All articles

The essentials in three lines

  • Agadir – Tiznit is about 93 km from the centre of Agadir, most of it on national road 1, an expressway on this stretch: allow 1 hr 30 to 1 hr 45 without stopping.
  • It is not a motorway but a dual carriageway, with roundabouts and stretches through towns and villages. Outside built-up areas, the general limit is 100 km/h.
  • In Tiznit, park near one of the gates in the town walls and explore on foot: Méchouar square, the jewellers' souk, the Blue Spring, the ramparts. Allow one to two hours.

You are in Agadir with a hire car and a free day. Tiznit, a walled town south of Agadir, has plenty to fill it: ramparts, a spring at the heart of the medina, jewellers working in silver. All that remains is to know how many kilometres lie ahead, whether the road is a motorway, where to leave the car and how much time to allow.

Distance and journey time: about 93 km, 1 hr 30 to 1 hr 45

The OSRM route planner gives about 93 km between the centre of Agadir and the Tiznit medina, for 1 hr 30 of driving without stopping. The regional tourism website gives 95 km and under 2 hours. Plan on 1 hr 30 to 1 hr 45. From Al Massira airport, allow about 97 km and 1 hr 45.

The first 15 to 20 kilometres are urban: you leave Agadir through Inezgane and Aït Melloul, the slowest part of the journey. Then national road 1 heads south for about sixty kilometres, and the old line of the national road takes you into Tiznit.

Route Distance Time to allow
Agadir centre – Tiznit medina About 93 km 1 h 30 à 1 h 45
Al Massira airport – Tiznit medina About 97 km About 1 hr 45
Return trip from Agadir About 185 km 3 hr to 3 hr 30 of driving

An expressway, not a motorway

People often search for “Agadir Tiznit motorway”: it does not exist. The Autoroutes du Maroc network ends at Agadir; heading south, you drive on national road 1, upgraded to an expressway, in other words a dual carriageway. The Ministry of Equipment lists the Agadir – Tiznit route among its expressways in service, over 90 km. The dualling of the section between the Massa river and Tiznit, launched in 2014, provided for eleven junctions.

An expressway has roundabouts and passes through towns and villages, whereas a motorway only has interchanges. On the OSRM route checked on 10.10.2026, you go through more than ten roundabouts between Aït Melloul and the edge of Tiznit, and the road passes through or alongside places such as Sidi Bibi and Belfaa.

The Moroccan highway code sets the general limit outside built-up areas at 100 km/h (decree no. 2-10-420, article 17). Always follow the signs: limits are lower in the towns and villages you pass through.

Watch out as you arrive. About 13 km from the medina, national road 1 bypasses Tiznit to the west and heads on to Guelmim: for the town, stay on the old route, numbered R121 on OpenStreetMap. Also a dual carriageway, it arrives near the Bab Oulad Jerrar gate. This route, checked in October 2026, may change: check your itinerary before setting off.

In Tiznit: park near a gate, then walk

The simplest option is to leave the car in an authorised parking space near one of the gates in the town walls, then do everything on foot : the sights are close to one another. According to the regional tourism website, from Bab Oulad Jerrar, rue de l'Hôpital, on the left, leads to Méchouar square, the heart of the town.

The site also suggests a simple loop: from the Méchouar, north-east to the Blue Spring, then due north to the ramparts at Bab Targua, which you follow to the left as far as Bab el Khémis. Allow one to two hours of walking, not counting lunch. Leave nothing visible in the car, and make a note of the gate you parked near.

Ramparts, the Blue Spring and the silver souk

Sultan Moulay Hassan I founded the town in the early 1880s and gave it defensive walls : according to the regional tourism website, about seven kilometres of walls, which still surround the medina. The site recommends watching the sunset from the ramparts; on the Bab Targua side, you can see the palm grove.

Tiznit owes its fame to its jewellers: Jewish silversmiths who settled in the walled town gave it its reputation as the “town of jewellers”. According to the same site, the jewellers' souk, in the kissarias next to Méchouar square, brings together more than a hundred silver jewellery shops. The craftsmen there make fibulae in particular (traditional brooches), as well as necklaces and bracelets. Compare several stalls before you buy.

North-east of the Méchouar lies the town's birthplace. Aïn Zerka, the Blue Spring, is the spring around which four tribes settled at the end of the 19th century. A garden surrounds the pool. Just above it, the Aghennaj kasbah covers more than 6,000 m², protected by a rammed-earth wall and five towers. Close by, the minaret of the Great Mosque bristles with wooden poles, in the style of some Sahel mosques; the mosque is closed to non-Muslims.

Planning the day in October

According to Open-Meteo historical data for Tiznit (2016-2025), October afternoons average around 27.5 °C and nights around 18 °C, with about two days of rain in the month. To walk around the medina, take water and a hat.

Set off in the morning and head back in mid-afternoon so that you drive in daylight. If you stay for sunset on the ramparts, you will drive back in the dark: take extra care at roundabouts. On Thursday, market day, the town is especially lively : more to see, and more people looking for somewhere to park.

Tiznit is also a stop on the way to the southern coast: the day trip to the sea is covered in our article Agadir – Legzira by car. Before you leave, download the offline map of the region, as we explain in our article on GPS and mobile signal outside the towns.

What your car hire includes for this trip

Mileage is unlimited: the roughly 185 km of the return trip make no difference to the price of your hire. The road is tarmac all the way, and a city car is enough. If a sign points to a beach or a village “by track”, stop where the tarmac ends: our rental conditions prohibit unsurfaced tracks, except for vehicles expressly suited to them.

The car is returned with the fuel level recorded at delivery (see our article on fuel when hiring a car). Hire is counted in 24-hour blocks, and returning more than 2 hours late without prior agreement means a full day is charged. If you plan to stay the night in Tiznit and return the car later, ask for our agreement on WhatsApp first. Assistance is available 24/7.

Staying in Tiznit? Ask us in your booking request whether delivery there is possible, and at what price. In Agadir, it is free at the airport, at your hotel or in the city centre. For Marrakech, Essaouira, the Souss region and Taroudant, it costs €60 per journey: a pick-up and a drop-off outside Agadir count as two journeys.

Frequently asked questions

How far is it from Agadir to Tiznit by car?

About 93 km from the centre of Agadir and 97 km from Al Massira airport, according to OSRM. Allow 1 hr 30 to 1 hr 45, mostly on national road 1, an expressway.

Is there a motorway between Agadir and Tiznit?

No. The Autoroutes du Maroc network ends at Agadir. You drive on a dual-carriageway expressway, with roundabouts. Outside built-up areas, the general limit is 100 km/h: follow the signs.

Where should I park to visit the Tiznit medina?

In an authorised parking space near one of the gates in the town walls, for example Bab Oulad Jerrar, where the road from Agadir arrives. Then explore on foot: one to two hours.

Sources

Written by the Carsalis team, in Agadir. We have been hiring out cars from our office at 4 Bis rue Moulay Driss since 2008. What you are reading here comes from our own rental conditions and from what our customers ask us every week on WhatsApp.

A question about your rental in Agadir? Write to us on WhatsApp at +212 648 291 116, or use our booking request. We usually reply within the minute, and we tell you straight whether the car is free or not.

Read next

Further reading