Overland Morocco Travel
West Africa > Morocco
Currency to display:
Contents
- 1 Visiting Morocco
- 2 Entering Morocco with a Car or Motorcycle
- 3 Driving in Morocco
- 4 Fuel prices in Morocco
- 5 Safety and Security Considerations
- 6 Camping in Morocco
- 7 Navigation
- 8 Overlanding places of interest
- 9 Vehicle Maintenance
- 10 Buy or sell a car or motorbike in Morocco
- 11 References
- 12 Helpful External links
Visiting Morocco
From beaches to sand dunes to mountains and lakes, Morocco has it all and is considered to be one of the best countries in the world for Overlanding.
The people of Morocco are extremely friendly and welcoming, adding to the amazing experiences on offer here.
Entering Morocco with a Car or Motorcycle
Correct as of: September 2017
Travel Visa for Morocco
Currently UK and EU citizens, Canadians, Americans and Australians Morocco can stay for three months without visa. You will be given the entrance stamp at the border or on the ferry. Some east European nationals as well as South Africans and others require a visa which must be applied for in advance and which lasts a month. South African passport holders must apply at a Consulate where they hold residency and the fee for a three month visa is EU35.
Required Documents
No special document are required to enter, except of course for your original Vehicle registration.
You fill out an immigration card at the border (or on the boat) as well as a temporary vehicle importation document (TVIP; D16). Processing is fast and easy.
Process at border
A detailed write up of the process from 2017 http://sahara-overland.com/2014/12/27/morocco-documents/
Cost of entry
Free.
Permitted length of stay
Typically three months per person and up to six months per calender year for the vehicle.
Extension of stay
An extension for three months is easy and straightforward at regional police stations. It is free. Takes two to three weeks, but the three months validity may start from the date of application. Details vary from region to region. You will need 6 to 8 passport photos, copy of credit card (just one card for both of us). A letter from a campsite saying giving their address. Many campsites will do the work for you, perhaps for a small fee.
Extending vehicle insurance may be more challenging. Local insurance offices will only insure Moroccan registered vehicles. Border insurance can be renewed at their offices, but you must go in-person and they don't have many offices.
Others say It's probably easier to nip back to Spain and back than get bogged down with extending your stay at some office.
Storing a vehicle and temporarily leaving the country
This can be done with Customs at airports. Details on Horizons Unlimited Morocco Forum
Exiting with a vehicle
Get stamped out of the country, then get the customs to cancel your TVIP.
You keep one copy, they keep the other.
Driving in Morocco
Recommended books for overlanding in Morocco
Travel insurance for Morocco
World Nomads offer the most flexible Travel Insurance at the best prices for multi-country / multi-year trips. You can buy, extend and claim online, even after you've left home.
Vehicle insurance requirements
Insurance is available at most ports of entry. Tangier Med (the easiest port to enter Morocco) has booths alongside bureau des changes, just beyond customs. You may be covered by your own insurance, but check first. These days few UK companies will issue a green card extension for Morocco.
Cost of vehicle insurance
You can buy insurance (assurance frontiers) at some ports of entry for fixed periods of 10 days, one month and three months from د.م620.00 MAD to د.م1,950.00 MAD for a motorcycle or car. (A 100 MAD is about 10 euro). Smaller camper vans can obtain 3 month insurance for EU180 (the third month is a bonus). Motorhomes are at least double. It's the vehicle that's covered so anyone can drive who holds a full licence.
Where to purchase vehicle insurance
At the port on entry.
Driving licence
Your home licence is sufficient.
Driving side of road
Right.
RHD vehicles can be driven in Morocco.
Mandatory items in vehicle
State any mandatory items that must be carried in the vehicle. (i.e. safety triangle, first aid kit, fire extinguisher, etc.)
Roads
General road quality
Road quality varies. Some paved highways are excellent and can be traveled at almost 100km/h, while mountain tracks can be extremely rough and slow going. Beward of hazards like reckless drivers, wandering animals, unsigned speed bumps and large pot holes.
Road signs
Road signs are usually present showing the way and distance to the next major city. Street names are often not signed in cities.
Toll roads
Motorways in Morocco take tolls. As an estimate it costs around د.م220.00 MAD to travel down the A1 from Tangiers to Marrakech, about a day's drive
Bribery in Morocco
Bribery is uncommon, though it does happen. Police are generally friendly and very professional.
Checkpoints
Police checkpoints are common at the entrance or exit to virtually every city. As a foreigner you will be waved through most of the time. If not, show what documentation they may require (passport; insurance; TVIP).
There are many more checkpoints south of Tan Tan on the Atlantic coast and inland in Western Sahara. The officers here usually ask for a fiche (French for form), a photocopied sheet of paper you fill out in advance with your passport, vehicle and entry details. Handing over a fiche saves them laboriously writing all this information into a ledger. People have reported needing 40 fiches for all the different checkpoints. Come prepared. Download a blank template here: [1]
Police are also posted on major highways with speed radar guns, and will issue you a ticket for speeding, so keep to the limits.
