MARRAKESH EXPRESS

By Stanley Sobari

#A Train from Fez passes the Idris I Dam, en route to the town of Oujda on Morocco’s Algerian border | Route: Tangier to Marrakesh Morocco; Miles: 340; Notable passenger: Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills and Nash, Paul Bowles; Dining car: Food from the bar gets mixed reviews: stock up on snacks in advance; Sit on: the left-hand side for the views of the Idris I Dam on the Fez-Oujda branch

THE famous Crosby, Stills and Nash song Marrakesh Express painted a lively portrait of Moroccan railways: an on board carnival of ducks, pigs and cobras, all seen through a hazy cloud of exhaled smoke. 

These days a journey aboard the Marrakesh train yields less in the way of travelling livestock and mind-bending tobacco-but just as much in the way of dusty deserts, crumbling Kasbahs and colourful chacters. Follow the old hippy trail by catching a southbound service fro mTanger along the coast to the port of Casablanca. From here, trains turn inland, rumbling a corss the baked earth until the Atlas Mountains rear up on the horizon and Marrakesh materializes out of the heat haze. If you’ve time to spare, take a detour along the soon to be upgraded Fez-Oujda line, which branches off the main line en route to Marrakesh. Here, the crowning moment comes soon after the train depart Fez, with sweeping views of the idris I Dam backing on to arid, low-slung hills.

Night trains from Tangier to Marrakesh take roughly 20 hours, changing at Casablanca (oncf.ma).