3 Days in Fes

The Chouara Tannery is the postcard of Fes: a field of round stone vats in white, red, blue and orange, with hides drying on the roofs around it. Local tradition says tanning here goes back to the city's foundation, and the leather of Fes was exported as far as Baghdad. The method is manual and old. Hides soak for two or three days in white vats of cow urine, pigeon droppings, quicklime, salt and water, then go into dyes: poppy for red, indigo for blue, henna for orange.

Here is how a visit works. There is no ticket office. You look from the terrace of a leather shop, you are handed a sprig of mint against the smell, and someone walks you through the showroom. Say no and leave, or buy if you like it. Come early, before the smell builds. Chromium pollution is a real problem for the workers and the river, so don't treat them as scenery. If someone tells you the way is closed, he is steering you.

Five minutes uphill, the small Al-Attarine Madrasa is the best-looking building in the quarter. The Marinid sultan Uthman II Abu Said built it between 1323 and 1325, and it takes its name from the neighboring spice and perfume market. Poor students from towns like Tangier lived in its cells while they studied at Al-Qarawiyyin next door.

It is tiny, which makes it the quiet one: carved cedar and stucco around a basin. Climb to the upper floors for the view of the roofs, and go when it opens.

Al-Qarawiyyin began as a mosque founded by Fatima al-Fihri between 857 and 859. It grew into a leading center of learning of the Islamic Golden Age and joined the state university system in 1963. Many sources call it the oldest continuously operating university in the world, which is partly a definition fight.

Non-Muslims can't enter the mosque. You can stand at the big doors, more often open on Fridays, and look across the fountain courtyard. Don't point a camera at people praying. The historic library, in an annex off Place Seffarine, has been restored, but visiting rules vary, so ask your guide first. Round the corner, the shrine of Moulay Idriss II is also closed to non-Muslims, but its doorway is a short, intense stop. On nearby Place Seffarine the coppersmiths hammer.

The Nejjarine Museum of Wooden Arts and Crafts sits in a caravanserai from 1711, the Funduq al-Najjarin or Carpenters' Inn, where merchants once stored goods and slept.

The building is the reason to go. Look at the cedar balconies around the courtyard, then take the stairs to the roof, where the terrace café is a good place for a mint tea.

The Talaa Kebira, the Great Slope, runs from Bab Boujloud down to the Qarawiyyin, and the Talaa Sghira is its smaller twin. Street food is cheap and good: bissara (fava bean soup with olive oil and cumin) with a round loaf, grilled skewers, olives.

Pick crowded stalls and ask the price before you order, or sit on a rooftop terrace near Bab Boujloud. The way back uphill is the tiring part of the day, so refill here.

The Bou Inania Madrasa, built between 1350 and 1355 by Sultan Abu Inan Faris, is the finest Marinid building in the city. It is the only madrasa in Morocco that was also a congregational mosque, which is why it has a real minaret. Abu Inan was assassinated by his vizier in 1358, and the dynasty went into decline.

The courtyard shows the Moroccan decorative trio at its best: zellij (mosaic tilework) below, carved stucco in the middle, cedar above. Non-Muslims stay on the courtyard side of the prayer hall. If you enter only one madrasa, make it this one.

Bab Boujloud is the western door of the medina and the icon of Fes: a triple-arched gate in blue tile outside and green inside. It looks old but was built by the French protectorate in 1913 as a grand entrance, next to a plain gate, possibly from the 12th century, that is still visible on its left but closed off.

Come at dusk, when the call to prayer rolls from one minaret after another. Take a rooftop table with a view of the gate, or the terrace of the Sofitel Palais Jamai, where a glass of tea was the entry price (around 30 MAD in a recent listing). Sunset is about 17:15 in November.

Moulay Idriss Zerhoun is the holiest town in Morocco, spread over two hills at the foot of Mount Zerhoun. Idris I, a descendant of the Prophet who fled the Abbasids, settled at Volubilis and won over the Awraba Berbers in 789, and he is buried here. Anyone can walk into the town today, but the zawiya with its green pyramidal roof is closed to non-Muslims.

Walk up from the main square to the terrace for the view. Note the Sentissi Mosque, the only one in Morocco with a cylindrical minaret, built in 1939. Politely decline anyone who offers to guide you up: they expect large tips.

Volubilis is the most important Roman site in Morocco, a UNESCO World Heritage Site over 40 hectares on a ridge above the plain. It lay on the far edge of the empire, and the wealth of its landowners shows in the houses along the Decumanus Maximus, which still hold large mosaics where they were laid.

