Vehicle with driver
You book a vehicle with a driver who speaks Spanish, by the day or for a single journey, and you set the route. We tell you how many hours on the road each day involves and which vehicle suits your group and your luggage.
The vehicle depends on how many of you are travelling, how many bags you have and whether the route leaves the tarmac. When you write to us, tell us all three.
We suggest it when the trip includes dirt tracks: the edge of the Erg Chebbi dunes, the tracks through the Draa palm groves or an unsurfaced stretch of the Atlas. On tarmac it adds nothing over a van and has a smaller boot.
This is the one we use most. It takes a couple with plenty of room, or a family of five with all the bags in the back. It has air conditioning, which in July between Ouarzazate and Merzouga is no luxury. It reaches the desert without any trouble on a tarmac road.
For groups of friends, study trips or another agency's clients who want to travel together. It can't get into the narrow streets of the medinas, so the driver drops the group at the nearest gate and waits there.
These are the journeys we're asked for most. The times are real driving time with a short stop or two; if you want to eat lunch without watching the clock or stop often for photos, allow a bit longer.
The price is per vehicle per day, not per person. A vehicle with up to 7 seats and a Spanish-speaking driver costs €190 per day, fuel included. If there are more than seven of you, we add a second vehicle or switch to a minibus. The 4x4 and the minibus have no fixed rate: we give you a fixed price based on the route and the distance.
A few examples with the van:
A day trip from Marrakech to Essaouira is €190 for the vehicle. For four friends, that's €47.50 each.
Marrakech–Merzouga–Fez in 3 days is three days of vehicle hire, from €570. For a couple that's €285 per person.
A week from Casablanca through Rabat, Fez, the desert and Marrakech is 7 days, from €1,330 for the vehicle. A family of five pays €266 each.
Ten days around the north and south with six travellers comes to €1,900 for the vehicle, about €317 per person.
These amounts cover transport only. Hotels, meals and entry fees are extra, unless you book a private tour that already includes everything. Airport transfers have no published rate: tell us the flight and the destination and we'll give you a fixed price when you ask for a quote.
The driver takes you, waits for you and tells you along the way what's grown in the valleys or why the kasbahs are made of mud brick. But he isn't an official guide and can't guide you inside the medinas. In Morocco that job belongs to licensed guides, and in cities like Fez or Marrakech you notice the difference: without someone who knows the alleys, you lose half the morning and end up in the shop of somebody's cousin.
So in the big cities the driver drops you at the medina gate and a local Spanish-speaking guide meets you there. It can be added to any route with a driver. See what the guided tour of the Marrakech medina and the guided tour of the Fez medina involve; they usually last half a day.
Renting a car is cheaper and makes sense for short routes along the coast or between cities linked by motorway. The south is another matter: hours of bends, gendarmerie checkpoints and villages where parking is hard, and whoever is driving barely sees the scenery. With a driver you also don't have to hunt for parking near the medinas or decide yourself whether the Tichka is fit to cross in fog.
If you decide to drive, read our guide to driving in Morocco first, with the rules and the tolls. To compare with the train, the bus or domestic flights, see the guide on how to get around Morocco.
Dates, the cities where you start and finish, number of travellers and luggage.
We send you the route day by day with the driving hours and a fixed price.
When you're happy, a deposit holds the vehicle and driver for your dates.
He meets you at the airport or at the door of your accommodation at the agreed time.
Yes. We assign you a driver who speaks Spanish and gets by in Darija and French to ask the way in a village or at a checkpoint. If you've already travelled with Said, Hassan, Aziz or Hamid and want the same driver again, ask when you book and we'll try, depending on his schedule.
Yes. We do transfers from the airports in Marrakech, Casablanca, Fez, Tangier and Agadir to your accommodation, and one-off journeys between cities. There's no published rate because it depends on the distance and the flight time. Send us the flight number and the hotel address and we'll give you a fixed price when you ask for a quote.
As a guide, the 4x4 takes four travellers, the van seven and the minibus sixteen. The real limit is often the luggage: seven people with large suitcases is a tight fit in a van. Tell us how many bags you're bringing and we'll suggest the vehicle.
There are two options. A second vehicle with its own driver, also paid by the day, or a minibus with a fixed price based on the route. For groups of eight to ten the minibus usually works out better, because everyone travels together and stops only have to be organised once. We'll send you both prices and you choose.
Small changes, yes: stopping in a village that wasn't planned, changing where you have lunch or leaving an hour later. If the change adds days or a lot of kilometres, it has to be checked with the office, because it can affect the hotels booked and the price.
It isn't compulsory and it isn't included in the price. In Morocco it's customary to tip at the end of the trip if you were happy with the service, and how much is up to you, the length of the trip and how you were treated. Guide figures for drivers, guides and camp staff are in our guide to [money and tipping in Morocco](/blog/dinero-y-propinas-en-marruecos/).
For normal dates two or three weeks' notice is enough. At Easter, the early-December bank holiday and New Year demand shoots up, so write to us two or three months ahead and tell us straight away how many of you are travelling.
On our private tours the vehicle and driver are already included, with the route and accommodation fixed in advance.
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