Morocco's spiritual and cultural capital, and the world's largest living medieval city.
Fes is Morocco's oldest imperial city and its spiritual heart. Founded in 789, its walled medina — Fes el-Bali — is the largest car-free urban area on earth, a bewildering, intoxicating maze of 9,000 lanes where donkeys still carry the loads and crafts are made exactly as they were a thousand years ago.
Less polished and less touristy than Marrakech, Fes feels more authentic and more medieval. It is home to Al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859 and considered the world's oldest continuously operating university, and to the famous Chouara tanneries where leather is still dyed in stone vats.
The medina is the attraction — a UNESCO World Heritage maze best explored with a local guide who can lead you to madrasas, fondouks and workshops you'd never find alone.
View the iconic honeycomb of dye pits from a surrounding leather shop's terrace (you'll be handed mint to mask the smell) — a sight unchanged in 900 years.
Two 14th-century religious schools showcasing the pinnacle of Marinid craftsmanship in carved plaster, cedar and zellij.
Peer into the courtyard of the world's oldest university and its mosque, the spiritual core of the city.
Bab Bou Jeloud frames the medina's entrance; nearby, the ceramic cooperatives produce Fes's signature blue-and-white pottery and zellij tiles.
Spring and autumn are ideal. Fes can be cold and rainy in winter and hot in midsummer, though the shaded medina lanes stay cooler than open cities.
Fès–Saïss Airport (FEZ) has European connections, and trains link Fes to Casablanca, Rabat and Tangier. Fes is the classic northern start point for Sahara tours — our Fes-to-Marrakech crossing is a traveller favourite.
We strongly recommend one for at least your first day — the medina is genuinely disorienting, and a good guide turns confusion into wonder while keeping faux-guides at bay.
Absolutely — they're very different. Fes is older, more medieval and more about craft and spirituality; many travellers prefer it.
Merzouga is about a day's scenic drive south through the Middle Atlas and Ziz Valley — the route is part of the experience.
One Way
Cedar forests of Ifrane, an Erg Chebbi camel trek, Todra Gorge, the Dades Valley and Aït Ben Haddou — ending in Marrakech.
Imperial Cities
Marrakech, Aït Ben Haddou, the Sahara, Fes and the blue city of Chefchaouen — the complete first-timer's Morocco in a week.
Grand Tour
Imperial cities, Atlantic coast, Sahara, oases and mountains — the complete kingdom in two unhurried weeks.
