Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2022 4:33pm
Just thought I would update anyone who was thinking about going to Morocco with their car from Spain.
I have to say this was one of our best holidays ever. We both have been to many countries around the world but our 1 month driving around Morocco was the best and surprising. It is highly recommended.
We left Algeciras the middle of last month. Pre-booked our ferry online with aFerry app on my phone. Arrived at port, gave our reference number and was issued with our tickets. Just remember you have to arrive at the port 90 minutes at least before the ferry departure. At the immigration point presented our UK passports & TIEs. THe National Police officer gave our TIEs back and stamped our passports - I queried it as we have not had our passports stamped before when flying but he said it was for Moroccan immigration on arrival. The ferry was very good and the journey was only 90 minutes.
At Tangier Med port you go though passport control (no visa needed) and then drove on to Moroccan customs - they had sniffer dogs checking the vehicles, custom officer asked me to open the boot - saw the three bags and said “OK”, he only wanted to know if we had a drone, drugs, guns or ammunition. Handed the Spanish car registration document over and he walked into an office and came out a few minutes later with it and a paper card with car details on it - DO NOT LOOSE IT!! When you leave Morocco on you return to Spain they will ask for it and on checking their system will stamp it and give it back to you. It is just to make sure you are not going to sell you car in Morocco. After that call into one of the many booths to exchange your money into Moroccan currency - it is illegal to import or export their currency so you must use a legal currency exchange office (they are all over the place in Morocco) as you will get an official receipt when leaving the country to change any money back to you original currency - BUT we got “taken for a ride” when leaving Morocco, one month later when we arrived to return in the port an “official” with a badge asked for our tickets (which had to be reissued) and came back with new tickets, he then asked if we had any Moroccan currency to change - I could see the booths across the road we used on the journey in but he took the money and said he would change it to euros - he and another chap opened a drawer and gave a bad exchange rate and then both guys asked for a tip for issuing the tickets - a complete ripoff BUT THIS WAS THE ONLY TIME IN 1 MONTH THERE THAT WE HAVE BEEN RIPPED OFF - and that was in the secure Tangier Med port complex. Journey back was simple and before we got onto the ferry our car and baggage was scanned (like what is used for trucks) with more sniffer dogs and then more police asking for passports and checking inside the car again but it was all pretty swift. On arrival back in Spain once our passports and TIEs were checked (and stamped again) we drove to customs (Guadia) who just waved us through - from docking to on the road was less than 10 minutes - amazing.
Anyway I will not go on too much but we travelled over 3,500 km and the roads and motorways are amazing. Well most of the roads, a few were a bit “suspect” 😂 but even though there is a lot of traffic in the cities especially with scooters and taxis all over the road it is good and to be honest the cars have hardly any bumps or scratches so they are careful. Parking is easy most of the time - even public “free” car parks a guy with a yellow or red tabard will ask for some money for “having looked after you car” on your return but for the equivalent of 2 euros it is worth it - and that is the same for “private” car parks in someones ground etc. motorways are so cheap we travelled nearly 80km from Tangiers on excellent 2 or 3 lane motorway with excellent clean and modern services along the way where a cup of coffee is around 1 € AND everywhere when ordering coffee you are given a sealed small bottle of water. I made the mistake of bringing a couple of packs of bottle water with us - definitely a mistake - we ended up with more water bottles than Mercadona stock 😱😂.
We stayed in Riadas mostly and a few hotels - they were all excellent and EVERYONE we met were so nice, polite, spoke English and helpful. Even in the middle of nowhere there would be a stall selling all sorts of stuff, they would try to sell you something but if you say “no thanks” that is that no hard sell or nastiness. The food everywhere was amazing and while we brought some tablets etc for “the runs” we never had any issues. The only place we were ripped off was when leaving Morocco in the secure port for the ferry back by a couple of “officials” to get our tickets. Never anywhere else by anyone.
As I said driving was very easy BUT and a very BIG BUT they have speed cameras and hand held speed camera police everywhere and I mean everywhere - even on a very straight road in the middle of nowhere there will be someone checking your speed - I would say they are obsessed with traffic laws and you are fined on the spot. Every largish town or city there will be police road checks/barriers but 99% of the time we with Spanish plates were waved through - only stoped at one once and the cop really only wanted a chat - was very polite and they all salute you - we met a number of visitors who were booked for speeding so be careful. We were never asked for our insurance certificate only my Spanish driving licence, I went to produce my Spanish International Driving Permit but he said not needed - Spanish driving licence is acceptable in Morocco.
Finally (thanks be to God you may say) I have to say it is an amazing country, people and food. In fact we are going back again next year after the winter rains to go to parts we missed. If anyone would like further information or clarification on anything please just private message me, sorry for going on 😂😂
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