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France in the 1980s, and Spain in the 2000s opened high-speed train network. Morocco opened a high-speed train line between Tanger and Kenitra in 2018, and they're constructing it further south towards Casablanca as this question is written (2019).

This means that, theoretically it should be relatively easy and efficient to travel between western Europe and Morocco without flying planes - only the Gibraltar strait still needs to be crossed by ship and that can takes time.

However the rome2rio.com website does not suggest any easy connexion. The connexion without planes it offers between western Europe and Morocco are extremely bad and involves riding a lot of bus (no train).

Is it because rail companies are missing from their database or is there any other reason such a travel route is not possibly mostly by Train ?

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    Ferry services from Spain are mostly just once per day. Talifa offers more, but has no high speed rail connection. Western Europe is a big place and you haven't said where you're staying from so there could be connection issues at the start too. I can see no reason why you can't do what you want, but an optimum route might only be available on certain days, at certain times, or at certain starting points.
    – user90371
    Commented Jul 13, 2019 at 19:41
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    Long-distance train travel is in Europe rarely easy nor efficient. At least in Western Europe, there are almost no night trains anymore, meaning that you can't get too far before you have to spend a night without moving. High-speed trains do not always run where you want to go. The fastest train connection I can find from Paris to Algeciras takes 22:40h including a night in Madrid, which means that the effective average speed is less than 80km/h. Commented Jul 13, 2019 at 22:32
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    @ReddHerring and co - what is so "unclear" ? I edited the "how feasible" part of the title which might have been unclear. Please do not give the "tell me exactly where you want to go" excuse - the goal of a question is to be reusable by other people so this is exactly what I'm doing. Also it does not matter whether a person comes from Paris, Brussels or Geneva, their routes will converge in Spain when going towards Morroco in all cases. Also all destinations in Morroco would involve going to Tangier anyway.
    – Bregalad
    Commented Jul 15, 2019 at 17:01
  • @Bregalad There's no pan-European high speed rail service. The various operators optimise their schedules to meet demand on the routes that they serve. A particular train in London might give you a quick connection in Paris that isn't available to a traveller from, say, Berlin, because the schedules differ. The same in Madrid, and the ferries are a law unto themselves. You might be able to come up with an optimum route from London to wherever in Morocco, but perhaps only at a certain time of day, or day of the week. ...
    – user90371
    Commented Jul 15, 2019 at 20:46
  • ...Doing the same for other European cities will differ. There is no one 'efficient' solution. It's unclear because because you're not specific enough, or it's too broad for the same reason, or it's off-topic because we are not travel agents. Take your pick. Looking at your last sentence: a travel route is possible by train - just not very efficiently.
    – user90371
    Commented Jul 15, 2019 at 20:46

2 Answers 2

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The Man in Seat 61 has a page that discusses how to get from London to Morocco by train and ferry. Eurostar from London to Paris, TGV from Paris to Barcelona, overnight in Barcelona, AVE and Spanish regional rail for Barcelona to Algeciras, free bus to the ferry terminal, ferry to Tangier Med Port, train/bus/taxi to the center of Tangier (or the FRS ferry directly to Tangier). From Tangier, there are further rail connections to other points in Morocco. If you're not starting in London, substitute the appropriate rail connections to get to Paris or Barcelona and pick up the route from there. There are also other ferry options, such as periodic cruise ferries from Barcelona and France, which the linked page describes.

"Feasible" is a relative term though. It's absolutely possible, but not particularly efficient. A flight takes a couple hours, plus time at the airport on each end, while the train/ferry journey requires about two-three days depending on your starting and ending points. This is due to the combination of the journey times and schedules for connections. Paris to Barcelona alone is over six hours, and that's only one segment of the trip. It still sounds like a fun trip though, if you can spare the time.

Why does it take so long? Paris to Algeciras alone is more than 1,500km as the crow flies—rome2rio thinks it would take 18 hours to drive without stops. High speed rail saves you some time over a car, but you give up much of that time in the connections—some of these trains only run a few times a day.

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You can take a ferry from Algeciras in Spain, to Morocco.

There are routes to Tangier, and to Tangier Med (located about 40 km east of Tangier), which is a shorter route.

The crossing to Tangier takes about 2 hours, and sailing times, although published, are erratic. You can forget about high speed travel for this section of the journey.

I don't know anything about the crossing to Tangier Med although it is easy to find online.

However, I believe there is a hydrofoil service from Tarifa in Spain to Tangier, see here too.

Tangier has rail connections to Marrakesh (for example an overnight sleeper train) and to other cities in Morocco, for example Fes.


Because of the erratic sailing times from Algeciras I would allow a full day for this section of the journey - the ferry I was on departed 3 hours late. It would be foolish to book a train out of Tangier in the hope of making the connection. A more reliable plan would be to stay at least one night in Tangier, before travelling on. You might want to explore Tangier too.

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