ONCF (Office National des Chemins de Fer or National Railways Office) is Morocco’s national railway operator. Their network inside Morocco is surprisingly extensive and ONCF operates Africa’s only high-speed train.
We, unfortunately, won’t be on the high-speed train but will enjoy their regular service between Marrakech and Fes today. It’s a scheduled 7 hour journey that travels north to Casablanca and then turns northeast towards Fes via Rabat the capital.
Luckily we are sitting in 1st Class, the cost premium was negligible ($42 vs $28 in 2nd Class). Expectations are not high however as ONCF is not known for their luxurious trains. One plus is that it is the same train all the way through.
You can buy tickets a couple of different ways with the most common being at the train station. Alternately you can buy tickets online at oncf.ma, but only if you are in Morocco. I managed to use a VPN to switch my location to Morocco in order to buy our tickets. I also learned that switching to Spain will work too.
If you are going to be taking a train anywhere in the world I would recommend first reading about it at seat61.com. It is an amazing resource that provides even the smallest detail about how best to arrange snd buy train tickets. I never buy train tickets without first consulting seat61.com.
We began our day at Olinto with breakfast before joining our driver who took us to the Marrakech train station. It was about a 75 minute drive and he dropped us off out front with about 45 minutes to spare before our train departed. The station isn’t very large and so we quickly found our track and train.
First class on this train was a compartment of six seats – two windows, two centers, and two aisles. We had aisles but really wanted window seats. Each time we checked with the ONCF ticket office they told us that the only way to change seats is to change your tickets. So essentially the answer is no.
Once onboard we settled in for our 7 hour ride to Fes. Surprisingly the train was sold out, but that could have something to do with the biannual Africa Cup (soccer/football) tournament being held in Morocco for the first time in nearly 50 years. It wasn’t the worst train ride ever but it was far from the best.
By the afternoon we were in Aladdin’s magical capital of Fes.
A short car ride followed by a porter taking our bags for a ride in the medina and we landed at our home for the next two night – the Riad Fes.
