Fes travel guide

Bordered by the foothills of Morocco’s Atlas Mountains and located on the crossroads of ancient caravan routes, Fès is one of the world’s best preserved medieval cities.

Over 1,000 years old, the most ancient and impressive of Morocco’s four imperial cities, Fès is still considered the country’s cultural and spiritual centre.

Fès (also spelled Fez and in Arabic, Fas) has three distinct parts but most tourists are drawn to Fès el-Bali (Old Fès), a continuously inhabited, medieval city and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Its legendary medina is a labyrinthine maze of more than 9,000 narrow, sun-dappled, twisting alleys where mules jostle for space with playing children, men dressed in floor-sweeping jellabas (hooded robes) and street sellers. Heavily studded wooden doors, the warble of the muezzin’s call to prayer and the smell of freshly-cooked food are among the myriad intoxicating sights of smells of the medina.

Fès el-Jdid, south of the medina, is a 13th-century ‘new' town while the Ville Nouvelle is the city's modern centre with wide French-style boulevards, hotels, restaurants, cafés and bookshops.