Fes
- Fes el-Bali medina
- The tanneries
- Rabat and Chefchaouen day trips
The short answer
Fes is home to Fes el-Bali, one of the largest car-free urban areas in the world, and its alleys eat phone maps for breakfast. An eSIM gets you online for the ride in, the guide's messages and everything after; screenshots of pins and landmarks are the trick inside the walls.
Checked on September 30, 2026
Where the signal holds
- 4G
Across the city
The three networks cover the new city and the gates of the medina.
- 5G
5G in the main cities
Morocco's 5G rollout began in the main cities on 7 November 2025.
- Medina
Inside Fes el-Bali
Nine thousand lanes eat phone maps: a guide for the first morning, screenshots of pins and landmarks after.
Practical notes
- Getting thereThe train from Casablanca or Rabat; the airport for some European routes.
- Getting aroundOn foot, with a guide for the first day and a landmark map after.
- PayingCash for the medina; the ATMs live at the gates.
- When to goSpring and autumn; midsummer in the medina is hot and thick with people.
Fes is the country’s intellectual capital and its most complete medieval city: Fes el-Bali, the old medina, is a working city of nine thousand lanes where deliveries still move by handcart and donkey. It is the place where a phone map helps most and fails most, often in the same hour.
Getting there and around
Fes sits on the main rail line: trains run from Casablanca and Rabat through the day, and Fes-Sais airport takes European flights. Inside the medina, everything is a walk; taxis wait at the gates for the newer city. The train station is the anchor for day trips to Meknes and Chefchaouen.
What to see
- The tanneries: the stone pits seen from the terraces; mornings are the best light, and the “cedar” sprigs are a courtesy against the smell.
- The Blue Gate and the main souk streets: Bab Boujloud is the postcard entrance; the lanes from it run the length of the medina.
- The craft quarters: metalwork, pottery and weaving, each in its own district, each best in the morning.
- Al-Qarawiyyin: the mosque and library at the medina’s heart, among the oldest seats of learning in the world.
Practical notes
- Getting there: the train from Casablanca or Rabat; the airport for European routes.
- Getting around: on foot, with a guide for the first day and a landmark map after.
- Paying: cash for the medina; the ATMs live at the gates.
- When to go: spring and autumn; midsummer in the medina is hot and thick with people.
Keep reading
The plan for this trip
Lowest price per day for trips of 8 to 15 days
15 days · 2 GB · US$12.99
Not needed: local line on Orange Maroc
Buy on BaobabSIMQuestions
How many days does Fes need?
Two full days: one for the medina with a guide, one for the craft quarters, the tanneries and the gates. Three lets you add Chefchaouen or Meknes without a rush.
Do I need a guide for the medina?
Not legally, practically: the medina is nine thousand lanes, and a licensed guide for the first morning turns a maze into a map. Agree the price and hours before you start, and keep the relationship to the guide, not to whoever offers help on the street.
Do the maps work inside the medina?
GPS does; sense does not. Ask your riad for a pin plus landmarks, screenshot both, and save them offline. The tanneries, the Blue Gate and the main streets are findable; everything between them is the experience.
How do I arrive?
By train from Casablanca or Rabat, about four hours from Casablanca, or by air at Fes-Sais airport for some European routes. Most travellers fold Fes into a rail loop: Casablanca, Rabat, Fes, then south.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from.
Get your eSIM for Morocco
Checkout is on BaobabSIM, the company's store for Africa and the Middle East, run by LuKas Holdings. Prices in US dollars, tax included.
See the plansCheckout on BaobabSIM · full refund if it does not work