Morocco is a vibrant, scenic country which is full of rich histories! There is so much to love about and it is surprising with the amount of places you must visit in the country!
Ideally, to get the most out of the country you probably would need 1 month worth of travelling to visit all of the must see places. These include seaside towns/cities like Tangier or Agadir with beaches that you need to see. But also they have many beautiful locations inland like Chefchaouen which is a completely blue town or Mergouza which is on the cusp of the Sahara desert which is perfect for a range of activities!!
It’s definitely a location we will be revisiting but for now, 7 days is all we have so lets make the most of it!
We have filmed a Vlog for Fes which is up on our YouTube which you can find here or below.
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How to spend 2/3 days in Fes!
If we are honest, we looked at the cheapest flight across Europe and countries just outside and this jumped out as one of the cheapest! We initially were looking to fly to Ouarzazate for £30 return but we didn’t book them tickets in time- but rather saw a cheap flight to Fes for £50 which we couldn’t pass up!
So it’s not as if we chose to visit Fes.. more-so it was meant to be. The city really didn’t disappoint!!
As we booked the flights 36 or so hours before departure, we didn’t know a whole lot about the city. What activities to do, where to stay, what and where to eat etc! We pretty much spent the day before brushing up on the best things to do.
For Fes, we kept an open mind on whether to travel around Morocco, or to just take it easy and explore the city more! We didn’t have many plans, but rather we would make decisions on a day-to-day basis depending how we were feeling, and if we wanted to venture to different places.
As we landed in Fes first thing on a Monday morning, we navigated the city into the marina and wandered through the favela-like streets to our stay. We were very lucky, we outreached to hostels and AirBnB’s in Fes to see if we could get any gifted stays to keep costs down on our trip, and we spoke with a lovely hostel who were very happy to support our trip with content in return!
If you have the tools, this is a great way to keep costs down but don’t be discouraged if you can’t get gifted stays, not everywhere does them!! Let us know if you would like us to talk more about how we have gotten gifted stays!
So we had this hostel for 2 nights and it was BEAUTIFUL!!!!
A traditional Riad building located in the heart of the Medina, and only a stones throw from local Souks that you can wander for hours on end! Find the link to this amazing Riad here.
Our stay was magical! On arrival we were taken to the rooftop which had stunning views over the medina and the whole city, with old ruins standing tall like they once did centuries ago. At the rooftop, they offered sweet tea which is a family recipe.. one they were reluctant to spill the beans on!
After settling in and dropping off our luggage at the Riad, we ventured out in the rough direction of the Souks, and took in the scenery around our new home for the next 7 days or so.
We winded through the tight streets, passing children playing football in makeshift goals, and family members wheeling foods to and from their shop. The atmosphere was happy and subtly busy. The narrow streets creates a somewhat chaotic atmosphere as the buildings overhang to make the medina streets smaller.
Once we hit the Souks, we started from (somewhat) the top and wandered down admiring the vast shops, activities and products on offer. Each shop was totally different and had it’s own stamp of traditional creativity. From local spices, to handmade leather bags and soft silky dresses, the Souk was full of product diversity- a place you can revisit later, and see completely different products on the same stalls as before.
After wandering down the hill and the shops either side, we were looking to find a place to settle down to have our first proper meal in Morocco. Of course, we visited the country during the awkward period of Ramadan so all Muslims were fasting from dusk till dawn.
If you are to visit during this time, we would recommend to be respectful to the locals and avoid eating or drinking in public/busy places if it can be helped.
We found a highly recommended restaurant in the heart of the Medina called The Ruined Garden, which was only a 5 minute or so stroll from our hostel. As we arrived, we had a short 20 minute wait for the restaurant to open and we were actually the first people to enter for lunch. The aesthetic was amazing!
The front doors were huge, almost castle-like, with a small staircase leading up to the seating area. It was pretty enclosed up until this point but once you turned the corner onto the top step, the room opened up and in the centre was a fountain with beautiful gardens surrounding. Vines were strung from above to create a beautiful ambience and we were gratefully seated amongst it.
As we sat down, we were greeted by 2 adorable cats who clearly are pets to the owners of the restaurants. We ordered traditional dishes – the B’stilla – being an oddly sounding sweet and savoury, pastry-like filled pie. Yeah this was typed right.. Once we received this, we were pleasantly surprised with the taste as it was dusted with cinnamon and icing sugar. This was a very enjoyable meal, and one we decided to recreate once we arrived back home. Wasn’t quite the same but one we did enjoy for sure!
At the restaurant, we both shared the meal and the portion was super filling that we couldn’t finish it between us! It’s one that we would definitely recommend for any visitor to try. It’s really got everything, from traditional flavours to strange flavour mixes. If anyone has tried this dish we would love to know your views and know your thoughts as we both loved it!!