The mosaics are the point: the House of Orpheus, with Orpheus playing his harp to an audience of animals, and the House of the Athlete, with a man riding a donkey backwards. There is almost no shade, so bring water and a hat. A guide at the gate adds context, but agree the price first.

Meknes is the calmer cousin of Fes. Moulay Ismail, who ruled from 1672 to 1727, disliked Fes and made Meknes his capital. Place el-Hedim, the square in front of the old medina, once rivaled Marrakech's Jemaa el-Fnaa but is much quieter now.

Eat a tagine or grilled brochettes at a plain restaurant on the square. Behind it, the medina sells metalwork and rugs more cheaply than Fes, with less pressure.

Bab Mansour is the monumental gate of Meknes and faces Place el-Hedim. It was begun late in Moulay Ismail's reign and finished in 1732 by his son Moulay Abdallah. The name comes from its architect, Mansour al-Alj (the Victorious Apostate), a former Christian slave who converted to Islam. Its job was ceremonial: to impress visitors, not to stop armies.

The gate is usually closed, so enjoy the tilework from the square. Cross the square to the Dar Jamai Museum, a former palace with musical instruments, around 30 MAD.

The Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail is a royal tomb that non-Muslims can visit, which is rare in Morocco. The sultan ruled for 55 years and built a palace-city of enormous scale, and he is buried in a complex first built in 1703 and extended several times.

It is a short, peaceful visit: courtyards between high walls, then a chamber of carved plaster and tilework. Speak quietly and dress modestly, then take the train back to Fes.

Dar Batha was built as a summer palace by Sultan Hassan I in the late 19th century and finished by his successor Abdelaziz. It became a museum in 1915 and reopened in February 2025 after renovation, with around 6,500 pieces taken from mosques and madrasas of the medina.

The garden is the best part: an Andalusian courtyard of four beds around a fountain. Across the road, the Jnan Sbil, one of the oldest gardens in Fes, is free and good for a bench and some quiet.

Fes is famous for pastilla (b'stilla): thin warqa pastry layered with pigeon or chicken, almonds, eggs and cinnamon, baked and dusted with sugar. Recipes in 13th-century Andalusian cookbooks look a lot like the filling, though historians disagree on how the dish reached Morocco.

Eat it near Place Batha or on a rooftop near Bab Boujloud, and order ahead if the place asks. A pastilla is a starter that feels like a main, so share one, then add a tagine.

Fes el-Jdid, New Fes, was founded in 1276 by the Marinid sultan Abu Yusuf Ya'qub as a fortified royal citadel beside the old city, possibly out of wariness toward its independent-minded people. The Dar al-Makhzen, the Royal Palace, still fills most of it, and the king uses it occasionally. The palace is closed to the public.

What you can see is the gates. On Place des Alaouites, in the southwest, doors of gilt bronze in geometric patterns sit among mosaic tilework and carved cedar. They were made between 1969 and 1971 and count as a great piece of modern Moroccan craft. Then walk up the main street of Fes el-Jdid to the Old Mechouar and its gate.

The Mellah is the historic Jewish quarter of Fes, a district of Fes el-Jdid. Jews had lived in Fes since its foundation. The community was moved to a quarter beside the royal palace, probably in the 15th century, and after 1492 Jews expelled from Spain joined it. In the second half of the 20th century most of the community moved to other cities or abroad.

Walk the main street, Derb al-Souq, and look up: the Mellah is known for balconies that open to the street, unlike the shuttered houses of the Muslim medina. The Ibn Danan Synagogue, 17th century and reopened in 1999 after restoration, has no set hours, and the guardian lets you in for a small fee.

Borj Nord was built in 1582 by the Saadian dynasty on a hill north of the old city, modeled on Portuguese forts. It has been the Museum of Arms since 1963, the first in Morocco devoted to weapons and armor.

Go for the view rather than the cases: the roofs and minarets show the real layout of the old city better than any map. Walk along the hill to the Merenid Tombs when you leave.

The Merenid (Marinid) Tombs are the ruins of a royal cemetery on a hill north of the medina. The dynasty ruled Morocco from the 13th to the 15th century, built Fes el-Jdid and most of the madrasas you have seen, and from the mid-14th century buried its sultans here. The tombs are broken walls, and the reason to come is the view over the whole medina.

Check before you go. Restoration was announced in 2024 and a 2026 listing says the ruins are closed. If the gate is shut, don't pay anyone to let you in: the same view is from the hillside road or Borj Nord, open until 18:00. Arrive 45 minutes before sunset (about 17:15 in November), when the light turns the roofs gold. Take a petit taxi up and a taxi back.