Cities · Morocco
The spiritual and cultural heart of Morocco — the world's largest car-free urban area and a UNESCO medina.
Travel guide
Overview
Fes is Morocco's oldest imperial city and its cultural and spiritual center. The Fes el-Bali medina is the largest car-free urban area in the world — a dense maze of 9,000+ alleys where donkeys carry goods as they have for a thousand years. The city is famous for its ancient tanneries, the Al-Qarawiyyin University (founded in 859, the oldest continuously operating university in the world), and its craftsmanship in leather, ceramics, and metalwork.
Travel context
Fes is Morocco’s great historic and craft centre, with Fes el-Bali forming one of the country’s most important old urban districts. The medina is a dense pedestrian environment of lanes, workshops, souks, religious buildings and traditional houses. Visitors come for architecture and history, but the strongest experience is often simply moving slowly through the working city and seeing crafts still produced by hand.
What to experience
A private Fes visit is easier when organised around a local guide and a small number of priorities rather than a checklist of every monument. Allow at least a full day for the medina and consider a second day for museums, artisan quarters and a slower food or cultural experience. Fes also makes an excellent northern or eastern endpoint for a Marrakech-to-Fes private tour.
What to experience
Fes-Saïss airport with domestic and European flights. 7-hour drive from Marrakech.
What to experience
Fes is one of Morocco's great historic cities. UNESCO dates the foundation of the medina to the 9th century and notes its importance under the Marinids in the 13th and 14th centuries. The medina's madrasas, fondouks, palaces, residences, mosques and fountains preserve a dense urban fabric that remains central to the city's cultural identity.
What to experience
Fes el-Bali medina — UNESCO World Heritage
What to experience
The Chouara tannery
What to experience
Al-Qarawiyyin University and Mosque (859 AD)
What to experience
Bou Inania Madrasa
What to experience
Traditional craftsmanship — leather, ceramics, metalwork
What to experience
The Merenid Tombs for panoramic views
What to experience
Guided medina tour (essential — you will get lost otherwise)
Getting There
Fes-Saïss airport with domestic and European flights. 7-hour drive from Marrakech.
History & Heritage
Fes is one of Morocco's great historic cities. UNESCO dates the foundation of the medina to the 9th century and notes its importance under the Marinids in the 13th and 14th centuries. The medina's madrasas, fondouks, palaces, residences, mosques and fountains preserve a dense urban fabric that remains central to the city's cultural identity.
Fez was founded between 789 and 808 and became one of Morocco's great centres of scholarship, trade and craftsmanship. Under the Marinids in the 13th–14th centuries it reached a major political and cultural peak, and its medina remains one of the best-preserved historic urban areas in the Arab-Muslim world.
Source: Wikimedia Commons archive
See & experience
A place-by-place guide to the experiences and sights already documented for this destination. Additional items are added only when they can be matched to the destination with confidence.
See & experience
Guided medina tour (essential — you will get lost otherwise)
See & experience
Visit the tanneries
See & experience
Ceramic and mosaic workshops
See & experience
Bab Boujloud (the Blue Gate)
See & experience
Walk the medina walls
See & experience
Sunset from the Merenid Tombs
Experience
A living medieval city — not a museum
Experience
Donkeys, narrow alleys, and no cars
Experience
Strong smells near the tanneries
Experience
Exceptional craftsmanship and shopping
Experience
More conservative than Marrakech
Experience
Fes-Saïss airport with domestic and European flights. 7-hour drive from Marrakech.
Travel context
A living medieval city — not a museum
Donkeys, narrow alleys, and no cars
Strong smells near the tanneries
Exceptional craftsmanship and shopping
More conservative than Marrakech
• The medina is a maze — a guide is essential
• Narrow, crowded alleys
• Strong smells at the tanneries
• Steep streets in places
• Can be cold in winter
Practical guides to help you understand this destination, plan the right season and connect it with relevant journeys.