https://https://au.trip.com/toplist/tripbest/recommend/fes-meknes/best-things-to-do/10071445801090
Best Things to Do
Top 10 Best Things to Do in Fes-Meknes [2025]
Fes Médina
4.5
/5
60 reviews
8.1
22.9 km from downtown
Address: Fes, Morocco
Recommended sightseeing time: 0.5-1 day
Highlights:
Over 9,000 spiderweb-like streets
Traditional leather-making demonstration
43% positive reviews
Verified user reviews
Fez Medina, the most famous and oldest ancient city in Morocco, the first Islamic city in the history of North Africa, is a treasure of Islamic civilization and Moroccan culture. Its old city has a history of nearly 1,200 years. It is one of the largest existing typical medieval-style cities in the world. It has been the center of religion, culture and art in Morocco for more than a thousand years. It is also one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and has been listed as Entered into world cultural heritage.
The old market of Fez is so large that it is known as the largest in the world. The winding lanes of the city are the easiest to get lost in. There are more than a thousand handicraft shops, inheriting ancient and famous traditional craft techniques. Each one is set up in a very narrow maze-like lane, as if life has not changed for hundreds of years. The daily life of local residents has been integrated with religion, becoming a real-life social and humanistic museum.
The oldest leather dyeing factory in Fez, Tannery
✔️ Pay a small amount of money to the locals as an entrance fee & tip to enter
✔️ The smell is strong, so a mask or mint leaves are essential!
✔️ The view from the terrace is the most beautiful :)
Show All Photos
Bab Boujloud
4.7
/5
56 reviews
7.5
Based on 1,727 reviews
23.6 km from downtown
Phone +212 662 120543
Address: Fes, Morocco
Recommended sightseeing time: 10-15 minutes
Highlights:
Markets sell snacks & crafts
Iconic blue gate of Fez
38% positive reviews
Verified user reviews
Came here on March 4, 2019.
Fez is one of the four imperial cities in Morocco, known as "Blue Fez" because it produces a very beautiful royal blue pigment.
Bab Boujloud is the current western gate of the ancient city of Fez. It was actually built after Morocco became a French "protectorate". It is much more magnificent than the original "Old West Gate". Its outer side uses a lot of blue pigments with local characteristics, coupled with exquisite and repeated Moroccan local decorative patterns, which is especially beautiful under the sun. But what's interesting is that the inner side of this gate is green.
Many tourists enter the ancient city of Fez from this gate. You can pay attention to this beautiful gate before entering the city.
The Blue Gate of Bouzilou is a landmark building in the entire ancient city of Fez. The front wall of this gate is inlaid with thousands of purple and blue mosaic bricks, which makes the entire gate appear a melancholy blue, which is very beautiful and attracts many tourists to visit.
Fez Tannery Tour and Shopping
4.4
/5
92 reviews
6.8
Based on 836 reviews
22.4 km from downtown
Phone +212 675-974916
Address: Rue chouara, Fès, Morocco
Recommended sightseeing time: 15-30 minutes
Highlights:
360° view of vibrant leather-dyeing
Colorful dyeing & leather tanning
45% positive reviews
Verified user reviews
The colorful dye vats, the unpleasant smells, and the dazzling array of leather products are the reasons why tourists come to visit. Only with a tour guide can you go to the classic dyeing workshop and see the traditional leather factory. Although the process seems a bit simple, the scene is suitable for taking pictures, especially some of the products are very delicate.
[Chouara Leather Factory] is one of the most iconic landscapes in the city. Since its establishment in the Middle Ages, it has been using ancient methods to produce world-class leather. Tanning leather (commonly known as tanned leather) is a famous traditional handicraft in Fez and plays an important role in this old city. It is said that the unique leather dyeing vat is one of the important factors why the old city of Fez is listed as a World Cultural Heritage.
Fez is famous for its handmade leather products. In today's rapid industrial development, this dyeing workshop has always maintained the traditional hand-dying technology to process leather. The dyeing workshop uses materials such as pigeon droppings, cow urine, and lime water to process leather, making the area within a hundred meters "stinky". Over time, "stinky" has become a cultural symbol of this ancient city, attracting many travelers who come here to visit.
Tourists cannot go down to the leather dyeing workshop to visit, but can only watch the workers dyeing leather from the rooftops of surrounding shops. The colorful dyeing vats are arranged in order, and the working workers shuttle between them, which is quite spectacular. If you can't stand the pungent smell of the dyeing factory, you can ask the store owner for a mint leaf to relieve it.
⚠️ There are too many guides on the road. He will take you to take pictures and then ask for a guide fee, usually 20-50, and it may not be the two with a good angle, but you can definitely see it. You can see it from many places around the dyeing factory. The best location is on the side of the picture below. Only the upstairs of the two leather shops have a good angle.
The viewing angle is not good, so don't take pictures and don't pay him, but if you take pictures, you will have to pay him a guide fee.
Address: 328H+FJ Foz Morocco
Or use map software to search: Chouara Tannery
No.
4
Show All Photos
The Royal Palace of Fez
4.2
/5
13 reviews
6.4
24.5 km from downtown
Phone +212 665 765026
Address: n1 boulakhsissat, Fès 33110, Morocco
Recommended sightseeing time: 2-3 hours
Highlights:
Ancient charm & modern life
One of Morocco's royal palaces
Verified user reviews
The King's Palace in Fes can be traced back to the foundations of the Royal Castle of the Marigned Dynasty in 1276. Most of the palaces today date back to the 17th to 20th centuries. The most visible part of the palace is the ornate 20th century gate.
