How do grand taxis work in Morocco?

Grand taxis are one of Morocco’s most useful and characterful ways to get around, and they confuse first-timers, so let me demystify them. They are big, usually cream or differently-coloured (depending on the city) older Mercedes saloons that work fixed routes — between towns, or from a city to a nearby village — leaving from a designated taxi rank, not hailed on the street like the little petit taxis.

The defining rule is that they leave when full, and "full" means six paying passengers — two in front beside the driver, four squeezed across the back. You turn up at the rank, tell them where you are going, pay a fixed per-seat fare (ask other passengers or check the going rate so you are not overcharged), and wait for the car to fill. On busy routes that is minutes; on quiet ones it can be a while.

Here is the trick experienced travellers use: you can buy more than one seat. Pay for two and you get a comfortable single spot up front; pay for all six and the taxi leaves immediately as a private car, just for you, at six times the seat fare — still often cheap by Western standards. It is a brilliant flexible middle ground between cramped sharing and an expensive private transfer.

A few practicalities. Agree the fare before you get in, in dirhams, so there is no confusion. They take cash only. They are fast — drivers know the roads intimately — though the driving can be brisk, which is part of the adventure. For short intercity legs like Fes to a nearby town, or filling a gap the bus does not cover, a grand taxi is cheap, efficient, and a genuine slice of everyday Moroccan life.