Fes from Mohammed V is the longest of these runs — a three-and-a-half-hour motorway haul northeast — and it's the one where I'd push back hardest on booking a car by reflex. The ONCF station sits directly under the terminal, and Fes is one of the better-served cities on the eastern line, so the rail option is real and it's dramatically cheaper than €200 for a private car.
One thing to clear up first: Al Boraq, Morocco's high-speed train, runs Tangier–Kenitra–Rabat–Casablanca, not east to Fes, so nobody is whisking you to the medina at 300 km/h — the Fes leg is the comfortable standard intercity line, double-decker and air-conditioned, not a bullet train. That doesn't change the verdict much. The standard service is still cheap, restful and frequent enough that a solo traveller has little reason to pay six times the fare for a car.
Where the private transfer earns its keep is narrower than people assume: a late-evening landing after the rail day is done, a group splitting the cost four ways, or a family who genuinely won't face a station change with a luggage trolley after a long-haul flight. Know what you're choosing it over before you book it.
Compare your options
| Your options | Price from | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| ONCF train via Casa-Voyageurs Recommended 4 h | €16 · 170 MAD | Solo and budget travellers landing with daylight to spare |
| Private transfer 3 h 30 | €200 · 2160 MAD | Groups, families with luggage, or late-evening landings |
| Grand taxi (from city) 4 h | €35 · 380 MAD | Budget travellers already heading into Casablanca first |
How to get there
The train is the value play and, once you count check-in-free boarding, often barely slower: from the under-terminal ONCF station you ride the shuttle into Casa-Voyageurs (35–45 minutes, around 40–50 MAD), then change onto an eastbound intercity to Fes. The connecting leg runs several times a day, takes roughly 3.5 hours, and costs in the region of 130–200 MAD in second class — call it €13–20 all in versus €200 by road.
First class adds reserved seats for a little more and is worth it at peak times. By road it's about 290 km, a flat motorway run on the A1 toward Rabat then the A2 across to Fes, around 3.5 hours with a private transfer from €200, the driver tracking your flight and waiting if you're late. That price only makes sense split across a group, for a landing after the last useful Fes departure, or for travellers who won't change stations with bags.
Grand taxis for Fes leave from city terminals, not the airport, so they're no help on arrival. Solo and on a budget, take the train every time — it's comfortable, and it sets you down at Fes station beside the ville nouvelle.
Arrival tips
A transfer driver takes you to the right medina gate — Bab Boujloud for the western side near the Blue Gate, or Bab Rcif for the centre — and your riad sends a porter for the bags, since no car enters Fes el-Bali's stepped lanes. Brief the driver on the gate, not a street address: like Marrakech, the old city runs on babs and derbs, not road names.
If you take the train, you'll arrive at Fes station in the ville nouvelle, a 10-minute petit taxi (15–20 MAD) from the medina gates, where the porter handoff still applies. Have your riad's name, the nearest gate and its phone number saved offline, because signal is patchy inside the walls. Whichever way you come, message the riad your arrival time so the porter is waiting — Fes el-Bali is steeper and more disorienting than most first-timers expect, and a guide for the last two hundred metres is worth far more than the small tip.
Plan your arrival
- Before you fly, save your riad's name, the nearest gate (Bab Boujloud or Bab Rcif) and the riad's phone number offline.
- Decide rail or road against your landing time — daylight arrivals favour the train, late ones the car.
- In arrivals, withdraw 500–1,000 MAD and switch on your eSIM; the medina has patchy signal.
- For rail, follow signs down to the ONCF station beneath the terminal and buy the through ticket to Fes via Casa-Voyageurs.
- On arrival, give the gate name to your driver or taxi and let the riad porter wheel your bags down the lanes.
Booking a €200 car on the assumption the train is slow or complicated. The ONCF leg via Casa-Voyageurs covers the same distance in comparable time for under €20, leaves you rested rather than stiff, and skips three and a half hours of motorway — the car is the premium choice, not the default one.
Check the rail timetable against your flight before you decide. Land mid-morning or early afternoon and the connection is a clear win with hours of margin; land late evening and the last useful Fes departure out of Casa-Voyageurs may already be gone — that gap is exactly when the private transfer stops being a luxury and becomes the only sensible way to your riad.
Good to know: The ONCF train via Casa-Voyageurs is far cheaper; a transfer suits late or group arrivals.
