Things to do
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Ifrane National Park
Cedar forest, limestone plateaus and seasonal lakes spread across this national park south and west of town, home to troops of Barbary macaques that gather by the roadside. Feeding them is discouraged, since it harms the animals and makes them bold. Forest tracks suit easy walks, and spring brings green meadows and full lakes.
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Nejjarine Museum
Three floors of galleries around the courtyard of a restored caravanserai display carpentry tools, carved doors and cedar furniture, beside the tiled Nejjarine fountain. The fountain outside is among the most photographed in the medina. Entry is ticketed, and a rooftop terrace serves mint tea above the medina roofs.
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Al-Attarine Madrasa
Beside the spice and perfume market that gives it a name, this small Marinid madrasa packs stucco, cedar and tilework around a courtyard barely wide enough to step back in. Upper floor cells open onto a view over the rooftops toward Al-Qarawiyyin. Crowds are lighter here than at Bou Inania, and visits take under half an hour.
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Al-Qarawiyyin
Founded in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri, this mosque and teaching institution has run continuously ever since, and its library holds manuscripts returned to view in a restoration completed in 2016. Non-Muslim visitors cannot enter the prayer hall, though doorways along the surrounding lanes give glimpses of the courtyard. The complex is woven into the medina and easy to walk past.
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Bab Bou Jeloud
Three horseshoe arches in blue tile mark the western entrance to the old city, built under the French protectorate in 1913 and faced in green on the inner side. The gate opens onto Talaa Kebira and Talaa Seghira, the two spines of the medina. Cafes on either side are useful for a first bearing before the lanes close in.
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Borj Nord
Cannons, swords and muskets fill the arms museum inside a stone fortress on the ridge north of the medina, a short walk from the Marinid Tombs. Its ramparts look straight down over the rooftops of Fes el-Bali. The museum is ticketed, and a taxi to the ridge pairs it easily with the tombs at sunset.
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Bou Inania Madrasa
Marinid builders finished this madrasa in the fourteenth century and gave it a minaret, unusual for a religious school, along with carved cedar, marble and zellige around a bright courtyard. Non-Muslim visitors are admitted, which is rare among the working mosques of the medina. A ruined water clock stands on the lane opposite, above the shops.
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Cèdre Gouraud
A giant Atlas cedar, now dead but still standing, gives its name to a clearing in the forest between Ifrane and Azrou. Barbary macaques gather around the picnic area, and feeding them harms their health. Footpaths lead off under the living cedars. The clearing lies about 15 km south of Ifrane, beside the road to Azrou.
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Chouara Tannery
Stone vats of dye and lime fill a courtyard where hides have been worked by hand since medieval times, viewed from the terraces of the leather shops that surround it. The smell is strong and shopkeepers hand out mint at the door. Terrace access comes with a sales pitch, and morning light reaches the vats before the glare.
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Dar Batha
Andalusian gardens of palms and fountains sit at the centre of this Hispano-Moorish palace near Bab Bou Jeloud, now a museum of Islamic arts. Galleries hold carved wood, astrolabes, embroidery and the blue glazed pottery of Fez. Entry is ticketed, the rooms stay cool in summer, and the garden makes a quiet break from the medina lanes.
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Dayet Aoua
North of town on the road toward Fez, a shallow lake sits in a basin of cedar and oak. Coots, grebes and herons feed along the reeds, and a track loops around the shore for walking or cycling. Water levels swing with rainfall, and the lake has shrunk badly in dry years. Spring migration between March and May brings the most birds.
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Fes el-Bali
Donkeys and handcarts still carry goods through the walled medina, a ninth century tangle of lanes too narrow for vehicles and listed by Unesco. Workshops for brass, weaving and leather sit among food stalls and tiled fountains. Signage is minimal and lanes double back, so a guide for the first morning saves hours of circling.
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Fes Jdid
Wider lanes and a long market street lined with fabric and household shops run through this walled royal quarter beside the palace. Bab Semmarine, a gate at its southern end, opens onto the road toward the Mellah. Touts and unofficial guides are fewer here than in the old medina, and the quarter makes an easy half day on foot.
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Ifrane Lion Statue
A lion carved from stone lies on a lawn near the centre, a reminder of the Barbary lions that once lived in the Middle Atlas. Families queue to photograph children on its back. It sits beside the main avenue, a short walk from the cafes and parks. Moroccan holiday weekends bring the longest queues.
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Jnan Sbil
Palms, bamboo and orange trees fill a restored royal garden between Fes el-Bali and Fes Jdid, with a lake, fountains and shaded paths. Entry is free. Benches along the water make it a calm stop on the walk from Bab Bou Jeloud to the Royal Palace, and the paths are quietest in the morning.
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Marinid Tombs
Ruined mausolea on the hillside north of the walls give the wide view over the medina, with tanneries and minarets laid out below and the call to prayer carrying up at dusk. Little of the fourteenth century stonework survives. Taxis climb to the parking area, and the slope is exposed, with no shade or water.
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Mellah
Wooden and wrought iron balconies facing the street mark the houses of the old Jewish quarter, set against the Royal Palace walls. The restored Ibn Danan Synagogue is open to visitors, and the whitewashed tombs of the Jewish cemetery climb the slope at the quarter's edge. Rue des Merinides, the main street, is lined with jewellers' workshops.
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Palais Faraj
Set on the ridge above the medina near Bab Ziat, this palace hotel looks straight across Fes el-Bali from its terraces and pool. The hotel stands in the quiet residential quarter of Ziat, a walk of about fifteen minutes from the main monuments. Rooms are finished in zellige and carved plaster, and the terrace at dusk carries the call to prayer from across the valley.
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Riad Fes
Courtyards in zellige and carved stucco, a pool and roof terraces spread through several joined houses near Place Batha. Porters meet guests at the nearest point a car can reach and carry luggage in. Rooms range from courtyard suites to rooms with private terraces, and booking ahead is wise in spring and autumn.
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Royal Palace
Seven brass doors framed in zellige and carved cedar face a square in Fes el-Jdid, and they are as much of the royal residence as visitors ever see. The grounds stay closed. The Mellah, the old Jewish quarter, and its hillside cemetery lie a few minutes away, which makes the square a short stop on a longer walk.
