Getting to Rabat from Casablanca

My husband and I were visiting Casablanca port on a Friday when there are only a few possible visiting times available to visit the famous Mosque Hassan II (there are more available times on other days). We therefore decided to travel by train to Rabat instead. Here is a description of our journey and some tips for anybody who plans to do the same.

Most importantly: learn French (or Arabic)! Most signs and announcements are in Arabic and French and people will initially approach you in French. It was actually nice to be able to use my French again and not to have struggled with it in school for nothing all those years ago.;)

We asked the driver of the shuttle bus to make an extra stop at Gare Casa Port. This train station is just outside the port area and can also be walked to from the dock, but the shuttle bus passes there anyway. There is a train every half hour to Rabat Ville form Casa Port (see http://www.oncf.ma). Inside the station there were lots of ticket machines available to buy single tickets. There was somebody standing near the machines to help anybody who needed it. Although the machines should take cards, it didn’t recognise our cards so we went in search of an ATM. On the first floor of the station we found a bank with a cash machine. A single ticket to Rabat Ville is 35 dirham. A single ticket on the tram in Rabat is 6 dirham. A drink is between 10-20 dirham. A plate of Couscous (and meat and vegetables) is approx. 50 dirham. That should give you an idea of how much money to take out. Do realise that banks outside Morocco will most likely not be able to exchange dirhams.

The train to Rabat Ville takes approximately one hour from Casa Port. When we had our tickets we walked towards the platforms and were directed towards the correct platform. Casa Port is an end station so the train first had to completely empty before we could get on. We found a seat in 2nd class (no reserved seats). Second class is fine, there is no need to pay double the price for First Class. There were several stops before Rabat Ville (get off at Rabat Ville, not Rabat, otherwise you’re very far from the Centre) and all stops were announced on the train but were also clearly visible by the signs on the platforms.

Once you get to Rabat it is easiest to take the tram to get around (http://www.tram-way.ma/fr/plan-de-li...e-interactive/). We took tram 1 in the direction Hay Karima to visit Tour Hassan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan_Tower). It was actually closer to get off at the stop named Place du 16 Novembre, instead of getting off at Tour Hassan (to keep things easy ;)). A tram ticket is 6 dirham and every tram stop has a ticket booth where you can buy tickets with cash. We activated our tickets inside the tram by putting it in the machine. Make sure you do this as tickets are often checked.

After visiting Tour Hassan we bought new tram tickets and took tramline 2 direction Mouley Youssef. We got off at Bab Chellah, from where we entered the Medina. We soon arrived at the streets with lots of stalls selling clothes and shoes. It was very nice to look around and we were not harassed to buy anything. After walking through the Medina we continued towards the Kasbah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasbah_of_the_Udayas). Here we were followed by an old man who kept trying to be our guide and telling us things in a mix of French and English. This meant we did not feel comfortable and were quite quick in walking through the Kasbah. When we got to the exit we gave him some money which he did not think was enough. We soon made clear that it was this or nothing (since we did not ask him to be our guide) and he left disgruntled. Maybe if we had been clear from the beginning that we did not wish to make use of his guiding skills it would have been better and we could have walked at leisure.

Inside the Kasbah was the only time that we felt a bit awkward. However, we never felt unsafe. We did see quite some military and police men. They were always in groups of three, two guys in green (we assumed military) and one in blue (we assumed police) walking slowly on pavements. It’s probably because the government of Morocco is seated in Rabat that there is a lot of security. We walked back through the Medina to the tram stop to get back to the train station. To get from the Medina to Gare Rabat Ville we had to change from tramline 2 to tramline 1. There were several stops where we could do this. It doesn’t matter that much where you do this. Do remember to validate you ticket in both trams (you can use the same ticket when changing trams). At the train station we had a bite to eat and then we bought train tickets from the machine. When buying tickets from the machine they are for the next train going in that direction so it’s no use buying a ticket when first arriving in Rabat because it will be for the train that will soon leave Rabat again. As mentioned Casa Port is an end station and therefore the final stop so it is easy to find the correct train going in that direction. We took a train around 5 o’ clock which was quite full and we had to stand for a while, before seats became available. When we got back to Gare Casa Port we spend the rest of our dirhams on souvenirs in one of the shops. From the station we walked back to the ship. There is probably more that we could have done in Rabat but it was drizzling quite a big part of the day and we felt we had seen some nice things in our own rhythm (apart from the Kasbah ;)).

I hope this is useful for anybody visiting Casablanca/Rabat. Feel free to ask questions.

Thank you for your Rabat post. We are considering going to Rabat in November during our one day stop in Casablanca. We have done a day excursion in Casablanca and are looking at doing something different this year. I have trouble walking long distances so are thinking of the cruise tour to Rabat or to Marrakesh. DH does not want to travel the distance to the latter so I'm interested to know if Rabat is much different from Casablanca or Tangier where we have been. It sounds like the markets are much the same in every Moroccan city.

Did you enjoy the trip to and from Rabat? If it wasn't raining, what else can one enjoy in Rabat, other than another Kasbah.

It was easy to go from Casablanca. We walked to the train station (CasaPort) but perhaps we should have taken a cab. Modern station. We bought tickets from the agent and paid by credit card.

In Rabat, there were many taxis and it did require a bit of haggling since we didn't want a taxi tour, just a drive to the kasbah. We did agree on a tour in the kasbah with someone who approached us. It was very cheap and it was useful. If you can agree on a reasonable price, I would take up the offer of a guide. You might want to have him accompany you to the Medina too. It was very confusing!

It poured in March while we were there, but it was fabulous. We managed to find a small open-fronted restaurant with chicken and beef tagines. Tasty, cheap and friendly. It was down a side alley and we found it by sniffing the wonderful odours!

Thank you for your Rabat post. We are considering going to Rabat in November during our one day stop in Casablanca. We have done a day excursion in Casablanca and are looking at doing something different this year. I have trouble walking long distances so are thinking of the cruise tour to Rabat or to Marrakesh. DH does not want to travel the distance to the latter so I'm interested to know if Rabat is much different from Casablanca or Tangier where we have been. It sounds like the markets are much the same in every Moroccan city.

Did you enjoy the trip to and from Rabat? If it wasn't raining, what else can one enjoy in Rabat, other than another Kasbah.

Tour Hassan and the Maussolee Mohammed V next to it are interesting to visit and easy to get to with the tram (or taxi). Had it not been raining I'm sure we would have spend more time there.

The train trip was quite boring to be honest. The view wasn't very spectacular. Since DH and I are daily commuters by train, we are used to spending time on the train, reading and talking.

I'm not sure what places the cruise excursions to Rabat visit but I did hear several enthusiastic comments from people on the ship who had gone on the excursion to Rabat. The comments from passengers that visited Casablanca were much less positive. As I've never been to Tangier I can't comment on the difference. If the trip to Marrakesh hadn't been so long I think we would have opted for that as I've heard many positive things about it. But I'm happy with the day we spend in Rabat. Too bad we could not do anything about the weather ;).