ana's Traveller Tip

If you are hiring an airport transfer or vice versa outside of an official website, remember that the custom in Morocco to fix prices is to haggle.

The arrival at the Menara airport is, after all, the arrival in Marrakech and therefore you may have some doubts, apart from transport, on how to get around the city. Some of the most common are:

Is the city safe?

The city is quite safe, but it is likely that upon arrival you will not get that feeling if you have never visited Morocco before. The avalanche of drivers who will offer to take you on arrival or the narrow and lonely streets of some areas of the Medina may make you think that you are not safe, but this view is far from reality. It does not hurt to be cautious (after all, it is a city with a different culture that you do not know) but you should not be afraid of Marrakech. To learn more about safety in the city of Marrakech, I leave you this post.

Where do I change money?

Avoid changing money at the airport. The rates will not be as good as in any money exchange office in the city center and you don't need it either, as many places will accept euros on arrival (for example in a cab). A good tip is to change it before you travel, asking for it at your bank in advance.

About traffic

Also the distance is not directly related to the time it will take you to get to your hotel... Traffic in Marrakech is unpredictable and not smooth at all; even if Google says that in about 15 minutes you should be in the city center, the journey could take up to an hour. So it is important that before traveling, you inform yourself about how to move in Marrakech.

Even so, one thing is theory and another is practice. If you do not have transportation booked in advance, you will find that dozens of drivers will assail you upon your arrival at the airport offering to take you and will even try to take your luggage directly to their car without having negotiated the price.

About prices

If you have never been to Morocco, perhaps an offer of 20 euros one way seems reasonable to you; it would be if it were not for the fact that the trip to the city can cost less than half... My advice is not to be seduced by the insistence of these drivers: they will inflate the prices a lot (since in Marrakech the custom to fix the prices of products or services is bargaining) "just in case" and it is not safe to ride in a vehicle that is not official or that does not have the corresponding guarantees.