Fes Medina Guided Tour: Tanneries, Madrasas & Al-Qarawiyyin

Highlights

• Licensed Fassi guide through UNESCO-listed Fes el-Bali
• Bou Inania Madrasa, a 14th-century Marinid masterpiece
• Gates of Al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859
• Chouara tannery dye pits seen from a terrace
• Coppersmiths of Place Seffarine and the Henna souk
• Pick-up from your riad or hotel in Fes included

Itinerary

1. 1

   09:00 · Pick-up in Fes

   If you are staying in a riad inside the medina, your guide comes to your door, or to the nearest gate, on foot. Guests in new-town hotels are collected by a driver and brought to the medina entrance. Just share your accommodation details when you book so the pick-up runs smoothly, and wear sturdy shoes for a morning on steep, uneven lanes.

2. 2

   09:20 · Bab Bou Jeloud and Talaa Kebira

   Walk in through the Blue Gate, Bab Bou Jeloud, built in 1913 and covered in blue-and-green tilework, and start down Talaa Kebira. This is the main thoroughfare of Fes el-Bali, lined with food stalls and tiny workshops, and your guide uses it to explain how the medina is organised. Keep an ear out for 'balak', the warning call of the mule drivers.

3. 3

   09:50 · Bou Inania Madrasa

   Step inside the 14th-century Bou Inania Madrasa, built by the Marinid sultan Abu Inan, to admire its carved stucco, cedar woodwork and zellige tiles. Your guide describes daily life for the students who once lived and studied here, explains the meaning of the decoration and patiently points out the details that most visitors walk straight past. The entrance fee is paid on site.

4. 4

   10:45 · Al-Qarawiyyin and Al-Attarine

   Deeper in the medina, you stop at the gates of Al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri, and look into the prayer hall from the doorway, as non-Muslims cannot enter. Nearby you see the Nejjarine fountain and visit the Al-Attarine Madrasa, another jewel of Marinid decoration, while your guide fills in the long history of the city's scholarly and religious heart.

5. 5

   11:40 · Chouara tannery and Seffarine

   Climb to a leather shop terrace for the classic view over the Chouara tannery, where hides are still treated in stone dye vats; a sprig of mint helps with the smell. Afterwards the walk passes the coppersmiths of Place Seffarine, the weavers and the Henna souk. Shop visits along the way are optional, and you are never under any obligation to buy.

6. 6

   12:45 · Return to your accommodation

   Around 12:45 your guide walks you back to your riad, or to the transfer point where the driver takes you to your hotel in the new town. You finish the morning with a far better sense of how Fes el-Bali works, and with the confidence to head back into its lanes on your own later in your stay in Fes.

What’s included

Questions about this tour