Mohammed V is the one Moroccan airport where I genuinely weigh the train against a car every time I land. The station sits right under the terminal, down one escalator from the arrivals hall, and the ONCF line drops you at Casa-Voyageurs or Casa-Port for the price of a coffee. No other airport in the country gives you that — at Marrakech, Fes, Agadir or Tangier the only way out is a road and a negotiation.
The trap is that Casablanca is a sprawling, traffic-choked city of nearly four million, so once you factor in a second taxi from the station to your actual hotel, that cheap train ride quietly stops being cheap. Where you're sleeping decides this, not the headline fare — and that calculation flips completely the moment your flight lands after the last train has gone.
Compare your options
| Your options | Price from | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Private transfer Recommended 35 min | €30 · 320 MAD | Late flights, families, the corniche or a business address |
| ONCF train 45 min | €4 · 40 MAD | Solo or budget arrivals near Casa-Port or Casa-Voyageurs |
| Airport grand taxi 35 min | €26 · 280 MAD | Travellers confident haggling on arrival |
How to get there
The ONCF train from beneath the terminal runs roughly hourly to Casa-Voyageurs and Casa-Port for about 40 MAD (€4), taking around 45 minutes — unbeatable value if your hotel is near either station or the Casa-Finance City interchange. Buy the ticket from the machines or the counter by the platform; you don't need to reserve. By road it's about 30 km up the A7, normally 35 minutes but easily an hour in the morning crush, when the inbound carriageway toward Boulevard Zerktouni and the centre clogs from around 8 to 9.30.
Airport taxis here are the worst-value in Morocco: there's no meter for tourists and drivers routinely open at 300–400 MAD, so a fair negotiated fare to downtown is more like 250–300 MAD — and you settle it before the boot closes, not at the destination. A pre-booked private transfer lands around €30, fixed before you fly, which is what most business travellers and anyone arriving with luggage choose; the driver meets you with a name board and there's no haggling and no station change.
The train wins on price; the car wins the moment you're staying out on the corniche, travelling as a family, or arriving outside ONCF hours.
Arrival tips
A transfer driver will take you straight to your hotel door — the Hyatt by the old medina, a tower in Casa-Finance City, or one of the seafront hotels strung along the Ain Diab corniche, none of which the train comes close to. If you take the train instead, note the difference between the two central stops: Casa-Port leaves you a short walk from the old medina, the port and the Marina district, while Casa-Voyageurs is the better stop for the business district, the United Nations square and onward intercity trains to Rabat or Marrakech.
The Hassan II Mosque, the one sight in Casablanca worth crossing town for, sits between the medina and the sea — time your visit for the guided tour slots rather than turning up cold, since the interior only opens to non-Muslims at set hours. Have a few small notes ready for porters and the petit-taxi at the station end; nobody breaks a 200 MAD bill cheerfully.
Plan your arrival
- Before you fly, check the last ONCF departure for your arrival time — if you land after the late evening, the train is off the table and a pre-booked car is the only clean option.
- In the arrivals hall, draw 500–1,000 MAD from an ATM and pick up a SIM or switch on your eSIM; you'll want small notes for the taxi or porter either way.
- For the train, ride the escalator down to the ONCF station under the terminal and buy a ticket to Casa-Port or Casa-Voyageurs at the machine.
- For a taxi, agree the full fare in dirhams before the boot closes — 250–300 MAD to the centre is fair, and don't accept the opening 400.
- If you booked a transfer, look for your name board past the customs doors and confirm the driver has your exact hotel, corniche or Casa-Finance City address.
- Tell any driver your district by name — Anfa, Maarif, the corniche, the medina — so they route around the A7 chokepoint rather than ploughing into it.
Assuming the train drops you near your hotel. Casablanca is huge — a station arrival can still mean a 20-minute petit-taxi ride across town and a fresh fare argument at the rank, which erases the saving and the simplicity in one go.
If you're heading to the Ain Diab corniche or anywhere west of the centre, skip the train and book the car — the cross-town leg from either station eats any saving and you'll be hauling bags through a busy concourse. And if you land after about 10 p.m., don't even price the train; check the last departure before you fly, because being stranded at the rank at midnight is exactly when taxi drivers name their highest number.
Good to know: The train is cheaper, but a transfer wins for late flights, luggage and business arrivals.
