From London take the Eurostar to Paris, catch the TGV to Algeciras, in Spain, changing at Irun on the Spanish border. This is run by the French SNCF but tickets may be purchased from European Rail Ltd (tel: 020 7387 0444; website: www.europeanrail.com) and Rail Europe (tel: 0870 584 8848; website: www.raileurope.co.uk). Ferry services to Tangier and Ceuta (the Spanish enclave in Morocco) leave from Algeciras. Southern Ferries (tel: 020 7491 4968; website: www.southernferries.co.uk) has prices and timetables.

Office National des Chemins de Fer (ONCF) (tel: 3777 4747; website: www.oncf.ma) is Morocco's national railway operator. Fast trains shuttles (TNR) and air-conditioned express trains connect the main cities in the north-western part of the country: Fes, Meknes, Tangier, Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakech.

There are no trains east of the Atlas mountains and south of Marrakech. To cover some of these regions, the ONCF has its own bus company, Supratours (tel: 3777 6520) whose schedules are integrated into the train timetable so that buses connect smoothly to intercity trains. Tickets for combined train and bus journeys are sold in one package, known as ‘Rail & Route'.

Fes railway station is in the Ville Nouvelle, rue Imarate Arabia (tel: 055 930 333).A tunnel between Spain and Morocco and a high-speed rail link is a project that has been under discussion for years but has never progressed beyond the drawing board and pledges of intent from Rabat and Madrid.