Any difference besides the obvious?
Cheaper fuel at Melilia, right?

thanks

Ch

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Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail

this might be splitting hairs a wee bit, but isn't the ferry to melilla ever so slightly shorter? it's on a peninsula thingy, that nador's at the bottom of. i went to nador and had to sail past melilla.

also - different ferry companies innit? one might be cheaper than 'tother.

cheers.

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AndyBee
(04 KTM 640 Adv 'Naartjie'/11 KTM 990 Adv 'Tsumeb')

Nador or Melilla? Just take the ferry that comes first. The ferry's go twice a day (noon, midnight). FerryMaroc (Nador) and Trasmediteranea (Melilla) change the day and night shift every week.
To Nador, police is done on board, but customs in the harbor.
And about distance: its Nador only in name. The ferry goes to the same harbor in Mellila, only the MAroccan ferry to the south part and the SPain ferry to the north. Not more than 1 km apart:-)

If you take the NAdor or Mellila ferry don't miss Taza. Its a real nice rather quiet town, but a great introduction to Morocco. When you want to go to the south quickly take the road from Guercif south to Er Rachidia. It's boring but quick.

Peter

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Peter Kik
Zaandam, Holland
peter.kik@tip.nl

>>[QUOTE]Originally posted by Chris Scott:
>>[B]Any difference besides the obvious?

Hi !!! , Fuel is definitely cheaper in Melilla . (I think is by law 50% of the regular Spanish Price , which is 70 % of Uk price (hence petrol should be about .50(Eur) .33(UKP) . Diesel much more cheaper .

but -IMHO- the biggest difference is that in Melilla one is still in Spain -should something happen . In Melilla one can expect to find opperating Cashpoints , (probabbly even barclays!) , stardard shops with fixed-prices , official dealerships for most car brands , insurance ,photocopies , trolley-style Supermarkets , etc.. , and all this under the cover of pan-european GSM mobile (vodafone, et al ) ,cheapo calls to Europe ,Western Union moneytranfers , etc

My point is that should something happen (,
,any paper missing (i.e. a wrong vehicle registration paper , or missing insurance , or expired passport ) problems with papers , visa , one is still in Europe , to make arrangements , phone calls , send /receive faxes , insurance , or whatever .

My experience says that Ceuta /Melilla it is a 100 times better & safe place to stay , wait, or arrange anything than Nador / Tanger.

Same applies to Ceuta vs. Tanger.

Also , In my oppinion , I find Ceuta (Melilla) borders , less intimidatting than Nador /Tanger.Just a feeling .

enjoy ./

And why not to take the ferry in Sete to Tanger ?
Not very cheap indeed but when you arrive in Tanger your are fresh like a (fresh) fish and ready to hit the road to the deep south !

I took the ferry to Nador a couple of weeks back and so to pick up on a few points that have been raised:

Nador is further than Mellila but only by a few kms.

I had no problems at the border - as long as you have your passport and log book for the bike then you'll be OK. They never asked for insurance or anything else. Customs and immigration were quick and very helpful (if not efficient). I believe that Spanish customs in Mellila (and Cueta) have a reputation for being a bit of a pain.

They didn't do the immigration bit on the boat as someone suggested.

If you drive about 10 kms from the ferry port into Nador town centre you'll find cashpoints, good quality fuel, etc.

I found that the same ferry companies went to both. I used Transmediterrania Ferries which is Spanish owned. The costs, as far as I can remember, for the overnight ferry from Almeria were:

Bike - 60 Euros
Seat - 29 Euros, or
Bed in shared cabin - 45 Euros, or
Cabin to yourself - 66 Euros

The seat was the way to go as the ferry was very quiet and you could get 5 seats together and crash out. But then if it's busy you're in for a rather rough night...

The downside of Nador is that it's a bit of a dump but then most people will probably just ride straight through it.

Peterkik - I have to agree about Taza. I ended up staying there for a night and found it to be a really cool little town. The medina is big enough to be interesting but not too big to get completely lost.

Richard.
XR400

took the trans-m ferry almeria to melilla and the ferrymaroc ferry nador to almeria in 2003.
trans-m is slightly cheaper for bikers, has the more trustworthy and cleaner ship and better handling with formalities.
ferrymaroc is the favorite by morrocan people. 2000 persons were stamped out by two officials (incl. computer data input!), causing nervous breakdowns and a big delay of departure. it was packed with people, they were smoking hard all over the place and the deck area was full of grease and oil. toilets were a nightmare one hour after boarding.
another argument for trans-m is the cheap fuel in melilla.
only reason for ferrymaroc is the nighttime
passage on the way back.

good luck to everyone