We are two women in our 60's who plan to visit Morocco in Sept. What is your experience with getting around in Morocco? Rental car? Train? Bus?. What's driving in Morocco like? Are road signs in Arabic? or French? Should we have our hotel send someone to meet us in every city if we take the train? Are taxi drivers helpful/honest or a rip off?

10 years ago we took the train from Marrakesh to Meknès to Fez, and went back to Marrakesh via first class bus which goes along the foothills of the Atlas range. That is what I would recommend. We also took local buses to market towns up in the Atlas mountains from Fez. We had a guide in Meknès for the city and palaces and also to go to Vorubilis. Our house sitter while we were there was a young blond women who traveled to Morocco by herself with no problems. She gave us some references for Fez. On the other hand, the recent upsurge of fundamentalist Islamic movements may have changed the atmosphere in Morocco.

Kleroux....although there are drivers with Mercedes near every hotel who will drive you anywhere in the country, I would suggest driving Maroc on your own.. it's very easy, good signage, fairly good roads, plenty of petrol stations. Suggest you rent a car, get the Moroccan Michelin and off you go. It is a fascinating, exotic and very friendly country. You will enjoy it to the limit. I would suggest an itinerary that will at least take you to Fes, Erfoud and the Sahara, Ouarzazate, Marrakech and Essaouira. Hotel suggestions: Fes, by all means the Sofitel Palais Jamai, Erfoud the Riad Saalam, Ouarzazate the La Berbere Palace, Essaouira the Villa Maroc, and Marrakech the Imperial Borj. There are cheaper and more expensive hotels everywhere...but these are in the moderate range...between 140-160$.
Have no qualms...and keep camera ready!

Stu T.

Road signs are in both Arabic and French. The main highways are in pretty decent shape, but they're mostly just two lanes. Coming into and getting out of cities involves a lot of playing chicken and maneuvering around horse-drawn wagons, calèches, bicycles, scooters,errant pedestrians, and livestock.

Never took a train there, but know that there are trains between major points as I've seen them. There are plenty of buses but I doubt you'd enjoy them - they're dirty and crowded and in rural areas often have livestock on them.

You can hire a private cab as we did on our 2001 trip for very little money. About $50 a day to take you wherever you want to go and give you some basic touring information (in French - don't know about English).

Tower, I hate to correct you, but the current price for a room at the Palais Jamaii is over 3000 dirhams per night ($350)! I was just there two days ago checking room rates. Sometimes you can get special deals for around $250 per night (not including breakfast or taxes)....but never for as cheap as $150.

Also, the buses that most tourists use are operated by CTM. They DO NOT carry livestock. Only th very very local buses might do that.

I was sure that Morocco is in Africa!

The local buses we took carried livestock on the roof, not inside the bus.

The local buses we took carried people along with the livestock on the roof, when the bus got overcrowded. And there were chickens on people's laps on some buses, too, but these were pretty rural areas.

JenMaroc...what a difference a few years can mean...I recently found out the Sofitel took over the Palais Jamai...we loved the hotel and sent several friends there until last year...I guess the prices went wild after that...
Stu T.