How do I get from Marrakech to Fez?

By CTM coach (around 8 hours via the mountain route, approximately 200–250 MAD); by train via Casablanca (5 hours, with a change, approximately 250 MAD for 2nd class); by hire car, which allows stops at Volubilis, Meknès and the Middle Atlas along the way. The train via Casablanca is the fastest comfortable option; the car is the most flexible.

Is a guide mandatory in Fez?

Not mandatory but strongly recommended for the first full day in Fez el-Bali. The medina's 9,000 alleys have no consistent signage and the spatial logic is medieval — a guide from the official tourist office provides both orientation and context that offline maps cannot. After one guided day, independent exploration becomes considerably easier. Budget 400–600 MAD for a half-day.

How much time do you need in Chefchaouen?

One full day and two nights is the right allocation. The medina itself takes half a day; the Spanish Mosque hike and the Ras el-Maa waterfall fill the rest. Three nights allows a day trip to the Akchour waterfalls in the Talassemtane National Park (40km from Chefchaouen), which most visitors miss and which are significantly more dramatic than the town itself.

What is the best base for exploring both Fez and Chefchaouen?

They are different enough — and far enough apart — to merit separate bases. Two or three nights in a medina riad in Fez, then drive or transfer to Chefchaouen for two nights. Attempting to day-trip between them wastes both. Fez accommodation ranges from basic medina guesthouses (400 MAD/night) to exceptional riads like Riad Laaroussa (from £150/night).

Fez & Chefchaouen — The Imperial City and the Blue Town Worth the Climb

Fez el-Bali has 9,000 streets, the world's oldest functioning university, and a tannery unchanged in 700 years — it is the most serious city in Morocco, and the most rewarding.

Fez el-Bali — the old medina of Fez — is the largest urban pedestrianised area in the world and has been continuously inhabited since the 9th century. It contains approximately 9,000 streets and alleys, 180 mosques, 200 hammams, the world's oldest functioning university (University of Al Quaraouiyine, founded 859 AD), and the Chouara tannery, where leather has been cured using pigeon dung, cow urine and natural dyes by essentially the same method for the past 700 years. It is extraordinary and overwhelming and impossible to navigate alone on the first attempt. This is not a design flaw.

Fez el-Bali: The Architecture

The monuments of Fez el-Bali are Islamic architecture at its most serious. The Bou Inania Madrasa (entry approximately 70 MAD) is the most beautiful piece of Islamic decorative art in Morocco that is accessible to non-Muslim visitors — three tiers of zellige mosaic tilework, carved stucco arabesque and cedar wood lattice screens, built in the 14th century by the Marinid sultan and now producing the involuntary silence that genuinely great architecture generates. The internal courtyard with its marble fountain and carved arcades is the reference image of Moroccan craftsmanship.

The Mellah (Jewish quarter, adjacent to Fez el-Jdid) contains an entirely different architectural tradition — Fez's Jewish community, dating from the 13th century, developed a vernacular of wrought-iron balconies, elaborate door frames and narrow streets quite distinct from the Islamic medina. The Ibn Danan Synagogue (19th century, recently restored) is open to visitors and extraordinarily beautiful in its modest way.

The Chouara Tannery: The Full Story

The Chouara tannery is Fez's most-photographed image — the overhead view of circular stone pits filled with natural dyes in jewel colours, workers standing knee-deep in the liquid, hides stretched on wooden racks above. The reality has several layers:

What you're looking at: Raw hides — mostly sheep, goat and cow — are soaked in a mixture of water, cow urine and pigeon dung to soften them, then moved to the dye vats (saffron yellow, indigo blue, poppy red, henna orange) before being stretched to dry. The process is exactly as it was in the 14th century.
The smell: Severe. The leather shops provide mint sprigs; use them.
The view: From the terrace of leather shops that ring the tannery. Access is free if you make a purchase (leather goods from these shops are reasonable quality and the price includes the view) or a tip of 50–100 MAD if you don't. Shops claiming the view is "free, no obligation" will revisit this position as you leave.
The best light: Morning — before 10am the light hits the dye vats directly. After noon it's in shadow.

Fez: Where to Eat

Fez's cooking tradition is considered by Moroccan food scholars to be the apex of the national cuisine — the city that systematised the bastilla (pigeon or chicken pie in filo pastry with almonds and cinnamon — a dish that manages to be simultaneously medieval and extraordinary), the mrouzia (slow-cooked lamb with honey, raisins and ras el hanout), and the sophisticated spice combinations that distinguish proper Moroccan cooking from tourist approximations.

Restaurant Número: A rigorously seasonal menu in a beautifully restored riad near Bou Inania. The bastilla is the standard against which others are judged. Dinner from 300 MAD/person.
Café Clock: A Fez institution near Bab Boujloud — camel burger (genuinely interesting, not a novelty), good salads, regular music events and a courtyard that functions as a community space. 60–100 MAD/person.
The market of Bab Rcif: Fez's most functional daily market — produce, olives, preserved lemons, argan oil. Excellent for breakfast provisions and the most local experience in the medina.

Chefchaouen: The Blue Town

Chefchaouen sits at 600m in the Rif Mountains, 4 hours from Fez by road (195km), its medina painted in graduating shades of blue — powder blue, cornflower, cobalt, indigo — that photograph magnificently and reward actual walking even more. It is small (the medina is walkable without a guide), manageable and genuinely beautiful. It is also, in high season, extremely thoroughly photographed by everyone present.

The strategy for getting Chefchaouen right:

Arrive Thursday or Friday rather than the weekend when day-trippers from Tangier and Tetouan add significantly to the crowd.
Wake early: The Spanish Mosque ruin on the hill above town, reached via a 20-minute path from Place Uta el-Hammam, at 7am in spring with mist in the valley below is a different experience from the same view at 11am surrounded by photographers.
Stay two nights: The town earns its place in an itinerary with a proper half-day to wander without purpose, not a rushed afternoon stop.
The cannabis context: The Rif region is a major cannabis-producing area and the product is offered openly in Chefchaouen. Possession and purchase are illegal in Morocco — penalties include prison sentences. The openness of the offer does not reflect the legal status.

The Drive Between Fez and Chefchaouen

The N8 and then N2 route through the Middle Atlas and Rif Mountains is 195km of genuine scenic reward — cedar forests, Berber market towns, views from the Rif ridge over the Mediterranean coast. Allow 4 hours rather than the 3 that maps suggest; the road through the Rif has enough corners to earn respect. Volubilis, the best-preserved Roman ruins in Morocco, sits 33km north of Meknes and makes a logical lunch stop on a Fez–Chefchaouen itinerary (entry approximately 70 MAD; the mosaic floors are remarkable).

Pre-book Fez medina tours and cooking classes — a morning with a specialist food guide in the Fez souk followed by a cooking class in a riad kitchen is one of the most complete culture-plus-food experiences in Morocco.