The area around the royal palace in the ancient city of Fez, Morocco, is very lively and full of life. It has both the long-standing ancient charm and the imprint of modern civilized life. There are many craftsmen in the streets and alleys, and various small shops are everywhere on the streets.
No.
5
Show All Photos
Site Archéologique de Volubilis
4.7
/5
8 reviews
5.9
76 km from downtown
Phone +212-5355-44103
Address: Meknès, El Menzeh, Morocco
Recommended sightseeing time: 1-2 hours
Verified user reviews
Volubilis is an ancient Roman ruin, known as the "Pharaoh's Palace". It is said that this city was built by the Egyptian Pharaoh in the era of Moses. The only place that can be visited now is an area of 800×600 square meters.
Although this once prosperous ancient Roman city has gone through years of war, it was an earthquake that truly destroyed it. Today we can only see some scattered historical relics left over from more than 1,000 years ago, which is really sad.
No.
6
Show All Photos
Bab El Mansour Laalej
4.4
/5
39 reviews
5.5
79.5 km from downtown
Address: الجماعة الحضرية الهديم، شارع محمد السادس, Meknes, Morocco
Recommended sightseeing time: 0.5-1 hour
38% positive reviews
Verified user reviews
Came here on March 4, 2019.
Meknes is one of the "Four Imperial Cities" of Morocco. It is called the "Black City". The ancient city of Meknes is also a world heritage site recognized by UNESCO. The great Sultan Moulay Ismail made this the capital during his reign, and the Mansur Gate was the last major construction project during the reign of the Sultan to commemorate his great achievements.
Moulay Ismail Sultan is the ancestor of the current Moroccan royal family and can be called "the greatest emperor in the history of Morocco". His gate is not only magnificent, but also very beautiful, containing many well-known decorative arts at that time. Therefore, this is definitely one of the must-see attractions in Morocco.
In front of the gate is an open square. There are many shops selling local handicrafts around the square, and tourists and local vendors are on the square.
Next to the centuries-old gate is a 25-kilometer-long city wall that has been listed as a World Cultural Heritage Site. In front of it is the Khading Square, also known as the Little Djemaa Square. Inside the gate is a gallery selling paintings.
No.
7
Marinid Tombs
4.6
/5
13 reviews
4.6
23.2 km from downtown
Address: 329C+W6W, Fes, Morocco
Recommended sightseeing time: 1-2 hours
Highlights:
Sunset view over Fez cityscape
Historic ruins of Marinid dynasty
Verified user reviews
We stayed at the hotel next door, and it took a few minutes to walk there. We went there in the morning and met two policemen on horseback coming to work. It's free. The cemetery is just a ruin, and it's even more solemn under the morning sun. Maybe this is a place with good feng shui, and all the way down the mountain are cemeteries for ordinary people.
More than 2,000 years ago, during the heyday of ancient Rome, its territory surrounded the Mediterranean coast, and Morocco was one of them.
The entrance is a modern-style museum. Going up the steps here, you will reach the ruins of the ancient Roman building complex on the hillside.
3⃣ It is a public bath, similar to the layout of a Turkish bath. What is amazing is that after more than 2,000 years, the mosaics on the floor of the bathroom are still colorful, clearly showing the original patterns. In order to spell out the patterns, the ancient Romans used stones of various colors without using dyes, which is also the mystery of the unchanged color for 2,000 years.
4⃣ It turned out to be a public toilet in the bathroom. People just sit on the side of the sink made of stone slabs, and behind them is the rolling water, sweeping away the water. I imagined the sitting posture when using it. It seems that if you are not careful, it is easy to slip into the sink.
In addition to several larger public buildings, the ruins have retained several pillars and walls because of the solid materials. The rest are only the foundation and the ground.
Although also built by the ancient Romans, the scale of the buildings and the size of the columns here are obviously smaller than those in Italy. It seems that there was a strict hierarchy of architectural forms in ancient Rome.
No.
8
Nejjarine Museum of Wooden Arts & Crafts
4.2
/5
21 reviews
4.2
22.9 km from downtown
Phone +212 531-412616
Address: 327F+WJ5, Fes, Morocco
Recommended sightseeing time: 1-2 hours
Highlights:
Admire Beautiful Mosaics
Get a close look at Moroccan craft making
Verified user reviews
Various aspects of the streets in the ancient city of Fez
1⃣ A "teacher" from the Academy of Mosques gives lectures to tourists
2⃣ A stall owner bargaining
3⃣ "Zheng the butcher" selling camel meat
4⃣ The strawberries are so big, but they are not sweet this year
5⃣ Transportation in the ancient city relies on donkeys and walking. The streets are narrow, and it is impossible to overtake, so people have to stand aside. The "donkey's chew" seems to be modified from something? It looks familiar
6⃣ Logistics personnel transporting leather materials
7⃣ This store used to be a liquefied gas station, and mules were used for inbound and outbound goods
8⃣ 9⃣ Male and female beggars sit on the ground, and few people care about them
The Woodcarving Museum or the Post House Museum is said to be where merchants would rest before and after entering the desert. Later, when it was no longer used as a hotel, it was converted into a museum. The museum on the first floor mainly exhibits agricultural tools of the time, including olive oil production, needlework, etc. There are two scales in the hall, which are very sensitive. The second floor is mainly wooden doors and wooden boxes in the houses in the old city of Fez, and there is a small teahouse on the top floor.
1
