Three Days in Fez: Exploring the Heart of Morocco
¿Do you want to know the African continent and a different culture with so many different and interesting aspects? We chose Fez as a way of starting to know Africa and now we bring you this complete guide to enjoy 3 days in Fez!
The city can be perfectly visited in 2 days. It is perfect either if you want to include it in a bigger trip in Morocco or if you want to do a weekend there. We stayed there for 3 days and we could visit the blue city of Chefchaouen, a must visit place if you go to Fez.
At the accommodation level, in Morocco you can find two kinds, the Dars and the Riads. Usually, a Riad is a Moroccan house with a big patio in the middle and you can just access through the main door. Normally, in the center of this yard you can find a fruit tree and living rooms on both sides of the patio. A Dar is a similar construction but more simple and small and without any tree in the middle. In Morocco, Riads are more expensive and exclusive, while Dars are more humble places and most of the times owned by a local family that made their house a business.
We stayed in a Dar called Dar el Mizan, owned by Omar, the oldest son of a Fez family. We strongly recommend it, as they were very helpful and attentive during all our stay there. Moreover, we could work there with a really good internet connection.
Last but not least, specify that you can find very cheap flights from Spain. As a reference, we went on the first weekend of June and the flight costed 30€ per person, so it’s great.
With that being said, let’s start this complete guide to enjoy 3 days in Fez.
DAY 1 IN FEZ
Due to this, we opted to take the Guru Walk services, specifically the services of Abdellillah, a man born in the medina that was really nice! We let you the link of the tour in the Fez medina if you are interested. Together, we visited the main places in Fez and we learned some curious aspects of the main neighborhoods and Arab culture.
The visit started on the blue door or Babi Bou Jeloud, the most emblematic place of the city and one of the most important meeting points of the moroccan people that live in the medina. During lots of years it was the main entrance to the medina, but nowadays it is one of the main touristic places. No matter you contract a guide or not, it is a key point in the medina and in this guide of 3 days in Fez.
After it, we visited Bou Inania Madrasa, the most important islamic school of the city and the Nejjarine square, considered the most beautiful square of Fez’s medina. There, we accessed the Wood and handcraft Museum, very interesting if you like to see this kind of handcraft works.
Later, we went to Seffarine square or cauldrons square, where we say many craftman working with metal to create cauldrons. It is really interesting to hear the noise of the man hitting the metal and how all the people in the square is doing handcrafted works to create this kind of products and sell them.
Next, we visited the Idriss II tomb and the old university Karawiyin, an important university with really great degrees in Theology.
We included here some of the key points of the route, but the free tour has lots of extra stops in less known points and corners of the different neighborhoods. A thing that was really curious to us was that each neighborhood has to have 5 elements to be considered one: A madrasa, a stone oven, a fountain, a mosque and a hammam. After visiting many areas, we really observed this places in all of them!
After the tour, we had lunch with some people we knew in the tour. In the afternoon we went to walk through the medina streets for free and do some shopping. We have to remark here the 2 main touristic streets of the medina, Taala Kebira and Taala Sghira, where you can find lots of quality restaurants (we leave you a list below) and souvenir shops, clothes and lots of items that can be interesting for you. Bear in mind that in Morocco haggling is mandatory, so review your skills before traveling as the prices you pay will depend
DAY 2 IN FEZ
Just beside the palace we can find the Jewish neighborhood. Be careful here as there will be lots of guides that will try to guide you thought the area. We preferred to walk on our own without any guide as the area is basically a main street called Rue Mellah. In this area, you can find some jewish buildings and you can visit the Ibn Danan synagogue that has a little museum inside and a balcony from which you can see the El Mellah jewish cemetery , an emblematic place due to the white tombs, ordered in a perfect way. In case you want to go inside the cemetery you can do it from 9h to 17h for free.
