Jamie Fehr

Now finding myself in the midst of my fifth tour (that’s right, five) of the popular North African country I really feel like there should be something in the archives of this site sharing with the masses a little of what I’ve learned about life in this sometimes difficult but always interesting, incredibly diverse country.

Getting “Rugged”

Some people have demonstrated to me a serious aversion for this place on the grounds of personal safety and while I’m not saying that their fears are entirely unfounded the worst thing the average tourist will encounter is a rugging.

Definitions of this common occurrence can vary but to me it usually refers to getting deceived into entering an “artisans cooperative” or “art exhibition” where people will try and sell you carpets you may or may not want. For the record this is pretty much unavoidable. You will get “rugged” in Morocco.

So my advice for when this does happen to you, drink the tea they give you, listen to what the proprietor has to say and enjoy the ceremony. When they start talking about price don’t let them fool you into paying more then you would want. I find that when I really want out sticking to really insulting low price is a great way to ejected from the premise without having spent any money I didn’t want to.

What’s most important is that you treat this as a lesson on how to deal with these people. They will be pushy and you need to know to ignore or be rude to them when you have to. Also you should know that if anyone rendered you even a small service they will want a tip, which you do owe them (just don’t let them embellish you).

Train vs. Bus vs. Grand Taxi vs. Grand Taxi vs. Petit Taxi vs. Bus

Another important thing to learn about Morocco is how to get around. I do not include air travel in this list because I have never flown in Morocco.

Train: In my opinion this is the best way to get between cities, but not by far. The train network isn’t nearly as extensive as the bus network nor is it quicker in many cases. However, when you ride first class train, you don’t pay a quarter of what you would for the same ride in Europe and you get all the amenities: The freedom to get up and use the toilet, snack carts during the trip and cabins with A/C (usually). Locals will usually try to convince that you shouldn’t take the train and I don’t know why this is, but if there is a train that departs at a convenient time for you take it. You won’t be disappointed. Remember: Buy first class tickets, they’re not that much more expensive and you get an assigned seat.

Bus: What Morocco does have is a cheap, extensive bus network that will get you from nearly anywhere to nearly anywhere. I recommend the CTM buses for the reasons that they do check your bags to make sure that people only walk away with the bags that are theirs (rather than thieving the baggage holds) and the A/C on their buses usually works. Bus is by no means quick or comfortable way to travel but they do stop every two hours so you can refresh yourself with some Moroccan BBQ and mint tea and for the Record this is usually how I travel.

Grand Taxi: Occasionally you may find yourself in some small Moroccan hick-town with bus service and it’s at this point where you’ll be looking into getting a Grand Taxi to get you to your destination. There are however two distinct ways in which these taxis work which is why they make the list twice. There are Grand Taxis that follow fixed routes for a fixed price and then there are Grand Taxis that you charter for specifically your purposes. The latter being the more expensive and the former being more or less exactly like a small bus. Something to remember is that when you’re chartering a Grand Taxi is that you need to arrange a price beforehand and Grand Taxis in general will take six passengers or more.

Petit Taxi: These you will find in nearly every Moroccan city and each city has it’s own color for it’s fleet of Petit Taxis. They’re great in that they’re cheap but they are very limited in how far they will take you; they won’t drive beyond their city limits, which in some occasions can be very cumbersome as some cities really have started blending into each other.

Bus: As a tourist it is very unlikely that you would ever take one of these city transit buses as their stops are generally unmarked, their routes hard to decipher and the financial savings marginal, but if you ever wanted to wind up in some unknown end of a foreign city you could hop on. Chances are where ever you get off you’re just a cheap petit taxi ride away from where ever it was that you came.

There is more that could be written about, but as I am not very prone to finishing what I’ve started in regards to writing, I stop here, leaving you with some (hopefully) useful information for your next trip to Morocco.