On this route
For most people the answer is the Supratours bus: six departures a day, three hours, about 100 to 125 dirhams (roughly 9 to 12 euros), leaving from beside Marrakech railway station and arriving at the Essaouira medina wall. A private transfer wins in three cases: you are three or four people, you are going straight from Marrakech airport to Essaouira, or you need to leave Essaouira before the first bus for a morning flight. A rental car only makes sense if you will use it for something else, because neither medina can be driven into and the road between them is a bus-shaped road. This guide gives the operator timetables read for December 2026 dates, the station-to-riad last mile in both cities, and a worked door-to-door comparison.
The options at a glance
| Option | Journey | Cost for two | Starts and ends | Booking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supratours bus | 3 h 00 timetabled, six departures daily | 200 to 250 MAD (about 18 to 23 EUR) | Terminal beside Marrakech railway station to Bab Marrakech, Essaouira | Online about 90 days ahead; Flex fare exchangeable |
| CTM bus | 3 h 00 out, 2 h 30 back, one departure daily each way | 210 MAD (about 19 EUR) | CTM agency, Bd Abou Bakr Seddik, Marrakech, to Place 11 Janvier, Essaouira (about 1.5 km from the medina) | Online about four weeks ahead |
| Grand taxi (whole car) | About 2 h 40 min driving plus negotiation | About 600 to 700 MAD (about 55 to 65 EUR), negotiated | Rank outside Marrakech railway station to the Essaouira rank outside the walls | None; turn up and bargain |
| Private transfer | 2 h 30 to 3 h door to door | 950 to 1,200 MAD per car (about 87 to 110 EUR); about 133 USD per group of four on an aggregator | Your riad or Marrakech airport to your Essaouira riad's nearest gate | Online, usually free cancellation to 24 hours before |
| Rental car | About 2 h 40 min driving | Daily rental plus fuel; parking outside both medinas | Anywhere to anywhere, except inside the walls | Only worth it if the car has another job in your week |
The bus: Supratours or CTM
Two operators run the route and they are not interchangeable, because they use different stations at both ends.
Supratours, the bus arm of the national railway, leaves from its terminal beside Marrakech railway station on Avenue Hassan II, which is in the new town about 3 km from Jemaa el-Fna. In Essaouira it arrives at its station beside Bab Marrakech, the main landward gate, so most medina riads are a few minutes on foot. For Saturday 5 December 2026 the operator's booking site listed six departures: 07:30, 09:00, 10:30, 12:00, 15:00 and 17:00, all timetabled at three hours, with second-class fares from 100 dirhams (125 for the 09:00). The return direction on Tuesday 8 and Wednesday 9 December showed 07:00, 09:00, 11:00, 14:00, 15:30 and 17:00, from 100 dirhams (125 for the 17:00). A "Flex" fare at the same displayed price is exchangeable without limit before departure and refundable without penalty until the day before travel. Tickets open roughly three months ahead: on 17 September the calendar allowed dates up to 16 December.
CTM, the other national coach company, runs one departure a day in each direction on the dates its site would sell: Marrakech 08:30 to Essaouira 11:30, and Essaouira 17:00 to Marrakech 19:30, from 105 dirhams. Its Marrakech agency is on Boulevard Abou Bakr Seddik on the Gueliz side of the city, and its Essaouira stop at Place 11 Janvier is about 1.5 km from the medina, closer to the beach hotels than to the walls. CTM sells only about four weeks ahead, so on 17 September its December departures could not be read; the pattern above is from September and October dates and should be checked once your date opens.
The buses stop roughly halfway for about twenty minutes at a roadside restaurant. Luggage goes in the hold; Supratours has charged a small per-bag fee at the counter in the past, so keep a few dirhams in coins. Book the day before in high season and on the days around Eid al-Fitr (expected 9 or 10 March 2027), when Moroccans travel home in numbers.
The last mile at each end
This is where door-to-door time is won or lost, and where the bus looks worse on paper than it is.
- Marrakech medina riad to the Supratours terminal: 3 km. A petit taxi from the nearest gate takes 10 to 15 minutes in normal traffic; allow 30 minutes from your door including the walk to the gate. From the airport the terminal is about 7 km.
- Marrakech medina riad to the CTM agency: similar, on the Gueliz side; ask the taxi for "la gare CTM".
- Bab Marrakech to an Essaouira medina riad: on foot, 5 to 15 minutes. The medina is small and flat.
- CTM Essaouira to the medina: about 1.5 km, a short petit-taxi ride or a 20-minute walk along the seafront.
- Essaouira airport to the medina: 19 km, about 25 minutes by taxi, if you fly in or out there instead.
