Fez

Introduction

medina

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Fes or Fez (Arabic: فاس‎ [Fās], French: Fès) is home to Morocco's oldest university and is its leading cultural and religious centre.

Fez was founded in 789. History has provided the city with long periods of hardship, but Fez has never died. It now boasts of being the oldest and largest medieval city in the world, remaining almost unchanged through the modern ages.

Neighbourhoods

• Fez el-Bali - the medina in the East
• Fez el-Jdid - the Mellah (Jewish Quarter) and the Royal Palace in the centre
• Ville Nouvelle - the administrative area built by the French in the southwest.

Sights and Activities

Tiles

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Fez is known for its crafts. Pottery, tiles, cloths, leather and silver products are all made and sold here in exactly the same way they were made a thousand years ago. If you wander through the medina, you could be fooled into thinking you have moved backwards in time. The narrow maze of streets have row after row of vendors selling everything and anything you can imagine. The traffic is pedestrian except for an occasional donkey cart. On the upper levels above the shops, wrought iron balconies remind you of the time when Morocco was occupied by France.

Getting There

By Plane

Fez International Airport (international code: FEZ) serves a growing number of destinations. Royal Air Maroc flies to Casablanca and Paris, Atlas Blue (same website) flies to Marseille and Lyon, JetAirFly to Brussels and Charleroi, and Ryanair to Alicante, Sevilla, Brussels, Frankfurt, Girona), Marseille and Milan.

By Train

ONCF has trains to Tangier, Marrakech, Casablanca, Meknes, Rabat and Oujda, most of which go multiple times a day.

By Bus

CTM has regular buses to Casablanca, Meknes, Tangier, Tetouan, Oujda, Al Hoceima, Rabat and Marrakech, amongst other places. Eurolines has international services, mainly to Spain and France.

Eat

Like everywhere else in Morocco, the imperial city of Fez has plenty of small restaurants where you can get a delicious tajine for less than £3. A tajine is a clay pot filled with chicken, beef, goat’s meat and vegetables, stewed over a charcoal fire for about an hour. For dessert, order a pot of mint tea at one of the outdoor cafes. While sipping on your glass of hot tea, you can watch the locals on their evening stroll along the boulevard. Your cosy hotel is just a couple of minutes of walk away. Bear in mind that everything in Fes closes early. The restaurants and food stalls start packing up at 9:30pm, so if you want to enjoy a slow, relaxed dinner, go around 6pm.

Sleep

Budget

Keep Connected

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

Post

Post Maroc is the national postal service of Morocco and has details on their website (French) regarding the sending of letters, postcards and parcels, both domestically and internationally. The postal service in Morocco is very efficient and the post offices are generally open Monday through Friday, from 8:30am to 12 noon and 2:30pm to 6:30pm. On Saturdays it is open from 8:30am to 2:00pm. Some might keep longer hours though, especially in larger tourist cities and central areas. You can post your mail at one of the post offices or otherwise in the yellow post boxes you'll find throughout the country.