# Fez: map, what to do and when to go

In the Fez medina, with 9,400 lanes and no cars, you reach almost everything from the upper gate by walking downhill. Morocco's former capital, founded in 789, holds the Qarawiyyin, founded in 857–859 and considered the oldest continuously operating school in the world.

Canonical: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/fes/
Language: en. Extended author commentary and itinerary notes may remain in Portuguese. Dates below belong to individual sources; this is not live availability.

## Direct answer
- **Fez: How do I get to my riad inside the medina?** By taxi to one of the wall's gates, and on foot from there: arrange with your riad which gate (Boujloud, Rcif, Ftouh, or Guissa) and have someone waiting at it, because the last 200 to 600 meters are through unmarked alleys; a porter carries the bag for 20 to 50 DH.
- **Fez: Is there a direct flight from Brazil?** No.
- **Fez: How do I get to Meknès, and what should I see there?** Meknès is 60 km away, 35 to 40 minutes by train for about 25 DH, with the Bab Mansour gate, Moulay Ismail's granaries and stables, and the sultan's mausoleum.

## The descent through the medina
Enter through Bab Boujloud at 9am and visit the Bou Inania madrasa just to your right; outside, look at the water clock on the Talaa Kebira.
- Qarawiyyin mosque and university
- Bou Inania Madrasa
- Al-Attarine Madrasa
- Chouara Tannery
- Zaouia of Moulay Idriss II
- Seffarine Square
- Bab Boujloud

## Fes el-Jdid, the mellah and the view from above
Start with bissara and bread at a stall near Bab Semmarine and cross the Grande Rue of Fes el-Jdid, the Marinid city from 1276.
- Dar Batha and Jnan Sbil
- Marinid Tombs and Borj Nord

