Things to do · Fes
Fes is Morocco's spiritual and cultural capital, and its walled medina, Fes el-Bali, is the world's largest car-free urban area. Two days let you go beyond the headline sights into the artisan quarters and the hills around the city. Here is a paced two-day plan for the imperial city.
7 experiences
Enter Fes el-Bali through the Blue Gate (Bab Bou Jeloud) and follow the main artery, Talaa Kebira, downhill past food stalls, workshops and the medersas — the best introduction to the medina's rhythm.
Visit the 14th-century Al-Attarine and Bou Inania medersas, two of Morocco's finest Marinid colleges, with dazzling zellij, carved stucco and cedar — the artistic peak of any Fes visit.
Pass the Kairaouine mosque and university, founded in 859 and often cited as the world's oldest continually operating university, then look down over the Chouara tannery's stone dye pits from a leather shop terrace.
See the carved Nejjarine fountain and woodwork museum, then climb to a rooftop café or riad terrace for sunset over the medina's sea of green-tiled roofs.
Start above the city at the ruined Merenid Tombs on the northern hillside for the classic panorama of the whole medina, best in the clear morning light.
See the grand brass gates of the Royal Palace at Fes el-Jdid, then walk the historic Mellah (Jewish quarter) with its distinctive balconied houses and the Ibn Danan synagogue.
Spend the afternoon with the artisans — the Seffarine coppersmiths' square, ceramics and zellij workshops in Aïn Nokbi — or unwind in a traditional hammam before a final medina dinner.
Two days is a good amount of time for Fes. It lets you explore the medina's main monuments and tanneries on the first day and add the viewpoints, the royal quarter, the Mellah and the artisan workshops on the second, at a comfortable pace.
A licensed local guide is genuinely helpful in Fes el-Bali, whose thousands of lanes are famously easy to get lost in. A half-day guided orientation on day one makes exploring on your own much easier afterwards.
Fes is known for Fes el-Bali, the world's largest car-free medina; the Kairaouine mosque and university (859); the Chouara tannery; the Marinid medersas of Bou Inania and Al-Attarine; and its deep traditions of craft and learning.
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