Tangier

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Tangier is a city in Morocco, across the strait of Gibraltar from Spain.

Hitchhiking out

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Ferry to Spain (Port Tanger Med)

The new port, Tanger Med, is situated some 40 km east of the city and there are ferries to Spain (Algeciras) several times a day (less frequently to Barcelona and Italy). From the big roundabout in Tanger (Place Jamia el Arbia) walk about 4 kilometers towards national road N2 (follow the Tanger Med sign). After a big flyover bridge there is a bus stop where you can hitch a short ride to a toll booth that takes you to the highway A4 (not too much traffic but if you just keep walking towards the highway someone stops). Alternatively, get to the national road N16 (the beach road following Avenue d'Espagne). The port is like a military fortress or high security prison: inaccessible and completely surrounded by tall metal fences and guards. Go to the passenger terminal for immigration formalities, ask for a boarding card from one of the booths and fill it. Go to the boarding gate, where you will find the first obstacle: a guard whose only task is to check that you have a ticket. Explain that you are a hitchhiker and that the trucks are allowed to have one passenger apart from the driver. Be prepared for lengthy conversation though. Smile. There are good chances that you won't convince him, in this case read below how to get a discounted price with a ticket agent.

If you are lucky enough and manage to pass the first obstacle, you will reach passport control. Here no ticket will be asked. Then you will have to take a free shuttle bus bringing passengers to the ferries some km away. Your ticket will be asked again here, so be ready with your story if you don't have one. If you manage to get in the bus and reach the ferries, Moroccan drivers are your best choice. Just convince them that you don't have drugs with you (Arabic sign "I have no drugs" makes them smile). Explain that all they have to do is to take you into the ferry and in Spain you will walk out of the ferry by yourself.

It might take a while but eventually you will get a ride to the ferry. Then you just go and have a nice meal with the driver.

Just before reaching Algeciras you should try to hitch a ride out of the port (otherwise be prepared for a long walk).

Free or Discounted Tickets from a Ticket Agent

There are often Buses with Moroccans going to Spain, Italy, or other European countries who don't pay the standard price for each passenger. Instead, there are ticket agents hanging around the terminal, who seem to negotiate bulk prices for the buses with the ferry companies. So if you find a nice agent and explain that you don't have much money, you might score free, or at least significantly cheaper tickets. When negotiating a price for 50 people, one or two more probably don't make any difference at all for them.

You can ask the info point to direct you to a ticket agent if you can't find one yourself. They are people moving from one window to the other back and forth. If they agree to get you a free or discounted ticket, you'll have to trust them and give them your passport, so that they can produce a ferry ticket for you. After some 30 minutes you'll get your ticket and passport back and pay. You don't need to go on a bus, you can now act as a normal passenger, pass the controls and always keep your luggage always with.

(Recent) User Experiences

In February 2018 Davide and Oti didn't manage to pass the ticket inspection. They asked for help at the guard and then at the Port Authority info point without success. Eventually they asked for help also to a nice english speaking lady at the main Info point for passenger, and she pointed at a ticket agent where they were able to get a discount from 360 dh to 250 dh )after negotiating from the proposed 300 dh price. There were several other Moroccan people around the agent, all using the same shortcut and paying 300 dh, so it wasn't possible to negotiate even further. Also options were very limited because of bad wheated ferries had been cancelled for the previous 9 hours and the cheapest company, Intershipping, wasn't running at all. But if you are alone with the agent try to get it much cheaper.

In March 2016, Mohit and another hitchhiker were unsuccessful in hitching a truck, but managed to get free tickets from a ticket agent as described above.

Two hitchhikers managed to hitch a lift to Spain from the truck gate in April 2013. It was very difficult, they weren't sure what was happening most of the time, and they don't think it would be very easy to repeat. But it is possible! Full story in the discussion section.

When Fedecicco did it (March 2012) port authority absolutely didn't want to let him in without a ticket (they sent him to the other truck entrance where they resent him back again). He had to enter by force, didn't care about them and went straight to the police and custom office on the right after the entrance. There, being european and explaining, blablaing and so on he could finally enter.

