London Gatwick to Marrakesh Easyjet 3 hours 10 mins. About £250.00 return. Book on line, check in on line, take hand luggage only if possible as its much easier. and included in the ticket price. Extra bags are £30.00 each.
Train from Marrakesh to Fes from the main train station. Eight hours BUT the trains are exceptionally good, cheap, comfortable, clean, and air conditioned. Make sure you go first class ( prèmiere classe) which will ensure you get a seat. think the fare was £25.00. You cant book train tickets in advance so just turn up and buy one as you travel. Dead easy and all of the ticket people we met were helpful and spoke English, although we spoke to them in French.
Fes. Stayed in a riad. Booked online so we had somewhere to stay and didn't have to scrabble around looking for something after a long journey. That cost about £30.00 for both of us per night, breakfast included, and we were right in the heart of the Medina. And they came and collected us from where the taxi dropped us off.
Meknes. Petit taxi to the train station which cost about £2.00. Train from Fes to Meknes was about 30 minutes and cost about £6.00.
Found a hotel in Lonely Planet guide. Basic but clean, shared loo and shower but a basin in the room. Wifi didn't work but there was a Macca's down the road so we used that.
Twin room cost us £8.00 per night for both of us.
Rabat. Flagged down a Petit taxi in the street to the station. Train from Meknes to Rabat took about 45 mins. Another £2.00 or so. Found a hotel in Lonely Planet. That one cost about £20.00 for both of us.
Casablanca. Another easy train journey and cheap hotel. Cost about £20.00 for both of us.
Essouaira. The train doesn't go to Essouaira but you can buy a combined train/bus ticket via Marrakesh as the train company also owns the bus company. (Supr@tours). Its a four hour train ride from Casablanca to Marrakesh and we couldn't get first class as the train was full. That made the journey hot and tiring as there were no seats and no air conditioning. However, the bus station is right outside the train station entrance BUT you must go to the luggage office next door and get a ticket for each piece of baggage that needs to go in the bus hold ( and it all has to go in except your immediate hand baggage) That cost 10 dirhams each and you get a receipt which you need to show when you retrieve your bag off.
The onward coach trip is another 3 hours but its a comfortable modern and air conditioned coach.
Another hotel from Lonely Planet again - and another £30.00 for the pair of us.
Agadir. got the CTM bus to Agadir. This is the other main coach company and we got the local version which was a bit ramshackle but OK and luxurious in comparison with previous bus trips in Kazakhstan. Locals were friendly too. That cost us about £10.00 and took several hours, we got dumped off it a long way from where we wanted to be, but a passing taxi took us to the hotel we had booked.
Agadir is a resort town and so accommodation is often full so its worth booking in advance as its mostly tourist type hotels not really within walking distance of each other. The hotel we found was a small tourist hotel and we booked it online for about £35.00. It was good value too.
Marrakesh. CTM and supr@tours both do this route, both run from the main bus station, and both cost about £10.00. and use the same baggage ticket system. you can just turn up and buy a ticket but we had a long wait here as all buses were full. The when we did get on one (at 1730 hrs) it broke down and a replacement bus did not turn up for two hours. But it was ok.
Marrakesh is tourist - and so annoying and persistent tout - central and so again its worth booking accommodation on line before you get there to ensure you don't get hassle. We found a really nice riad, 200m from the main square which cost us about £170.00 for both of us for six nights. It was a little suite of rooms, breakfast included, and very good value.
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