Plan Your Visit to Ouarzazate: Transport, Money, Weather

Booking an activity or trip with us

Choose what you would like to do, then write to us through the form on this site or on WhatsApp. That message is only a request. We look at availability and come back with the details and the final price, and the booking stands once we have confirmed it to you in writing, by email or WhatsApp.

Nothing is paid online here. When a day trip or desert tour page lists pickup at your hotel or riad in Ouarzazate, it is part of the trip. For quad, buggy and horse rides, the place where we meet or collect you is set out in your confirmation.

WhatsApp or call: +212 719 199 219
Email: contact@ouarzazatetours.com

Getting to Ouarzazate

Flying in: Royal Air Maroc connects Casablanca and Marrakech with Ouarzazate airport (code OZZ), and budget airlines including Ryanair and Transavia operate international links. Timetables shift with the seasons, so confirm with the airline.

Coach: both CTM and Supratours keep an office in town. Several operators use the national bus station on Avenue Moulay Abdellah, with a departure roughly each hour, and markoub.ma lets you look up tickets.

Shared grand taxi: these leave from next to the bus station as soon as their six places are filled, and you can buy the empty places if you would rather not wait. Treat the fares listed here as a rough guide.

Royal Air Maroc: royalairmaroc.ma
Ryanair: ryanair.com
Transavia: transavia.com
CTM coaches: ctm.ma, 05 24 89 07 92
Supratours office, Avenue Bir Anzarane: supratours.ma, 06 61 08 26 56
Coach tickets on the web: markoub.ma
Shared taxi, Marrakech (approx.): 100 DH
Shared taxi, Agadir (approx.): 130 DH
Shared taxi, Zagora (approx.): 60 DH
Shared taxi, Tinghir (approx.): 60 DH
Shared taxi, Agdz (approx.): 30 DH

From Marrakech

Roughly 200 km separate Marrakech from Ouarzazate, which lies south east across the High Atlas. Allow 4 to 5 hours of driving on the mountain road.

Coach: services run often between the two cities. Look up departures on the CTM or ONCF sites, or ask the other operators at the Marrakech bus station.
Grand taxi: take a seat in a shared one, or book the whole car, at the taxi rank close to the Marrakech bus station.
Flight: Royal Air Maroc flies the route direct; prices and booking are on its website.
Self drive: pick up a hire car in Marrakech and cross the mountains yourself.

Getting around town

For hops within Ouarzazate, use a petit taxi. Each one carries three passengers at most and may not drive beyond the city limits. Roughly, count on 5 DH a passenger in the daytime, 8 DH after dark and about 70 DH for a ride to the airport.

Grand taxis hold six passengers and are allowed to go to any town in Morocco; they wait close to the bus station. The city also has two urban bus lines, numbers 1 and 2.

Weather and altitude

At 1,119 m, Ouarzazate has a dry desert climate and sees little rain in any season. Temperatures average around 29.8 °C. The peak comes in July at roughly 38 °C, while January is the cold month, with lows that can reach about 3 °C.

Money

The local currency is the dirham, shown in shops as DH or MDH. Since the rate moves, look it up with your bank or at an exchange office shortly before the trip. Ouarzazate Tours lists its own prices in US dollars.

Coins in use: 20 and 50 centimes, 1, 2, 5 and 10 DH
Notes in use: 20, 50, 100 and 200 DH

Electricity

Bring a travel adapter if your chargers use a different plug.

Mains voltage: 220 to 230 V
Mains frequency: 50 Hz
Plug types: Type C (CEE) and type J (SEV)

Language and useful codes

The region's own tongue is Tamazight, and nearly everyone also speaks Darija, the Arabic of Morocco. French is common thanks to the steady flow of visitors, and you will meet English speakers too. To say the town's name like a local, split it into four beats: WAR ZA ZA T. You will find the post office facing the town hall.

Post code: 45000
IATA airport code: OZZ

Public holidays

Because religious holidays are set by the lunar calendar, their dates shift from one year to the next. They are Eid al Fitr, which closes Ramadan; Eid al Adha, on the tenth of Dhu al Hijja; the Islamic New Year, on the first of Muharram; and the Prophet's Birthday, on the twelfth of Rabi al Awwal. Holidays with a fixed date are below.

New Year's Day: 1 January
Independence Manifesto Day: 11 January
Yennayer, the Amazigh New Year: 14 January
Labour Day: 1 May
Throne Day: 30 July
Revolution Day: 20 August
King Mohammed VI's birthday and Youth Day: 21 August
Green March anniversary: 6 November
Independence Day: 18 November

Health

Two hospitals serve the town, alongside private doctors covering general practice, cardiology, gynaecology and dental care.

Provincial health delegation: 0524 882 202
Sidi Hssain Bennaceur Hospital, Sidi Hssain district: 0524 882 122
Bougafer Hospital, Avenue Mohamed V: 0524 882 444

Emergency and useful numbers

Store these in your phone before heading out. SAMU is the emergency medical service for the province.

SAMU medical emergencies: 0524 888 888
Police: 190
Ambulance: 150
Fire brigade: 150
Royal Gendarmerie: 177
Moroccan Red Crescent, Rabat: 037 65 14 95
Poison control: 05 37 68 64 64 or 08 01 00 01 80
CTM in Ouarzazate: 0524 88 24 27
ONCF railways: 0890 20 30 40
National Airports Office (ONDA): 05 22 53 90 40 or 05 22 53 91 40
Reporting corruption: 08 00 100 76 76

Police, gendarmerie and tourism office

You will find the tourist police on Boulevard Moulay Rechid, in the tourist district, and the Regional Tourism Delegation on Avenue Hassan II.

Police headquarters, Tassoumaat, Boulevard Mohamed V: 190
Tourist police: Tourist district, Boulevard Moulay Rechid
Gendarmerie, Boulevard Mohamed V: 177
Tourism Delegation telephone: 05 24 88 24 85
Tourism Delegation fax: 05 24 88 52 90

Plan your visit to Ouarzazate