After visiting this area of the city, we went again to the Blue Door area. In the afternoon, we agreed with our Dar’s owner that he rented us a taxi to be able to visit a very recommended place of the city, the Merenid tombs viewpoint. It is in the top of a hill and there are some XIV century ruins that were used as a necropolis. You can have a complete view of the whole city from there and you can also see the best sunset of Fez (you can check this post’s main photo above!). We recommend to go by taxi as it’s not very easy to get there by foot or public transport.
After this viewpoint, we wanted to see one of the few parks that the city has, the Jnan Sbil garden. It is a nice place to walk in a green area, so if you have some time and you are not far away from it, it is recommended.
DAY 3 IN CHEFCHAOUEN
In the third and last day of our trip of 3 days in Fez, we took a car to visit the blue city of Chefchaouen, one of the most emblematic and beautiful places in this area of Morocco.
If you want to do this excursion in the day, it is recommended to start very early in the morning as it’s a 4 hours journey by car. We did it like that, but we recommend that if you have time, spend a night in Chefchaouen to have some rest as 8 hours in a car in the same day it’s a really tough experience and it will let you few time to visit the village.
If you want to do the tour from Fez, we recommend this tour to Chefchaouen
Chefchaouen is a small village very tourist oriented, whose main attractive (and it’s really justified) are their blue constructions, that make this place one of the most beautiful you can visit in Morocco.
We are not going to tell you any specific place in Chefchaouen, as we walked, get lost in the multiple streets and took photos of really nice corners. It is a very different visit, more about wandering the streets an discovering your place. Walking you will find lots of places that will be special for you. Another remarkable point is that you will find lots of souvenir and handcraft works stores so, despite it is a very touristic place, it is a good place to do some shopping and buy a souvenir of the blue village and Morocco.
TIPS FOR 3 DAYS IN FEZ
- Visa: As Spanish people we didn’t need a visa to access Morocco. Check you government website to see if you have to obtain it. You can check your country need in the Moroccan government website.
- Currency: The official currency is Dirham. Here you can see the official change to your currency.
- Do a free tour: We already mentioned it in the post, but the medina is huge so the experience of getting lost can be funny but also oppresive, so we strongly recommend to visit it with a free tour in your first day to allow you to be more confident when visiting on your own.
- Fez is not dangerous!: We read that the medina could not be safe at night, but from our experience, we didn’t feel that in any moment, and almost each night we walked through it alone and we went to a bar to have some drinks, so just take the needed precautions that you would take in your city.
- Sleep in a typical house: No matter if it’s a Dar or a Riad, it is a really cool experience in our opinion, as living with local people and in a typical moroccan house is one of those experiences that travel leave that are not in the guides.
- If you can, visit Merzouga desert: We didn’t have time to do it, but visiting and sleeping in a beduin camp in the Merzouga desert it’s a really unforgettable experience and one of the best things to do in Morocco.
- Haggle: We tell you that and we are very very bad at haggling, but it’s something inside their culture and way of thinking, so try to haggle all the time to get the best price!
RESTAURANTS IN FEZ
As the final point of this 3 days in Fez guide, we leave you some restaurants that we could try during our stay and that we would recommend. Most of them are of typical moroccan food, and we really enjoyed the food in this country.
1. Foundouk Bazaar: Our favourite. It is a moroccan “tapas” restaurant that it’s amazing! They have a nice rooftop where you will have nice views. We strongly recommend it and the price is 12-15€ per person.
2. La Cave: One of the best restaurants of the medina. It is recommended because of their typical moroccan dishes (more elaborated). The price is also 12-15€ per person.
3. Le Tarbouche: A small 4-table restaurant that serves moroccan food. We enjoyed it a lot and we repeated 2 times. The price is slightly lower, 10€ per person.
4. Chez Rachid: Typical Arab menu of meat, cuscus… Very close to the Bab Boud Jeloud and 10€ per person approximately.
MAP
After reading this post, you realized how much we enjoyed Fez and that you can see it as a perfect place for a weekend and a first contact with Morocco and Africa.
We hope this post will help you, and in case of questions, please contact us through the formular or our social media!
Thank you for the comprehensive guide on exploring Fez in three days. Your tips and recommendations are incredibly helpful!
Thanks Mohamed!