Private transfer
A private car with driver is sold at about 950 dirhams for a sedan and 1,200 for a seven-seat van by Marrakech transfer companies, one way, door to door, tolls and fuel included; an aggregator lists the same service from about 133 US dollars per group of up to four with free cancellation until 24 hours before. The drive is 2 hours 30 to 3 hours with a stop of your choosing, and the driver can collect you from the airport, which is the case where it beats the bus outright: landing at Marrakech at midday and being in Essaouira by late afternoon without crossing the city. For two people it costs four to five times the bus. For four people it costs about twice the bus per head and saves the taxi to the terminal at each end.
Grand taxi
The old-fashioned private option is to hire a whole grand taxi, the shared six-seat cars that work fixed intercity routes, from the rank outside Marrakech railway station. Locally quoted fares for the whole car to Essaouira are around 600 to 700 dirhams, agreed before you get in, and the driver registers the trip before leaving. It is cheaper than a transfer company, less comfortable, and you get no fixed pick-up at your riad. It suits a group of three or four who want to stop at an argan cooperative on the way and who are happy to negotiate.
Rental car
The road runs west out of Marrakech across flat farmland and drops to the coast through argan country: 183 km medina to medina, about 2 hours 40 minutes without stops on a routing estimate, on a paved main road. Driving it is not hard. The problem is what the car does for the rest of the week. You cannot drive into either medina, so it sits in a car park outside the walls at both ends, and for a two-base week there is nothing else for it to do. Rent only if you are adding legs that need it, such as an Atlas day to Imlil, the coast road south to Sidi Kaouki and beyond, or a loop that does not return to Marrakech. If you do rent, pick it up on the day you leave Marrakech, not on arrival.
Worked example: two people, a December Saturday
Riad near Jemaa el-Fna, checkout at 08:00, riad inside the Essaouira walls.
| Option | Leave riad | At Essaouira riad | Door to door | Cost for two |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supratours 09:00 | 08:00 (walk to gate, taxi to terminal, 30-minute margin) | About 12:15 | About 4 h 15 | 250 MAD plus about 30 MAD taxi |
| Supratours 10:30 | 09:30 | About 13:45 | About 4 h 15 | 200 MAD plus taxi |
| CTM 08:30 | 07:30 | About 12:00 (taxi from Place 11 Janvier) | About 4 h 30 | 210 MAD plus two taxis |
| Private transfer | 09:00 (driver at the gate) | About 11:45 to 12:15 | About 3 h | 950 to 1,200 MAD |
| Grand taxi | 08:30 (taxi to the rank, negotiate) | About 11:45 | About 3 h 15 | About 600 to 700 MAD plus taxi |
The bus costs about an hour and a quarter more than a private car, almost all of it at the Marrakech end, and saves roughly 700 to 900 dirhams for two. Neither difference is large enough to decide the week. What decides it is the airport question in the next section.
Which to choose
- Two people, Marrakech first, then Essaouira, afternoon flight home from Marrakech: Supratours both ways. The 07:00 return reaches Marrakech at 10:00 and the 09:00 at 12:00; with a 20 to 30 minute taxi to the airport, that supports flights from about 13:30 and 15:30 respectively.
- Flight home from Marrakech before 13:30: either a private transfer leaving Essaouira around 05:00 (the road from the medina to the airport is 184 km, about 2 hours 40 minutes without stops) or, better, a last night in Marrakech.
- Landing at Marrakech and heading straight to the coast: private transfer from the airport, and skip Marrakech until the end of the week.
- Three or four people: a grand taxi costs about the same per head as the bus plus its taxi legs, and a transfer company car about twice, with a driver at your gate.
- A direct flight exists between home and Essaouira: use it for one direction and take the bus for the other, and the question half disappears.
How the leg fits into a whole week, including the departure-day rule and the Atlas swap, is in the 7-day Marrakech and Essaouira itinerary. If you are still deciding whether the coast is the right second base at all, the Essaouira or the Sahara comparison shows what the desert would cost in nights and driving hours, and the Morocco in winter guide covers sunsets, rain days and Ramadan 2027.
Questions about getting from Marrakech to Essaouira
How long is the bus from Marrakech to Essaouira?
How much does the Marrakech to Essaouira bus cost?
Where does the Supratours bus leave from in Marrakech?
How much is a private transfer from Marrakech to Essaouira?
Is it worth renting a car for Marrakech and Essaouira?
Can I get from Essaouira to Marrakech airport in time for a morning flight?
How this guide was checked
Supratours and CTM departures and fares were read on the operators' own booking sites on 17 September 2026 for the dates stated; CTM's December dates were not yet on sale. Station addresses come from the operators' agency lists and two secondary guides. Distances and driving times are routing-engine estimates on OpenStreetMap data without traffic. Transfer prices are the operators' and aggregator's published prices on the same date; grand-taxi fares are locally reported and negotiated. Currency conversions use a rate of about 10.9 dirhams to the euro. Nothing here is a first-hand account.
Photo credits
- Cover: Morocco Road from Marrakech to Essaouira, goats in an argan tree, Mike Finn, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, resized.
- Essaouira Citadel, Ahmed.magdy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, resized.