Le Maroc au Volant pour les Français — Barrages, Médinas et 0,02

For a French driver, Morocco is unusually familiar on paper: you drive on the right, and road signs follow European conventions in Arabic and French. The permit question needs a straight answer, because it is what people search for most before this trip.

The permit: where the sources disagree

Foreign licences are valid for visitors, and the German Foreign Office says national licences are recognised for stays of up to one year. The UK Foreign Office goes further and says a 1968-convention International Driving Permit is required, adding that the 1949 version is no longer accepted. A French licence is not a UK one, so the British advice is not written for you, but it describes what a Moroccan officer may expect to see.

The practical answer is cheap insurance: carry a 1968 IDP with your French licence, passport and rental papers. It costs little and removes any argument at a checkpoint or at the counter.

Checkpoints and fines

The most constant feature of Moroccan driving is the gendarmerie checkpoint. You meet them on the edges of towns and along main routes, frequently paired with radar. They are entirely routine: slow to the posted limit on approach, keep your licence and the car’s papers to hand, and be courteous.

Fines are graded by how far you exceed the limit:

A seatbelt or phone offence is MAD 300-700 (about EUR 28-65); a red light is MAD 700-1,400 (about EUR 65-130). France’s equivalents are EUR 135 for the belt and EUR 135 plus 3 points for the phone, with a red light at EUR 135 plus 4 points.

Speeds, compared with France

Moroccan towns are faster than French ones, which tempts drivers up to 60 where residents are crossing the street.

Sharing the road

Away from the toll motorways, which are genuinely good, you drive among pedestrians, cyclists, mopeds, donkey carts and the occasional flock of sheep, often with no separation and little warning. Night driving is the real hazard: unlit carts, animals and people in dark clothing make rural roads after dark something to avoid where you can. And the old-city medinas of Marrakech, Fès and Chefchaouen are impassable by car. Park outside the walls and walk in.

Alcohol and kit

Morocco sets a near-dry 0.02 limit, stricter than France’s 0.05, in a society where alcohol is far less visible day to day. Take it as zero. For the car, Morocco requires a reflective vest, spare bulbs and a warning triangle; France requires the vest and triangle too, but not spare bulbs.

Emergency numbers

Morocco uses 190 for police, 150 for ambulance and fire, and 177 for the gendarmerie in rural areas. France’s are 17, 15 and 18, with 112 as the general line. Save them before you set off. For the full picture, read our Morocco driving guide, and check your fine with the speeding fine calculator.

Taking your own car or hiring one

If you drive from France, plan the Spanish leg and the ferry crossing as a separate trip with its own timings. Check that your insurance covers Morocco and that the car’s registration papers are with you, and expect them to be looked at. If you hire in Morocco instead, the desk will want the licence, the passport and increasingly the permit, so having a 1968 IDP in the folder saves a discussion.

Fuel up before long stretches away from the motorways, and keep some small cash for fines and tolls. Check the car and the tyres, including the spare, before leaving a city, because a flat on a secondary road is an hour of waiting in the sun.

Reading the road at dusk

Distances look short on the map, but a mountain road with hairpins and no barrier takes far longer than the motorway equivalent. Aim to arrive before dark: the combination of unlit vehicles, animals and pedestrians that the section above describes is at its worst in the first hour after sunset. Drive at the pace of the slowest thing in front of you, and let the road decide the schedule.

Sources

• UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Morocco travel advice (1968-convention IDP required; 1949 version not accepted), as recorded in our Morocco dataset
• German Foreign Office, Morocco travel and safety advice (national licences recognised for stays up to one year), as cited in our Morocco dataset