Casablanca & Rabat Tramway: A Tourist's Guide to Lines, Tickets and Fares

Casablanca and Rabat both opened modern tramways in the last decade or so, and for visitors they are a small revelation: air-conditioned, punctual, spotless and cheap, gliding down dedicated central corridors while cars sit in traffic alongside. A ride costs about 6 dirhams, you tap a rechargeable card on boarding, and the lines are simple and well signposted. For getting between a train station and your hotel, or along a main axis, the tram is often the quickest and least stressful option in either city.

The two systems work the same way but serve different shapes of city. Casablanca's two lines stitch together a sprawling metropolis, meeting at a central interchange and reaching from the eastern suburbs out toward the Corniche. Rabat-Salé's two lines are more compact and, uniquely, cross the Bouregreg river to link the capital with its twin city of Salé. Both are covered in more depth in the World Cup city transport pages for Casablanca and Rabat.

The trams are not a complete solution — some major sights sit a walk or a short taxi from the nearest stop — but as a cheap, reliable backbone for city travel they are hard to beat. The table gives the networks at a glance before the detail below.

The Casablanca Tramway runs two lines, T1 and T2, that between them cover the main axes of a large, spread-out city and meet at a central interchange around the Place des Nations Unies area downtown. T1 is the original east-west spine, running from the far eastern districts through the city centre; T2 crosses it and extends the network toward the northeast and, in the other direction, out toward the western coastal suburbs and the Corniche. Where the lines cross, you can change between them on a single validated card.

For a visitor, the tram is most useful along the central stretch: it connects near the main train station of Casa-Voyageurs and the downtown core, and T-line branches head out toward Ain Diab and the Corniche where the seafront restaurants and beach clubs are. The great Hassan II Mosque is not directly on a tram line, so most visitors ride to the nearest central stop and finish by petit taxi or on foot. Termini and branch details are occasionally extended, so check the current network map at any station — the lines are clearly colour-coded and easy to follow once you have your bearings.

Rabat's system is more compact and, for sightseeing, arguably more useful. Two lines, L1 and L2, run through the capital and cross the Bouregreg river on the Hassan II bridge to reach Salé, the older twin city on the north bank — a genuinely handy link, since Salé's medina and the river crossing are attractions in themselves. The lines pass close to the central Rabat Ville train station, the edge of the Rabat medina around Bab El Had, the Hassan Tower district, and south toward the modern Agdal quarter and the university area of Madinat Al Irfane.

This makes the Rabat tram a practical way to string together arrival by train, a base in the centre, and visits across the water to Salé. Several headline sights — the Kasbah des Oudaias, Hassan Tower, the Chellah necropolis — sit within walking distance of a tram stop or a short taxi from one, so you can cover a lot with a single card. As in Casablanca, exact stop names and any line extensions are best checked on the station map, but the two-line system is simple to navigate. If you are arriving from the airport, our Casablanca airport to Rabat transfer guide explains how the tram connects with the capital's stations.

Both tramways use a rechargeable card rather than cash paid to a driver, and this is the one thing to get right on your first ride. You buy the card from a machine or a kiosk at any tram stop, load it with journeys or credit, and then tap it against the reader as you board. A single journey costs about 6 dirhams; the card itself carries a small one-off cost or deposit. Keep the card for your whole stay and top it up as needed — there is no need to queue for a new ticket each time.

There are no barriers on the platforms, so the system runs on validation and inspection: always tap on when you board, because ticket inspectors do check and fining fare-dodgers, even inadvertent ones, is routine. If you are travelling as a couple or family, one person can usually tap multiple fares from a single loaded card — check the machine prompts or ask at the kiosk. Machines take coins and often cards; keep some small change for your first purchase. The table summarises the ticketing basics.

The trams shine for a handful of specific traveller journeys, and it pays to know which stops matter. In Casablanca, the central downtown stops put you within reach of the colonial-era Art Deco quarter, the Marché Central and the old medina edge, while the westbound branch runs out toward Ain Diab and the Corniche for the seafront. In Rabat, stops near Rabat Ville station, the medina at Bab El Had, and the Hassan Tower area cover much of the sightseeing core, and the line across to Salé opens up the north bank.

The table below picks out the stops most useful to visitors in each city and what they put you near. Treat it as a starting point rather than a full map: exact stop names vary and networks get extended, so confirm on the station map. For the old medina in Casablanca specifically, our Casablanca old medina walking guide picks up where the tram leaves off, and in the capital the Rabat day trips guide covers what lies beyond the tram network.

The tram and the petit taxi are complements, not rivals, and knowing when to use each saves both money and time. The tram wins on cost — about 6 dirhams versus a taxi's ten to thirty — and on beating traffic, since it runs on its own dedicated corridor down the busiest central axes. It is ideal for straightforward hops along a line, especially in the heat or at rush hour when the roads clog. The catch is that it only goes where the lines go, and it can be packed at peak times.

The petit taxi, the small city cab, wins for door-to-door trips, for anywhere off the tram lines, and whenever you have luggage. It is metered and cheap in both cities — insist on the meter rather than accepting a fixed 'tourist' price — and it finishes the journeys the tram cannot, such as reaching the Hassan II Mosque or a specific riad in the medina lanes. A sensible traveller uses the tram as the cheap backbone and a petit taxi for the last-mile gaps. For longer inter-town legs, grand taxis take over, as explained in our grand-taxi guide.

Both tramways are modern and step-free: the low-floor trams give level boarding from raised platforms, there are dedicated wheelchair and pushchair spaces, and priority seats for elderly and disabled passengers. This makes them one of the more accessible ways to get around a Moroccan city, far easier than the medina lanes or an older bus. Services run roughly from six in the morning to half past ten at night, every eight to fifteen minutes, thinning a little at the very start and end of the day — confirm the exact first and last trams locally if you are travelling to a schedule.

A few points of etiquette smooth the ride. Trams get genuinely crowded at commuter rush hours, morning and early evening, so avoid those windows with luggage or if you dislike a crush. Some cities designate carriages or areas busier with one group than another, but in practice you simply move down the car and make room. Keep your validated card handy for inspectors, give up priority seats when needed, and mind your bags in the crush — the trams are safe, but a packed carriage is a pickpocket's favourite anywhere in the world.

Because the two cities sit an hour apart on Morocco's busiest rail corridor, many travellers see both, and the trams knit each visit together neatly. Arrive by train, tap onto the tram to reach your hotel, use it as your cheap daily backbone for the central sights, and taxi only for the gaps. In Casablanca the tram links the centre with the Corniche; in Rabat it carries you across the river to Salé and around the compact sightseeing core. Both stations sit on or beside the tram lines, so the handover from train to tram is seamless.

For the frequent trains that connect the two cities, see our Casablanca to Rabat transport guide, and if you are flying in, the Mohammed V airport guide covers the airport train that feeds this corridor. All fares here are approximate 2026 figures — confirm on the day, as tram prices and card fees are occasionally revised. Used well, the two tramways turn a pair of big, traffic-heavy cities into cheap, easy places to get around.