Morocco itinerary

This detailed itinerary includes specific timetables and prices for our journey, but it's still not entirely fixed, since we may change our journey if we decide so. So it is more a rough day by day guide.


Tue, 04.09. - Gorizia to Milan.
Start of our journey on Gorizia Centrale train station. Train leaves at 17:47 and arrives to Milano Centrale at 22:45. Ticket cost is 32,50 € (see link). Transfer train station to Milano Malpensa airport at 23:15 hour, arriving to airport at 0:05 hour. Ticket cost is 6,00 € (see link - price and link- timetable). Overnight on airport.

Wed, 05. 09. - Milan - Madrid - Marrakech.
The EasyJet plane leaves Milano Malpensa at 11:15 from Terminal 2 (T2), arrives to Madrid (Terminal 1) at 13:35 (flight duration 2 h 20 min). Ticket cost is 22,99 €. Changing planes in Madrid. EasyJet leaves Madrid at 20:05 from terminal Terminal 1, arrives to Marrakech at 20:10 (mind the change of time zone). Ticket cost is 29,99 €. Take a bus or taxi to the medina (city center) and find a hotel. A petit taxi should cost no more than Dh60 (a little less than 6 €), the bus (no. 11) runs irregularly to Djemma el-Fna, cost Dh3 (Lonely Planet: Morocco or the Bible, pg. 321). Overnight in Marrakech, cost should not exceed 15,00 € per person.

Thu, 06.09. - Marrakech.
A whole day dedicated to exploring Marrakech. Overnight.

Fri, 07.09. - trip to the desert.
I can't go into details here, since things are so blurry, we don't even know if we'll find a decent option to go. We will try to find or join a group to the desert in Marrakech. It should by no means come more than 70,00 € per person, the usual rate is 35,00 €. It would be perhaps easier to travel from Marrakech to M'Hamid (bus travels 8 hours, cost is Dh120) and book a 1-night camel trip with Sahara Services (Sunset tour) for a cost of 38,00 €. Though this would mean a LOT of driving.

Bus Marrakech - M'hamid: There are 2 connections daily from bus station Bab Doukkala in Marrakech, the bus at 8.30 arrives in M'hamid at 20, the bus at 19.00 arrives in the morning at 8.30. There is also a CTM-Bus from Marrakech (0.30) to Zagora, arrival 9.00. From Zagora there is a collective taxi every 40 minutes, price 25 DH (2,50 EUR).

Sat, 08.09. - return from the desert to Marrakech.
Overnight.

Sun, 09.09. - Marrakech, going to Essaouira.
Exploring Marrakech until afternoon. Journey to Essaouira. Supratours or CTM bus costs aprox. Dh65 (130 km, the Bible says Dh35 for a 3 h drive). Accommodation in Essaouira, overnight.

Mon, 10.09. - Essaouira, going to Fes.
Exploring Essaouira in the morning, then going to Fes. There are no trains from Essaouira, but there is a bus service connecting Essaouira to Safi, from where the train leaves for Fes. There are 2 buses daily leaving Essaouira for Safi, the journey takes 2,5 h and costs Dh40 (about 4 €). The train connecting Safi to Fes departs at 15:50 and arrives to Fes at 00:10 with a stop at Benguerir. The journey takes 8,5 hour (see link). Ticket price is Dh178 (16,00 €). In Fes search for a hotel. Overnight.

We may as well skip this whole Essaouira thing and from Marrakech travel straight to Fes. In this case there is a good train connection. Ticket price is Dh180, the journey takes some 7 h and there are several departures throughout the day (see link). The bus connecting the two cities takes a 9 h drive and costs some Dh150. We may consider a day trip from Fes to Meknes, or spend a day more in Chefchaouen, Tangier or Seville.

Tue, 11.09. - Fes.
A whole day dedicated to exploring Fes. Overnight.

Wed, 12.09. - Fes. Night travel to Tangier.
Spending the day exploring Fes until night. Night travel to Tangier (or Tanger). Train leaving Fes at 01:50 or 2:50 (on Thu, 13.09.), arriving to Tangier Morora at 7:16, changing trains at Sidi Kacem (arrriving 3.33, departing at 04.25; see link). Train journey takes about 6 hours. Ticket price: 2nd class 97 dh, 1st class 145 dh.

Thu, 13.09. - Travelling to Portugal.
Ferry to Spain (Algeciras) leaves port at aprox. 9:00 or 10:30 (see link), ticket price: 31,00 - 36,00 €. Ferry journey takes 1h 30m. Since we may arrive to Tangier in early morning, we might catch the 9:00 or 10:30 ferry, arriving to Spain at 10:30 or 12:00.

Considering the border-crossing procedures, we may lose some time in the Algeciras port and therefore miss our bus connections for Portugal. I imagine we will catch the Algeciras - Seville bus (leaving at around 15:30, arriving to Seville at 19:00, journey takes 3,5 h, ticket cost aprox. 15,30 €, see link), but not the Seville - Lagos connection (last bus leaving at 16:15). Therefore we may need to spend the night in Seville and take the first bus to Lagos at 6:30 am (arriving to Lagos at 9:40 am, ticket cost is 20,00 €) or the one at 8.30 am.

Unless we try a bit to catch the 5:30 ferry to Spain, then arriving to Algeciras at 7:00 am, catching the 10:00 am bus Algeciras - Seville (arriving to Seville at 13:45) and then the 16:15 bus Seville - Lagos (arriving to Lagos at 21:45).

The bus from Algeciras will most probably arrive to the Prado de San Sebastian Station, but for Portugal the bus leaves from the Plaza de Armas Station. Both stations are practically in the center and in most cases you can walk to or from both of them. If not, take a taxi and give the name of the bus station. Plaza de Armas is about 3 blocks from the Triana bridge and Reyes Catolicos. The Prado de San Sebastian station is close to the university and across the street from the Jardines Murillo.