Fes: The Complete Guide to Morocco's Cultural Capital
Fes has the largest car-free medina on earth and the oldest continuously operating university. It is harder work than Marrakech and considerably more rewarding. Here is how to approach it.
Fes has the largest car-free medina on earth and the oldest continuously operating university. It is harder work than Marrakech and considerably more rewarding. Here is how to approach it.
Fes is Morocco’s intellectual and spiritual capital and its least compromised city. Founded in the late eighth century, it holds Fes el-Bali, a medina of roughly 9,000 lanes and the largest car-free urban area in the world, along with the oldest continuously operating degree-granting institution anywhere — the University of al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri. Where Marrakech has adapted itself to visitors, Fes largely has not. That is exactly why serious travellers prefer it.
Fes is three cities and knowing which one you are in saves a lot of confusion.
Stay inside Fes el-Bali in a riad if you can. Walking out of your door into the medina at 7am, before the shops open, is one of the best experiences in Morocco.
Fes’s Quranic colleges are the finest small buildings in the country. Al-Attarine Medersa (1325) and Bou Inania Medersa (1350s) are both open and both extraordinary: courtyards of carved cedar, stucco and zellij worked to an almost impossible density. Bou Inania is unusual in also functioning as a mosque, and has a famous water clock on the wall opposite. An hour each, and worth every minute.
The mosque and university at the heart of the medina. Non-Muslims cannot enter the prayer hall, but the Al-Qarawiyyin library — among the oldest libraries in the world, holding ninth-century manuscripts — has been restored and parts are accessible. You can also glimpse the courtyard from several doorways nearby.
The image of Fes: stone vats of white lime and coloured dye, hides being trodden and turned, and a process largely unchanged since the medieval period. You view it from the terraces of surrounding leather shops, who will hand you a sprig of mint for the smell — which is considerable, and comes from pigeon droppings and lime used to cure the hides.
Two honest notes. First, there is no official entry fee, but you will be expected to look at leather goods afterwards and a small tip to whoever showed you up is normal and fair. Second, go in the morning when the workers are actually working; by mid-afternoon the vats are often quiet.
Fes remains a working craft city. Fassi blue-and-white ceramics are made at potteries in the Ain Nokbi quarter, where you can watch the whole process from clay to kiln. Brass and copper are worked in Place Seffarine, and the medina’s weavers still produce on wooden looms. These workshops are more interesting than any shop.
Fes el-Bali is the hardest place to navigate in Morocco. Lanes are narrow, unsigned, frequently covered, and the maze is genuinely a maze. Phone GPS works poorly under the roofed sections.
Hire an official guide for your first day. This is the most useful single piece of advice about Fes. A licensed guide costs modestly for a half or full day, and the difference between wandering lost and understanding what you are looking at is enormous. After one guided day you will navigate the main arteries yourself.
Be firm about unofficial “guides”, who are common around Bab Boujloud and whose tours end in a relative’s shop. Licensed guides carry a badge; ask to see it.
Two practical navigation notes: the medina slopes downhill towards Al-Qarawiyyin, so going downhill takes you towards the centre and uphill towards the gates. And listen for handcarts and mules — the call of “balak!” means get out of the way, promptly.
Fes also sits at one end of the best desert route in Morocco. See our Fes to Marrakech desert guide, or the 3-day desert adventure from Fes.
We arrange licensed local guides in Fes, riads inside the medina, and onward routes to Volubilis, Chefchaouen or the Sahara. Tell us how many nights you have and we will build the city into your itinerary properly, or see our multi-day tours.
They suit different travellers. Fes has the larger and more intact medina, the finer medieval architecture and a working craft economy; Marrakech is easier, livelier and better set up for visitors. If you like history and are comfortable with a challenge, Fes. If you want gardens, restaurants and easy day trips, Marrakech.
For your first day, yes. Fes el-Bali has roughly 9,000 unsigned lanes, many of them roofed, where phone GPS works poorly. A licensed guide for a half or full day transforms the visit, and afterwards you can navigate the main routes yourself.
No official fee. You view them from the terraces of surrounding leather shops, who expect you to look at their goods afterwards, and a small tip to whoever took you up is normal. Go in the morning when the tanners are actually working.
Two nights minimum, so you get one guided day and one day of your own. Three nights is better and lets you add a day trip to Volubilis and Meknes, or spend time at the potteries in Ain Nokbi.
Non-Muslims cannot enter the prayer hall, but the restored Al-Qarawiyyin library, one of the oldest in the world, is partly accessible, and you can glimpse the courtyard from doorways nearby.
