This Fes travel guide walks you through the Fes medina, the city’s must-see sights, and how Fes fits into a longer Morocco itinerary. Fes is Morocco’s spiritual and intellectual capital, home to the world’s oldest continuously operating university and one of the largest, best-preserved medieval medinas anywhere in the world. Where Marrakech feels performative and modern in parts, Fes feels genuinely medieval a maze of over 9,000 alleyways still closed to cars, navigated instead by donkeys and handcarts.
The Fes Medina
The Fes medina, known locally as Fes el-Bali, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest car-free urban area in the world. Its winding lanes hide the Chouara Tanneries stone vats of dye arranged like a giant paint palette, still worked by hand using methods largely unchanged for centuries alongside the Al-Qarawiyyin University, founded in 859 AD and recognized by UNESCO and Guinness World Records as the oldest existing degree-granting institution on Earth.
Things to Do in Fes
Beyond the tanneries and the university, the Bou Inania Madrasa and the blue-tiled Bab Bou Jeloud gate reward slow wandering more than any single checklist of sights. A local guide is genuinely useful here the medina’s scale and lack of any grid layout make it easy to get turned around, and a guide can also get you into workshops and viewpoints you’d otherwise walk straight past.
Best Time to Visit Fes
Spring and autumn again offer the most comfortable walking conditions. Fes sits slightly inland and at higher elevation than Marrakech, so summers are a touch more bearable, though still warm, and winter evenings can be noticeably cold.
Getting to Fes Travel Guide
Fes-Saïss Airport has growing connections to Europe. By train, Fes connects directly to Casablanca, Rabat, and Meknes, and by road it’s the natural gateway to the Middle Atlas cedar forests and the desert routes through Ifrane and Midelt toward Merzouga.
How Fes Fits Into Your Trip
Fes is the classic starting point for our shorter desert tours toward Merzouga, passing through the Middle Atlas cedar forests and the Ziz Valley — see our 2-day tour from Fes to Merzouga, our 6-day tour from Fes to Marrakech via the Merzouga desert, or our Fes desert round-trip tour for options. It also pairs naturally with Chefchaouen on longer northern circuits.