# Crossing to Morocco



## rosalan

I have just started looking for ferries to Morocco and would welcome any tips on cheapest ferries, who to book with etc. Those I have so far found, do not seem to include Motorhomes over 6m or 2.5m high. Mine is 22' long and 2.9m high, which makes it about average.
I also hope that January weather is not too cool 8) 
Alan


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## Bryandh

PM detourer he is this forum's expert as he runs tours into Morocco. When are you thinking of travelling in January ? Are you going solo or in group?
Tried this one ? Sails from Algeciras/Tangier

https://www.balearia.com/wps/portal/comercial


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## voyagerstan

try juan carlos . if you go to los palomas (signposted off main road from gib to algeceras ) park at lidls there will be lots of vans there . ask anyone they will direct you .a 2 min walk and he is always the cheapest . stan


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## Dunworkin

Try Carlos Guiterez at Agencias de Viages in Algeciras.

Everybody rates him.

We crossed over last year from Algeciras to Tangier for €120 return with tickets bought from him. There is a map on his web site as to how to find him.

We just turned up and bought the tickets for cash. They appear to be cancelled tickets as ours bore someone elses name and vehicle. Don't let that put you off as they work just fine. Even gave us a free cake with our tickets.

Dunworkin


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## Addie

Dunworkin said:


> Try Carlos Guiterez at Agencias de Viages in Algeciras.
> 
> Everybody rates him.
> 
> We crossed over last year from Algeciras to Tangier for €120 return with tickets bought from him. There is a map on his web site as to how to find him.
> 
> We just turned up and bought the tickets for cash. They appear to be cancelled tickets as ours bore someone elses name and vehicle. Don't let that put you off as they work just fine. Even gave us a free cake with our tickets.
> 
> Dunworkin


That's got to be the dodgiest story I've ever heard! 
How much are they usually?


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## grizzlyj

Hi

I wouldn't think it would apply to you, but our camper does 10mpg, so it was cheapest to sail from Barcelona with a cabin saving a lot of miles and the Costa run (from where we set off from in southern France.)

I think the reason not all sailings show bigger vehicles is that some (all?) of the fast ferries just don't have the headroom.

I'm sure you'll have a fab time!

Jason


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## voyagerstan

if tou get tickets elsewhere theyu will be considerably dearer .  and dont forget you pay for legit !!!!!
stan


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## Dunworkin

Addie, I know it sounds wierd, but these tickets do work.

As for the proper price, three years ago we crossed in a car and bought at the official ticket offices at the port and paid €180 one way.

Dunworkin


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## rosalan

I must confess to some nervousness in buying tickets with someone elses name on, in a back street behind Lidles, in order to travel to Africa. Then there is the price that ranges between an 'official' £250+, one way according to one site I found on the internet and £130 return in an apparently well known booking office down a back street.
The next issue that I did not clearly understand was the size of my vehicle, which their stated motorhome sizes fell short of, although it is by no means a large motorhome. From this I assume that some crossings allow for larger vehicles than others.
May I thank all of you who have made an honest and helpful response to this thread which almost generates as many questions as answers.
Alan


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## grouch

Carlos is legit. He has a proper office . It is not just some back street deal.


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## WillanDi

Addie said:


> That's got to be the dodgiest story I've ever heard!
> How much are they usually?


Yep, it sounds dodgy but it works and it's the way the vast majority of locals get to Morocco. We actually turned up at the docks at Algeciras to recce the layout before going to our intended destination, Gibraltar (used to live there and fancied a trip down memory lane).
We were hailed by a ticket tout, haggled/bought tickets with someone else's name on them and a car, not our 8 metre long, 3.1 metre high Burstner, joined the queue and got on a tatty Comarit ferry, arriving - in a bit of a state of shock - in Tangier at 10 pm.   
No one batted an eyelid at the tickets. Hour and a half down the coast to one of the ferry company sponsored campsites for the night and gathered our wits.
A word to the wise: The port area looks utterly chaotic when you get there and you will be harangued by LOTS of 'official' guides and assistants at Moroccan customs and immigration. Naturally, they will need a fee to help you. You DON'T need them. Politely refuse their assistance and (with a determined, confident air) take all your vehicle documents (Morocco Green Card included) and passports to customs and immigration yourself. Get them stamped up and don't lose ANY of the documents they give you. You will need one of them to get back out again, without paying a large retrospective import duty for your beloved motorhome. There are lots of police and customs officers about and a polite question (in French, if you can) will get directions to customs and immigration if you can't see the signs.
On your way back out of Tangier, there is a ticket office or two just before you get back into the docks (plus plenty more touts), if you don't have a return booked. We didn't, having gone there with the intention of only leaving when we had seen enough. Christmas got in the way and there were grandchildren to see opening presents. We used the 'fastcat' service from Tangier, all 8 metres of us and were in Tarifa in 40 minutes.
Drive slowly and purposefully and be careful of the local driving habits - including donkey carts coming the wrong way up the motorway. Some of the non-motorway roads have a pretty poor surface and guardrails are a rare sight on mountain roads with BIG drops. Be polite and don't push at the many police road checkpoints. Eye contact and a wave work wonders.
The towns and cities are interesting - and polluted - but to see the best bits, get up in the mountains and down to the desert.
The campsite guide book we used was 'Camping Morocco' by Andy and Nette Clarke. It came with a decent map and it's invaluable and well worth reading before you go. If you don't get a map, the Michelin version is quite good and you DO need one. The guide was completed just a few months before we went but in my opinion hopelessly optimistic describing the state of most of the campsite facilities.
Fit a GOOD water filter, drink bottled water when you are out and about, be wary of hook-up earths and polarity ............ and enjoy the food. Booze is expensive. We went teetotal for the duration. 
Would we go back? Tomorrow if we could!!
Will
ps Guided tours take out the niggles but it's more fun doing it freelance. The people are friendly and helpful but remember you are a tourist, they have very little and many of them see you as a way to help make a living.


