Rabat-Salé international airport

GPS coordinates: 34°02’10.3″N 6°44’53.2″W (34.036186, -6.748111)

The airport is located in Salé, 10 km. away from city center of Rabat. It is quite small and only new terminal (built in 2012) works for passengers.

How to get from the airport to Rabat?

Information, valid for 2019:

– Buses to Rabat have a strange timetable. Some say that the schedule follows arrivals and departures of airplanes like this – bus from the airport to the city departs 30 minutes after the arrival of the plane; bus from the city to the airport departs 3 hours in advance before departure of the plane. Anyway it is worth checking at the bus stop, if you have a chance to go by bus, because it is the cheapest way – 20 MAD. Drive will take ~25 min.

Bus stop in the city is opposite Rabat Ville train station – 34°00’57.9″N 6°50’05.3″W (34.016079, -6.834816).

Bus stop in the airport is next to grand-taxis station – 34°02’08.4″N 6°44’52.3″W (34.035652, -6.747846).

– Grand-taxis in the airport wait for you by the bus stop (see above). The price is 150-200 MAD. And they will bring you to the city in 20 min.

– Car rent services in Rabat-Salé airport are presented by following companies: Avis, Hertz, Sixt, diRENT, Air Car, First Car, France Car, Location Auto, E.Booking Car, Rabat Cartour, Marloc, Locasom (Budget).

If there’s no bus, but you still want to cut costs…

…there are 2 possible ways. Both start with taking a petit-taxi to Gare de Salé train station (50-70 MAD). Then:

a) Take a tram to the most convenient for you station (search for it in Google Maps). It will cost ~6 MAD. Tram station «Gare de Salé» is here: 34°02’16″N 6°48’59″W (34.037764, -6.816388).

b) Take a train to one of Rabat train stations – Rabat Ville (~15 MAD) is a next stop or Rabat Agdal, which comes after Rabat Ville.

This is so complicated because petit-taxis serve only in-city routes, and formally a drive to Rabat is an intercity trip.

Some facts and history about the airport

The history of Rabat-Salé airport is a mirror to Casablanca airport history – it was built by the US army during the World War II and later it was a military base for US forces until the independence of Morocco (to keep the USSR frightened during the Cold War).

Today the airport also serves as a base for Moroccan Air Forces.

Map

Take Rabat and Sale map with you – just click the star and it will be saved in your Google account. Any locations in this region that I will add later will appear on your map.