Towards the end of the meal we were delight to have the visitors of tortoises who suddenly woke up from the back of the gardens and wandered around the courtyard. There were 2 large tortoises who decided to wander around and visit some of the lunch-goers. It was a surprising but welcomed introduction as it’s not one you expect in the centre of the old medina!
Just as we were to pick up the bill and leave the restaurant, we looked back to see a tiny, baby tortoise who was slowly munching on a rather large piece of watermelon (for his size!). It was so small that the garden area it was in prohibited him from escaping due to a small 2-inch wall which he couldn’t master no matter how hard he tried!
Upon leaving, we decided to wander back to our hostel and relax for a few hours, after travelling since 1 in the morning. We spent time on the rooftop and enjoyed the chilled atmosphere, while being served endless cups of traditional sweet Moroccan tea.
As the sky darkened and the mood changed, we were informed that the hostel were hosting dinner as part of the stay! We ended up breaking the fast with the local Moroccans as they served a buffet fit for a king! A sea of plates filled the table, full of colourful traditional Moroccan foods with a soup perfectly placed in front of each guest and a freshly squeezed orange juice to wash it all down with. Here, we conversated with other travellers and ate till our hearts content!
After finishing our meals and thoroughly thanking our hosts for the lovely spread, we headed back to the rooftop to carry on socialising and enjoy our first night!
If you thought the hostel hadn’t done enough, we were also given free popcorn (salted of course) and provided a Shisha for all guests. We spent time eating the popcorn, playing card games and practicing our newly learnt skill… smoke rings!!
We soon headed off to bed and called it a night so we could get ready for a fun and adventurous day tomorrow.
Day 2
The next day started with a little lay-in. We would always recommend that if you are travelling, or even on a holiday, to make sure to take time to rest when needed as no one can be on the go 100% of the time! So Aimee slept in to 9:30 am so she felt energised for the day!
During this time, Jack went upstairs and ended up socialising with some travellers whilst enjoying a complementary breakfast. Once Jack finished, Aimee joined and had her fruit breakfast before we got showered, changed and ready for our busy day!
By this point we didn’t have a plan beyond Fes; but just planned each day the night before and kinda just winged it! If you have travelled before, it’s probably the best way to do it (if you don’t mind the odd panic and stress that comes with it!).
So today we headed outside the medina to a local shopping mall called Borj Fes which is recommended to visit while in Fes! It’s 4 stories tall and filled with a variety of shops! We initially wandered around some of the clothing shops just having a wander, and comparing it to home shopping malls. After a while, we stumbled upon a supermarket on the lower floor which we looked for snacks!
We found a bakery full of cakes, pastries and many quirky looking sweet treats! We took about 10 minutes, but finally decided on grabbing a few of each, a drink and headed out! If you are looking for snacks or looking to make your own food in Fes, we would recommend visiting this supermarket! It’s a lot cheaper than most other shops as mostly locals shop here! It’s so cheap- we got a 2l bottle of water for 3.50 Dirhams which is roughly 30p which is a bargain! We spent £2 on 6 pastry/cakes, which we found a table outside and enjoyed! The snacks were lovely and it perked our appetite ready for heading to Burger King!
Burger king was a lot cheaper in Morocco and we bought some cool items which we have never seen before! All in all, this mall was a great place to spend a few hours eating lunch, venturing shops and taking a break from the hot sun!
In the afternoon we left the mall to head back to the medina. We decided to wander the local souk and embrace the beauty of the old medina. Here we found ourselves wandering for an hour or so before finding a quaint, local restaurant which we chose to be where we ate our dinner.
Luckily, we ordered and received our meal before the sun went down. As we received our meal, the Ramadan fasting ended as spoken through loud speakers informing everyone and the restaurant closed to any further customers. The owners and staff all sat down with their freshly prepared meal and broke their fast!
If you are ever to go to a Muslim dominant country during Ramadan, it is important to find out when the sun sets and the fasting stops as all restaurants will close. The last thing you want to do is go out for your dinner but be stuck wandering looking for a place that is open (like we did…). Once we finished our meal we headed back to the hostel to relax in the evening, look at the beautiful nightly view and social with some travellers.
We soon played cards into the evening before deciding to go sleep!
Once the morning came and we woke up, we came to the conclusion that we wanted to explore more of Morocco, and decided on moving to Meknes which is a small city, 40 minutes west of Fes on the train. We got our breakfast, picked up our snacks and headed to the train station!!
We really enjoyed Fes and it is a beautiful place which we couldn’t recommend it enough. We would say that 2/3 days is enough time there and there are so many places to visit in Morocco so we wouldn’t stay much longer!
Did you like Fes?
This blog is the 1st of a 3-part blog. Next up is our experiences and activities in the small city of Meknes!
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Our Two Step Start 