A hitchiker had a very bad time there; people working at the port have orders to not help hitchikers and to mislead them. After searching for hours the place for the trucks, he finally got there, but the douane officers he met were there were the worst people he could encounter. They'll do anything to annoy you and to make you wait. A douane officer even forced him to get out of a truck he got in. The hitchiker abandonned after trying for some hours to find a truck. Be carefull because in the night there are immigrants all over the port trying to hide inside a truck, it could be dangerous to walk on the road alone, mostly if you have an european passport. [Bob-bob]

Traveling Charles and his companion mistakenly tried arriving at night and found only a few trucks being loaded onto the ferries. Be sure to arrive between 10:00 and 19:00 for best results. They were two people and split on to two trucks as the drivers wanted to make sure they also got food tickets. They recommend to make sure to just ask drivers, because they also tried getting help from the people loading the boats, which was the key for success on the Spanish side, but on the Moroccain side it was actually problematic to ask help from the workers. Balearia company seemed to be the best choice for boat companies.


Ferry to Italy, Genova or Barcelona

Impossible. Because the way is longer (they told me more than 8h, to Barcelona is about 24h and Genova 48h) they ask for documents, driving license and a 100€ ticket for the codriver of the truck. That's why all companies just pay for one driver.

South towards Rabat, Tetouan (from Port Tanger Med)

From the main exit of the port, follow the main road (the only one that trucks can run on). You'll see a sign reading first "Toutes directions", and "Tetouan", and then "Tetouan, Rabat". After a walk of some 2 km you'll reach a large roundabout. There is plenty of room for cars to stop, though you'll continually have to wave taxis off.

For Chefchaouen, you can use the direction Tetouan (the M2 motorway runs south along this route), though you'll most likely have to be dropped off in Tetouan and hitch from there.

For going to Rabat, another option is to take a train to Asilah, the first stop south of Tangier. From there it takes about 30 minutes to walk to the highway. Ask for the Afriquia gas station and you'll find plenty of cars and trucks there.

South towards Rabat (from Tanger City)

The autoroute A1 is connecting Tanger and Rabat. Within Tanger follow the N1 to get on the A1. You can basicly hitch a ride from any petrol station along the N1. Your chances get much better at the edge of the city, though. The Shell gas-station at the airport roundabout is a very safe bet.

To get there, take a bus or other transport towards the airport,Tangier Ibn Batouda. (For cheap, 6Dh, take a Grand Taxi towards Gzenaya. Grand taxis are the old cream-coloured Mercedes cars, they go from a street behind the main bus station - but NOT the taxis there. Ask someone they will point you to Grand taxis specifically). Then get out at the big roundabout where the airport road splits from the N1, you'll see the Shell station. Ask towards Larache, Kenitra, Rabat. If a driver only goes to Larache or Kenitra, there are a few highway reststations which are optimal to drop and find a new ride. Pay attention, there is one at the height of Larache but its after the first exit towards Larache.

South towards Tetouan (from Tanger City)

Find your way to the Tanger Morora (Moghogha) Railway Station. You can walk from the city centre, but you could also take a bus. Walking from the centre, you should already be on the big road (N2) towards Tetouan. To get to the N2, you may have to ask your way through, as signage is rather poor. The road begins after a big roundabout (Place de la Ligue Arabe), which also marks the start of the big road towards Rabat (N1) in the other direction. After some time, you will pass another roundabout and then a bridge crossing the rails, from which you can also see the railway station. After the bridge, you can start hitching by the side of the road. Cars should be able to stop there. It might also be possible to start hitching right in the city centre once you're on the N2, but that may mean more local traffic and less people leaving Tanger.

Public transportation

For the airport, take bus 9, 9b or 9c, which goes from near the medina. You can catch the 9b and 9c at place Kouweit and the 9 at Mabrouk. They all are not so frequent (go every half an hour/hour), so be prepared to wait. The bus journey takes only 15 minutes, but none of them go directly to the airport. They only pass by it on the main road. Get off the bus after the Metro store and than you'll have 10 more minutes to walk. Bus number I3 will take you to the city train station area for 7dh for a 40km trip. You can check the time table on www.alsa.ma/tanger (Site is in french but also understandeble of you dont speak french.)

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