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## hmh

*crossing to Morocco*

The scariest thing we found were the speed bumps, often not marked, we destroyed our bike rack, first in Morocco, then in Tunisia . . .

. . . we got so whoever saw one first would shout "Speed bump!!"

They are mostly as you approach a town or village, so you get to keep a really good look-out then.

The locals mostly drive at a walking pace in town, which is often the best thing to do . . .

You can buy alcohol at Marjan supermarkets, for about French prices from memory, which seems dear, but only because everything home-produced is so cheap.

Helen


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## WillanDi

*Re: crossing to Morocco*



hmh said:


> The scariest thing we found were the speed bumps, often not marked, we destroyed our bike rack, first in Morocco, then in Tunisia . . .
> 
> . . . we got so whoever saw one first would shout "Speed bump!!"
> 
> They are mostly as you approach a town or village, so you get to keep a really good look-out then.
> 
> The locals mostly drive at a walking pace in town, which is often the best thing to do . . .
> 
> You can buy alcohol at Marjan supermarkets, for about French prices from memory, which seems dear, but only because everything home-produced is so cheap.
> 
> Helen


Spot on, Helen. :wink: :wink: Forgot those bits.
Will


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## grizzlyj

Since the thread has broadened a little, I'll add a bit more.

Just regarding maps, the Michelin one is probably the best even though its only 1:1 000 000. It shows tarmac where there is tarmac, rather than sometimes tarmac where there is gravel. We only came across two low bridges but both were 4m, one bridge weight limit on a remote track was 15tons on the map and 5 when you got there. The big drawback with it is its fragile. Two or three weeks and it'll be fallling apart. So take one or two more.

We went clockwise around the country. The first map we saw for sale was in Figuig and that was of Italy. Marrakesh was the first Michelin Morocco we saw. Marjanes have some city street plans of some places, no country maps at all that we saw.

We also took a yellow covered (Insight?) map at 1:800 000, thinking a better scale meant a better map, but it had many roads missing and was a waste of time.

The Rough Guide map at 1:1 000 000 was not quite as accurate as the Michelin, but did have some newer roads which weren't on the other two and being plastic lasted much better.
Stanfords have a good selection from driving down to walking detail.

Some campsites along the south get their water from their own borehole. This gets turned on once a day and fills a home built water tank on stilts, open at the top, until water comes out of the overflow pipe and waters their garden or palmerie. When the water has soaked into the "flower bed" it leaves a salty residue. That may be from the soil but it didn't look like it.

We have a super dooper water filter, and whenever a campsite said the tap water wasn't potable we filled and drank via the filter anyway. From Figuig westwards we often had a mildly upset stomach. Figuig locals drank the water, but by Mhamid for instance many didn't. Drinking water was we were told brought from 20km north in a tanker, so no we could not fill our camper tank with it! The Mhamid campsite/auberge kitchen had taps but nothing coming out of them (and no soap, but thats typical!) The water made the milk in tea curdle, so with that and the salty ground deposits we decided the water was just too salty/minerally and started drinking bottled water. Immediate normal stomach activity. Further north again we reverted to our filtered water. A 5l bottle costs about 10Dh, 80p, so no big deal and locals seem to like to use the bottles afterwards for carrying water to their houses if they don't have a piped supply, so ask before squashing for the bin!

The water from these open to the sky tanks had a lot of life in them, so we used a cheap coarse filter in the hose feed when filling the tank once we realised on those occasions. We also added Micropur Forte all the time, and every few fills, 1 Milton tablet per 100l as suggested by Milton (not the steralising strength that has caused many people problems)

Vid of buglife from Mhamids campsite tap water


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