Customs clearance and camping in Morocco

[johnfroff]

I'm looking to travel to Morocco by motorcycle next Sept, looking to get ferry Algecias to Tanger, looking for a rough idea of how long to get on the road on arrival, are there better times to arrive, buying insurance these type of things. Ultimate destination is only essouria looking at taking a couple of days to get down there, wondering about camping formule 1 type places.
Any tips / trick appreciated

Thanks

[Surfy]

Guess there are other bikers here, who can help you better.

In Switzerland and Germany you often can enble your current insurance for marocco too, if it is not coverying the northern africa.

[TheWarden]

Normally around 2 hours from docking in Tanger Med to clear customs and sort out insurance if you need it.

Operation Marhaba finishes on the 15th September so before then it might be a bit slower.

Essaouira is about a 10 hour drive if you take the motorway and to be honest the Atlantic coast down to El Jadida is not very attractive, built up and busy. After El Jadida the coast road is a nice alternative to the motorway further inland.

Asilah or Moulay Bousellham are good first stops on the coast on arrival, with camping or hotels on offer. The campsite in El Jadida is ok but facilities are a bit nasty, Hotel Palais Adalous has served me well as a cheap hotel with character. Oulidia has a nice camp site on the south side of town if you get a bit further.

Or head south to Chefchaouen from the port. then down to Azrou, Mildelt, Ouzoud and across to Essaouira for a more scenic route through the Middle Atlas and edge of the High Atlas if you have the time. Probably looking at 3-4 days though.

[badou24]

Hotels are cheap in the midina . so why camp ? If you want an aletrnative try tiznet then sididi ifini both have camp sites that are ok.... just

[PanEuropean]

Originally Posted by TheWarden

Normally around 2 hours from docking in Tanger Med to clear customs and sort out insurance if you need it.

I agree, that has been my experience in the past when I have visited Morocco - somewhere between 90 minutes and 2 hours from the time the ship docks until you ride out of the huge Tanger Med compound.

Moroccan customs are quite efficient and (based on my 3 entries to the country) quite pleasant people to deal with. You probably won't spend more than 5 or 10 minutes with the customs & immigration folks. Don't bring any drones with you, they are not permitted in Morocco. Google Earth is also blocked in Morocco (security concerns, I guess).

Here are some suggestions for you, based on my experience:

1) In the past, there has always been a Moroccan customs official on the ship. I don't know if procedures have changed in the past 2 years, but if not, the moment you get onto the ferry and get your motorcycle tied down, RUN, don't walk, to find that customs official, get into the lineup, and get your paperwork done. Motos usually board first, which means if you hustle up to the customs guy, you can get your paperwork done with minimal wait. The poor guy who drives the last car onto the ferry will still be waiting in line to see the on-board customs official when the boat docks in Morocco.

2) Similarly, motos are often the first things unloaded off the ship, and if that is the case, don't waste any time moving away from the dock and riding up to the customs kiosks, which are about a 1 km ride from the dock. You want to be one of the first persons there to avoid lineups.

3) Once you have cleared customs & immigration, there is a plaza about 400 to 500 meters beyond where you can buy insurance & phone cards and also get Moroccan currency from ATMs. There are lots of touts hanging around the plaza who will approach you and offer to "help", just politely brush them off, it's easy enough to find the insurance kiosks within the plaza. They all sell the same product and charge the same price, no point in picking any one over another. Bring your ownership, vehicle registration, & passport with you, you will need those documents to buy insurance. Do be sure to get some Moroccan money from the ATM, because smaller businesses are reluctant to accept Euros and credit or debit cards are generally not accepted at smaller businesses. You'll get the best rate of exchange from an ATM, but they do impose a transaction fee that is the same regardless of the size of your withdrawal, so take out as much as you think you will need. Elsewhere, there are ATMs all over the country.

4) After you get done at the plaza, it's about another 2 km or so to exit the port area. If you have a GPS you will find that all the internal roads in the port are shown on the GPS, so no worries. If you don't have a GPS, the port is quite well signed, with signs in English and Arabic.

5) Be aware that the Moroccan highway police know when the ferries arrive, and frequently set up speed traps on the highways within about 20 km of the ferry terminal. So pay attention to the speed limits once you leave the port.

6) The port is kind of "in the middle of nowhere" so far as hotels are concerned. Don't confuse it with Tanger Ville port, which is in the city of Tanger. It's about a half to one hour ride to the city of Tanger (to the west) and about a two hour ride to Tetouan to the east - both cities with lots of hotels. Both rides are very scenic, so it might take you a bit longer if you pause to enjoy the scenery along the way. Although there are a few hotels in close proximity to the Tanger Med terminal, they tend to either be expensive or not provide good value for the money.

7) I do suggest you take a ferry that leaves early in the day (before noon hour), because it's not a good idea to be riding in Morocco at night, especially if it is your first visit to the country. There are lots of unlit vehicles, unlit road signs, strange surprises on the road that are nothing during daylight but hazardous at night, etc.

Hope this helps,
Michael

[TheWarden]

Vehicle paperwork is only done on the ferry on the longer ferry routes, not the Algeciras to Tanger route. Passport control is done on board.

Insurance kiosk, change places and atm's are right by the exit of the port.

[PanEuropean]

Originally Posted by TheWarden

...Passport control is done on board.

Thanks for the clarification about that.

It's the passport control lineup on board that I was referring to in my longer post, above. When you get on board, park the bike, tie it down, then IMMEDIATLY get upstairs and find out where the guy doing passport control is.

You will need to fill out a form or two (bring a pen and your passport), then you give the form to the guy, he does a little work, stamps a serial number in your passport, and you are done.

If you dawdle and don't get into the lineup before the boat leaves the dock, you might be in that lineup for the whole length of the crossing.

Michael

[Bigguy136]

Originally Posted by TheWarden

Insurance kiosk, change places and atm's are right by the exit of the port.

I was there June 2022. When I left customs port at Tangier, I entered a roundabout. No kiosk on the right. Below is photo exiting port. It goes into a roundabout. Not sure where a kiosk is.
I went to several insurance companies to find out they didn't do tourist insurance. One of them told me where I had to go. GPS location N35.77636° W5.80449°.
https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hu...1&d=1659141158