Taxis in Morocco, and the app that actually works

A petit taxi is a small car that works only within a single city, takes up to three passengers, and is painted a city color: ochre in Marrakech, red in Casablanca, blue in Rabat. By law it runs a meter, which usually starts around 2 to 3 dirham with a similar rate per kilometer, so most city hops land in the 10 to 30 dirham range, a bit more out to the edges, and roughly 50 percent higher at night after about 8 or 9pm. Sharing is normal, so a driver may pick up someone else going your way, and each passenger pays their own metered fare.

A grand taxi is the shared workhorse between cities, towns and villages, these days often a modern minivan rather than the old Mercedes. You go to the grand-taxi rank for your destination, pay per seat, and the car leaves once it is full, or you can buy the empty seats to leave straight away. For longer routes, buses like CTM and Supratours, or the train, are usually the more comfortable choice.

The one money issue you will meet again and again in a petit taxi is a driver who will not switch on the meter and instead names a flat, higher price, especially with an obvious visitor. This is overpaying rather than anything dangerous. The phrase that solves most of it is simple: the meter, please, or in the local phrasing, le compteur, afak. If the driver still refuses, agree a clear price before the car moves, and if the number is silly, just step out and take the next taxi.

As a sense of the right figure, a short ride across a city center is a handful of dirham to the low tens, not a flat 100. Because sharing is normal, do not be surprised if the driver stops for another passenger, and that does not change your own fare. Rounding up a dirham or two at the end is a normal, friendly tip.

The most useful app to have is inDrive, which operates in Marrakech, Casablanca, Rabat, Fes, Tangier and Agadir and works on a bidding model: you propose a fare, the driver accepts or counters, and you pay in cash. Careem, owned by Uber, works well in Casablanca and Rabat and also in Marrakech and Tangier, and feels familiar if you have used Uber. Uber itself left Morocco in 2018 and came back in a limited way in late 2025, so far only in Casablanca and Marrakech, so do not count on it elsewhere.

One honest caveat: these ride apps sit in a legal gray area in Morocco, and many drivers are unlicensed private individuals. To avoid friction with licensed taxis, app drivers often ask you to walk a short distance from a taxi rank or an airport terminal for the pickup. The trade-off is that the price is fixed and the ride is tracked, and it is usually cheaper than a tourist-priced street taxi. Keep inDrive as your main app and Careem or Uber as backups.

At Marrakech Menara, the correct metered or fixed price for a petit taxi into the medina or Gueliz is about 70 to 100 dirham (roughly 7 to 10 US dollars). Anything well above that is an overcharge, so ignore the men who approach you inside the terminal and walk to the clearly marked taxi rank, or use a pre-booked transfer. Official airport taxis post their own, higher, fixed tariffs, so check the posted rate or agree the price first. Casablanca's airport has a train into the city, which is an easy and cheap way in.

Carry dirham in cash, since street taxis and app drivers expect it, and watch for a currency-switch line where a quoted number quietly turns from dirham into the same figure in euros. Agree everything in dirham. For the wider money picture, including how much cash to carry and where cards work, see the Morocco money guide.

Common questions

Quick answers.

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