Overview
Fes el-Bali is the largest car-free urban area in the world and the oldest continuously inhabited medina in Morocco. Getting there from Casablanca takes three hours each way, which makes this the longest of the single-day trips and the one that needs the earliest start.
Inside the walls a local guide takes over, because the medina is nine thousand lanes and no map survives contact with it. The route covers the Bou Inania Madrasa, the Nejjarine fountain and museum, the Chouara tanneries and the gate of the Karaouine, the university founded in 859.
Trip Highlights
- Fes el-Bali, a UNESCO World Heritage medina with no cars in it
- The Bou Inania Madrasa, the finest Merinid building open to visitors
- The Chouara tanneries, seen from the leather terraces above them
- The Nejjarine fountain and the carpenters' square
- Bab Boujloud, the blue gate, and the souks behind it