## Qarawiyyin mosque and university
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/fes/#g-lugar-mesquita
Fez · Up to half an hour
Founded in 857–859 with Fatima al-Fihri's inheritance and expanded by the Almoravids in 1135; UNESCO and Guinness consider it the oldest continuously operating educational institution in the world, folded into the state university network in 1963. Non-Muslims don't enter, but the open doors along the street let you see the courtyard, the fountain and the green roof. The library, one of the oldest in the world, was restored by architect Aziza Chaouni and reopened in 2016.
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## Bou Inania Madrasa
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/fes/#g-lugar-madrasa-bou-inania
Fez
Built between 1350 and 1355 by Abu Inan Faris, it's the only madrasa in Fez with a minaret and a Friday mosque, which makes it the largest of all. It's open to non-Muslims: marble courtyard, zellij up to chest height, lacy plasterwork above and carved cedar on the ceiling. Outside, on the Talaa Kebira, are the thirteen wooden blocks of the 14th-century water clock, whose mechanism no one has ever reconstructed. Entry runs around 20–30 DH.
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## Al-Attarine Madrasa
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/fes/#g-lugar-madrasa-al-attarine
Fez · Up to half an hour
A 1323–1325 madrasa tucked against the perfumers' and spice sellers' souk, which gave it its name. The courtyard is small and covered in mosaic up to the top, with a marble basin in the center; from the terrace you can see the Qarawiyyin's roof right beside it, which helps you grasp the real scale of the whole complex.
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## Chouara Tannery
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/fes/#g-lugar-curtume-chouara
Fez · Up to half an hour
The largest of the medina's three tanneries, in operation since around the 11th century, with dozens of stone vats set into a courtyard. The white ones use lime and pigeon droppings, which soften the hide; the colored ones use poppy, indigo, saffron and henna. It's free to view from the surrounding leather shops' terraces, which hand you a sprig of mint at the entrance and expect a 20–50 DH tip on the way out; the vats were refitted in 2015–2016.
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## Zaouia of Moulay Idriss II
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/fes/#g-lugar-zaouia-de-moulay-idriss-ii
Fez · Up to half an hour
Tomb of Idris II, who in 808–809 founded al-Aliya, the left-bank city that later merged with his father's, Idris I's. Rediscovered in 1437 and rebuilt in the 18th century under the Alaouites, it sits in a horm, a sacred zone once marked by wooden bars at head height, which kept out loaded animals. Non-Muslims stay on the threshold and can see the tomb chamber from outside; the flow of pilgrims never stops.
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## Funduq al-Najjarine
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/fes/#g-lugar-funduq-al-najjarine
Fez · Up to half an hour
A 1711 merchants' inn, with three floors of cedar galleries around a square courtyard where goods and animals used to be kept. It became the Nejjarine Museum of Wooden Arts and Crafts in 1998, and the terrace serves coffee with a view over the rooftops. Beside it stand the Nejjarine fountain, with an 18th-century zellij panel, and the carpenters' square.
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## Seffarine Square
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/fes/#g-lugar-praca-seffarine
Fez · Up to half an hour
Coppersmiths' square, next to the Qarawiyyin library, where basins, trays and cauldrons of copper have been hammered out in the open since the Middle Ages. The noise is the point: ten hammers in different rhythms is the medina's signature sound, and the pieces still leave from there for weddings and neighborhood hammams.
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## Bab Boujloud
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/fes/#g-lugar-bab-boujloud
Fez
Monumental gate built in 1913 by the French administration in place of a medieval gate, which is why it's newer than it looks. The outer face is blue, the color of Fez ceramics, and the inner one is green, the color of Islam; the passage frames two minarets at once. It's where the descent down the two Talaas begins.
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## Dar Batha and Jnan Sbil
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/fes/#g-lugar-dar-batha
Fez · Up to half an hour
A palace begun under Hassan I in the late 19th century and turned into a museum of Moroccan arts in 1915, with the main collection of Fez blue ceramics, fassi embroidery and carved wood, plus an Andalusian courtyard that hosts concerts. A hundred meters away is the Jnan Sbil, a 19th-century royal garden of 7.5 hectares, reopened in 2011 after a long restoration. The museum recently underwent renovations: confirm its status on the day of your visit.
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## Marinid Tombs and Borj Nord
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/fes/#g-lugar-tumulos-merinidas
Fez
Ruins of a 14th-century necropolis on the northern slope, from where you see the whole medina basin, with the minarets rising above the unbroken roofline; best in the late afternoon, and the climb takes 20 to 30 minutes on foot from Bab Guissa. Two hundred meters below stands the Borj Nord, a 1582 Saadian fort built by order of Ahmad al-Mansur, which houses the arms museum: confirm whether it's open.
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**Fez: How do I get to my riad inside the medina?**
By taxi to one of the wall's gates, and on foot from there: arrange with your riad which gate (Boujloud, Rcif, Ftouh, or Guissa) and have someone waiting at it, because the last 200 to 600 meters are through unmarked alleys; a porter carries the bag for 20 to 50 DH.

**Fez: Is there a direct flight from Brazil?**
No. The connection is usually in Casablanca, Madrid, or Paris, and Fès-Saïss Airport (FEZ) sits 15 km south of the city.

**Fez: How do I get to Meknès, and what should I see there?**
Meknès is 60 km away, 35 to 40 minutes by train for about 25 DH, with the Bab Mansour gate, Moulay Ismail's granaries and stables, and the sultan's mausoleum.

**Fez: What should I know about the dirham before traveling?**
The Moroccan dirham (DH) is a closed currency: you can't buy it outside the country, bringing cash in or out is limited to 2,000 DH, and it's worth keeping your exchange receipt to convert it back at the airport.

**Fez: What's the best time to visit?**
The best period runs from March to May and from September to November, with highs of 20 to 28 °C.


## In the Nilo app
- Plan these 2 days on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/guide/fes/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-itinerary
- Mark your hotel on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/map/fes/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-stay

## Full editorial guide (Portuguese)
https://nilopelomundo.com/llm/fes.md