Travel Tips
Morocco Currency and Dirham Tips: ATMs, Cards, Cash and Exchange
Practical Morocco currency and dirham tips: exchange rates, ATMs, card use, how much cash to carry and how prices are quoted in the souks.
Navigate the medieval medina of Fes el-Bali with a licensed guide: Bab Bou Jeloud, Bou Inania Madrasa, Al-Qarawiyyin, the Chouara tannery and artisan souks.
Fes el-Bali, founded in the late 8th and early 9th centuries and listed by UNESCO in 1981, is one of the largest car-free urban areas in the world. Its thousands of lanes are almost impossible to navigate without help, which is exactly why this tour exists. A licensed Fassi guide picks you up at your riad or hotel and leads you through the medina's key monuments and working craft quarters in about four hours.
You enter through Bab Bou Jeloud, the blue-and-green tiled gate built in 1913, and descend the main street of Talaa Kebira. Inside the 14th-century Bou Inania Madrasa, built by the Marinid sultan Abu Inan, you'll see some of the finest carved stucco, cedar and zellige in Morocco. Further on, your guide shows you the doorways of the Al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri and often cited as one of the oldest continuously operating educational institutions in the world. Non-Muslims cannot enter the prayer hall but can look in from the gates. Nearby, the Al-Attarine Madrasa and the Nejjarine fountain complete the picture.
The tour continues to the Chouara tannery, where hides are still treated in stone vats of dye as they have been for centuries; you view them from a leather shop terrace (a sprig of mint helps with the smell). You'll also pass the coppersmiths of Place Seffarine, weavers and the Henna souk.
For wider context, read our Fes destination guide. If you have an extra day, the blue town is within reach on our day trip from Fes to Chefchaouen.
Your guide meets you at your riad in the medina, or our driver collects you from a hotel in the new town.
Enter through the Blue Gate and walk down the medina's main artery, lined with food stalls and small workshops.
Visit the Marinid madrasa with its carved stucco, cedar and tilework, and learn how students lived and studied here.
See the Al-Qarawiyyin gates, the Nejjarine fountain and the Al-Attarine Madrasa in the spiritual heart of the medina.
View the tannery vats from a terrace, then pass the coppersmiths of Place Seffarine.
Your guide walks you back to your riad or to the transfer point for your hotel.
Pickup at your riad or hotel in Fes. Riads inside the medina are met on foot at the door or the nearest gate; please share your accommodation details when booking.
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Practical Morocco currency and dirham tips: exchange rates, ATMs, card use, how much cash to carry and how prices are quoted in the souks.
How to explore Fes el Bali: the history, the main gates and streets, the madrasas, Al-Qarawiyyin, the Chouara tannery, and practical tips for finding your way.
