Marrakech Airport to Fes Private Transfer

The drive from Marrakech Airport to Fes

Fes is 530 km from Marrakech Menara Airport (RAK), about 5 h 30 of driving. The whole trip is on toll motorway. The car heads north across the plain to Casablanca, takes the bypass, follows the coast to Rabat, then turns east past Khemisset and Meknes to Fes.

A shorter line on the map runs inland through Beni Mellal and the Middle Atlas. It is a single-carriageway mountain road, slower and more tiring, so our time and price are based on the motorway. Our guide to driving from Marrakech to Fes compares both routes.

Drop-off in Fes: medina gates and the new town

The old medina, Fes el-Bali, is closed to cars and is often described as one of the largest car-free urban areas in the world. Your driver stops at the access point closest to your riad:

• Bab Boujloud, the Blue Gate, for the upper medina and the two main lanes that run down from it.
• Ain Azliten, a car park on the northern side.
• Place R'cif for the lower medina, near the river.

Ask your riad which gate to use and to send someone to meet you: the lanes are a maze, and porters with handcarts carry the bags for a small tip. Hotels in the Ville Nouvelle and Fes-Saïss Airport (FEZ), south of the city, are reached to the door.

Breaks on a long drive and planning your day

Plan two or three short stops, which are free. Service areas with fuel, cafés and toilets are spaced along the motorway. With stops, count on 6 h 30 to 7 hours door to door.

Leave Marrakech by 9:00 if you want to walk into the medina in daylight. Prefer to break the trip on the coast? See the private transfer to Rabat.