Traveling with pets
List the entry requirements and anything else required to travel with a pet.
Fuel prices in Morocco
Last updated: September 2017
Currency and unit to display:
| Gasoline Grade | Price |
|---|---|
| Unleaded (called "Super", "Sans Plomb" or just "Sans") | د.م10.60 MAD per Liter |
| Diesel | د.م9.30 MAD per Liter |
| 100km south of Tan Tan fuel is discounted by 35% |
Fuel Availability / Frequency
There are no fuel shortages in Morocco.
Almost every town has a fuel station. Fuel shortages occur in the far south from time to time (on the way to [Mauritania]).
It's advised to fill up at every opportunity.
Fuel Quality
Gasoline is high quality.
Diesel sulfur content is 10 ppm effective 2015.
Safety and Security Considerations
Driving at night
Driving at night should be avoided due to hazards on the road and vehicles with no lights.
Vehicle parking
Vehicles are very safe on the street, though it never hurts to pay for secure parking overnight.
Special driving considerations
The Rift Mountains are a known marijuana growing region, and it's not advised to drive there at night.
Security advisories and information
- Country Specific Information - U.S. Department of State
- Travel Reports and Warnings - Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
- Travel advice by country - Foreign and Commonwealth office (U.K.)
- Travel Advice for Morocco - Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Camping in Morocco
Campsites are plentiful in Morocco. It's rare for a city to have less than a few options.
Campsites usually have a hot shower, bathrooms and shady parking for around د.م35.00 MAD and may have wi-fi and a pool for a cost of around د.م100.00 MAD for two people and one vehicle.
A number of the larger cities also have secure concrete parking lots where you can sleep in your vehicle for around د.م80.00 MAD. Tent camping is not allowed in these lots.
Wild camping is popular in the lesser populated areas of Morocco like the Atlas Mountains or the southern desert. Use your discretion.
Camping guide books
List and link to books specifically for camping.
Drinking water
Tap water is considered safe to drink, though can be salty in some desert areas.
Paper maps
Though many are available, for overlanding Reise Know-How and the Michelin 742 are amoung the best paper maps. Purchase paper maps before arriving in Morocco
GPS Maps of Morocco
Free GPS maps include Marokko Topo [2] which, although it has not been updated since 2009, had plenty of user generated routes on it by that time. OSM [3] is another more regularly updated free GPS map of Morocco. Garmin's North Africa Topo covers the continent from Mauritania to Egypt with the best coverage (much of it taken from OSM) in Morocco. The price has now dropped to a very reasonable £20.
Tracks4Africa GPS maps cover all of Africa. Tracks4Africa is an SD Card for Garmin GPS, and contain routable turn-by-turn maps with 809,000 kms of roads and over 129,000 points of interest.
Tim Cullis is the Patriach of Morocco Overlanding & Adventure Travel and his forum Morocco Knowledgebase includes maps, waypoints, POIs, guidebooks and tons of info about navigation. Check here: [4]
Among other things, Chris Scott's Morocco Overland webpages include extracts, maps and waypoints from his guidebook: [5]
The best English-language forum for Morocco ovelanding is on Horizons Unlimited where Tim Cullis and Chris Scott frequently contribute: [6]
GPS co-ordinates for camping, propane, gas, repairs, etc. in Morocco
- iOverlander is a website and iPhone application designed by Overlanders, for Overlanders. It contains GPS co-ordinates and reviews for camping, hotels, propane, water, mechanics, borders and much more.
Overlanding places of interest
- The best opportunities for overlanding are in the less populated and developed Atlas Mountains and the desert beyond.
- The Erg Chebbi sand sea near Merzouga offers the chance to ride or drive on dunes.
Vehicle Maintenance
Dealers
4x4s / Trucks
- Toyota Global Dealer Locator
- Land Rover International Dealer Locator
- Mercedes Benz International (select country on bottom right)
- Jeep International site locator
Motorbikes
Local Garages
- Iriki Garage - they specialize in overlanding
- Pneus Bensouda in Fez
Buy or sell a car or motorbike in Morocco
Without a local address and other documentation, it is virtually impossible for a foreigner to legally buy a vehicle, far less sell one in Morocco. If your vehicle becomes damaged or destroyed and recovery to Europe is unviable, you may well end up paying Customs to officially write it off.
References
Helpful External links
http://www.morocco-knowledgebase.net/forum/forum.php
http://www.sahara-overland.com/morocco-overland
- Morocco: Visa and Passport requirements | World Travel Guide
- Health Information for Travelers to Morocco - Center for Disease Control and Prevention
- Morocco travel guides at wikivoyage
- Morocco - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
