The internet had flooded our screens with so many horror stories about driving in Morocco, that we began our Moroccan road trip feeling rather nervous. (Not that that deterred Chris from listing all the times he’s reversed into things, while the man in the car hire office collected all his documents.) It turns out, we really needn’t have worried; our road trip was a barnstorming success. Here’s everything you might need to know before starting your own Morocco road trip.
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I get to travel a lot as part of my job- and I’m really and truly grateful for it- but one of the downsides to travelling on a cruise ship is that I really only get to see a teeny tiny glimpse of the countries we dock in. So, what’s the perfect antidote to that?
Enter: the humble road trip. What better way to explore a country than on the open road, pals!
And I’m telling you now, Morocco is the perfect country for a road trip. The wide expanses of scenery are epic beyond belief, the roads are very easy to navigate, and there’s plenty of amazing places to stop and explore.
(Here’s our full road trip itinerary in detail)
But I’d be lying if I said we weren’t feeling daunted. (And I wasn’t even the one behind the wheel.) So here, pals, in order to help out any fellow nervous road-trippers, is everything we learnt about driving in Morocco.
Hiring a car in Morocco
To hire a car in Morocco, you’ll need to bring your original driving license with you. You don’t need an International Driving Permit to drive in Morocco if your driving license is written in English, French or Spanish.
We hired our car from Europcar, and it’s worth checking a comparison site like Rentalcars.com to find the best deal on a hire car in Morocco.
Our hire car was given to us with only a quarter tank of petrol, so we returned it with roughly the same amount with no problems.
Our hire car of choice was the smallest and cheapest option, but if you’ll be doing a lot of mountain driving or covering long distances, you might want to go for a more heavy-duty vehicle that’ll work out a bit more cost effective in the long run. (We were doing a lot of mountain driving and long distances, and had a couple of awkward moments trying to get uphill, but did make it to the end unscathed! Hurrah!)
While you’re driving in Morocco
In Morocco they drive on the right side of the road.
But, having said that, it’s not unusual for Moroccan drivers to straddle two lanes at once. In fact, normal rules of the road don’t really seem to apply here. Tailgating is completely normal, and sometimes drivers will ease into one side of the road to let you overtake; but, literally into either side of the road.
Speed limits are clearly displayed in kilometres per hour, and other than port cities you’ll find most road signs in Arabic and French (ie no English.)
Driving cross-country was a very stress-free experience, and in general we found that the roads are really well maintained, particularly if you’re sticking to the main highways. The only exceptions were when we had to detour up teeny tiny mountain roads which were unpaved and therefore a very bumpy ride.
There was definitely evidence of past rockfalls around the Tizi n’Tichka Pass, but luckily we never experienced this firsthand.
Our only city driving was leaving Fes, and entering Marrakesh. The traffic in both of these cities (particularly coming into Marrakesh) was fairly intense, and I’d definitely recommend avoiding too much inner-city driving in Morocco if you’re nervous. Pedestrians seem to pop out from here there and everywhere, as do motorbikes and scooters.
Our hire car didn’t have sat nav, however Google Maps and Apple Maps worked without any problems at all, and phone coverage while we were driving in Morocco was generally really great.
You’ll definitely need to buy an eSIM if you’re planning your own road trip through Morocco. Sim Local is very reliable and well-priced. (Use my discount code GETTINGLOST for an even better price.)
Police presence on the roads
Dun dun duuuhn! If you’ve already done some research into driving in Morocco, you’ll probably have heard mention of road blocks before. But this is really nothing to worry about at all.
Almost every town and village that we drove through had a police road block on the way in, and on the way out. The way that you can recognise a road block is coming up, is that the speed limit will suddenly drop down to 20kmph. Each time we reached a road block, we immediately slowed down and were then just cheerily waved through by the policemen. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
We’d read a lot online about corrupt Moroccan policemen issuing fines to foreign drivers at random- in fact, Chris had even factored ‘police fines’ into his budget for our time in the country. Maybe there are people who have experienced this, but our own experience was very positive.
If the police do catch you speeding, however, you are liable for an on-the-spot fine, which must be paid in cash.
You can also be fined on the spot for not wearing your seatbelt, so do not forget to strap in!
Parking in Morocco
Whether you’re driving or not, you always need to carry cash on you in Morocco, but a collection of small coins is key for parking.
In cities it’s completely normal to see men set up on deck chairs at the side of the kerb, sometimes wearing a yellow high vis jacket, and appearing to be doing absolutely nothing. In actual fact, these are the parking attendants. (Sometimes they’ll try and wave you down into a free parking space, but it took me a while to realise this was what they were doing. At first I presumed they thought we were a taxi and they wanted a ride.)
The parking attendants will watch all the cars on their patch to make sure they’re safe, and then direct you out of the spot when you come back. But make sure you have small change to give them as you leave; normally 2 dirham is plenty.
99% of the time, however, we parked in car parks. Moroccan car parks are not fancy, machine-filled spaces, oh no. They operate in the same way as the kerbside parking does- a man in a high vis will look out for your car and then guide you out of your space (whether you need help or not), when you leave. Just make sure you hand over your 2 dirham on the way out. (Personally I quite like this system. It’s far cheaper than parking in England, and quite a novel experience compared to just hunting down a machine or using an app to pay.)
I’d read that sometimes it’s normal to give your car keys to the parking attendant when you leave your car, as they might need to shuffle cars around to fit more in. We were never asked to do this, but it’s something to bear in mind.
Petrol Stations in Morocco
We never had a problem locating a petrol station in Morocco, and petrol was very reasonably priced at that time. (2026)
Petrol stations tend to be very well equipped for receiving all the long distance travellers. Most of them have separate restaurants, toilets and coffee shops attached.
In Moroccan petrol stations, attendants fill up your car for you- so don’t get out of the car unless you need to!
When you’re greeted by the station attendant, just tell him either how many dirhams you want to spend, or if you want the tank filled, say “full!” Customers aren’t expected to tip station attendants in Morocco, though of course you can if you fancy it.
We always paid in cash. We’d been told that some petrol stations allow payment by card, but that card readers can sometimes be a bit sketchy, so decided to stick to the safety of physical money instead.
Driving in Morocco: was it worth it?
I cannot recommend driving in Morocco enough, in fact I think it’s the best way to see this stunner of a country. We witnessed so many incredible landscapes that just wouldn’t have been possible without a car, and I still can’t get over how much we were able to see and do by driving. Not only that, but it was a surprisingly safe and stress-free experience all round.
Two Weeks Road Tripping in Morocco