Fes in 6 Days on a Budget (With Daily Costs)
Six days in Fes: room for Ville Nouvelle and a genuinely free day
Six days covers everything a 5-day trip does, plus a day in Ville Nouvelle, the French-built new town, and enough slack to leave a day genuinely unplanned. Meknes, Volubilis, and Chefchaouen are still a separate trip from a Fes-as-base stay, not part of this one. Shorter on time? The 5-day plan drops this sixth day. Want the full week? The 7-day version adds one more.
| Day | Focus | Daily budget (solo) |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Bab Boujloud, medina orientation, Chouara Tannery view, Bou Inania Madrasa | |
| Day 2 | Al-Attarine Madrasa, souks, Mellah, Merenid Tombs sunset | |
| Day 3 | Half-day official guide, Dar Batha Museum, deeper souk time | |
| Day 4 | Hammam, Jnan Sbil Gardens, souk revisit | |
| Day 5 | Andalusian quarter, potters’ district, splurge riad dinner | |
| Day 6 | Ville Nouvelle, Borj Nord or a second Merenid Tombs sunset |
Book these before you go:
- Fes medina guided tour : book a morning slot ahead for Day 3.
- Riad rooms in Fes on Booking.com : 6 nights, book ahead, rooms in the medina are limited.
Day 1: Bab Boujloud, the tannery view, and your first madrasa
Land at Fès-Saïss Airport and take the fixed-rate grand taxi into the medina, roughly 150 MAD for a sedan, or ask for “the meter” (“compteur, s’il vous plaît”) for a cheaper 80-120 MAD ride if the driver agrees before you get in. Settle into your riad, then walk out through Bab Boujloud, the blue-tiled gate that looks ancient but actually dates to 1913. Wander into Fes el-Bali itself first, without a fixed destination, since getting turned around here is normal even for people who’ve done it before; the medina has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981. Visit the Chouara Tannery viewpoint through one of the surrounding leather shops (free, tip 20-50 MAD if you don’t buy), then the Bou Inania Madrasa (20 MAD, about $2), the only Fes madrasa with a working mosque. Dinner is street food near Bab Boujloud: a merguez sandwich for 15-25 MAD, bissara soup for about 10 MAD.
Day 2: A second madrasa, the Mellah, and sunset at the tombs
Start at the Al-Attarine Madrasa (20 MAD), with finer tilework than Bou Inania and a spot right by the spice market it’s named for. Spend the late morning in the souks; haggling is expected, and starting well under your target price is normal, not rude. Walk to the Mellah, Fes’s old Jewish quarter, for the Ibn Danan Synagogue and its rooftop view over the old cemetery. Time your last stop for late afternoon: the climb to the Merenid Tombs, free, ruined, and the best sunset view over the whole medina there is. Have dinner at your riad or a casual medina restaurant; expect 100-200 MAD for a sit-down meal.
Day 3: A guide for the parts you’d otherwise walk past
Book an official guide for the morning, either through your riad or the Ville Nouvelle tourist office (Place Mohamed V), agreeing the price before you start: roughly 300 MAD for a half day (3-4 hours). A guide gets you into working fondouks and artisan courtyards with no signage, the kind of place a solo wander simply misses among 9,400-plus unmarked alleys. In the afternoon, visit the Dar Batha Museum for its Andalusian garden and “Fes blue” ceramics collection (price varies by source, 20-60 MAD, confirm at the door). Spend what’s left of the day back in the souks, now that you know your way around a little, picking up leather or ceramics at a fairer price than your first pass.
Day 4: A slow day, a hammam, and the gardens
Skip the checklist today. Start with a public or riad hammam: a public neighborhood hammam runs roughly 50-150 MAD, while a riad or spa version runs 300 MAD or more for the same steam-and-scrub ritual with more privacy. Spend the afternoon at the Jnan Sbil Gardens (free), a genuine patch of shade and fountains a short walk from the medina walls. Head back into the souks in the late afternoon, not to see anything new, but to buy the thing you talked yourself out of on Day 2, now that you know the going rate.
Day 5: The Andalusian quarter and the potters’ district
Cross to the Andalusian side of the medina, across the Oued Fes river from Fes el-Bali’s main tourist path, quieter and far less visited despite its own historic mosque and gates. In the afternoon, head to the potters’ quarter around Ain Nokbi, where you can watch the “Fes blue” ceramics get thrown, glazed, and fired, mostly free to observe, and buy direct from a workshop rather than a souk stall if a piece catches your eye. Book a table for dinner at a riad that opens its courtyard to non-guests, a genuine step up from your usual casual meal and worth the 200-450+ MAD it runs per person.
Day 6: Ville Nouvelle and a second look at the medina
Spend the morning in Ville Nouvelle, the wide-boulevard French-built new town south of the walls: cafes, banks, and the tourist office at Place Mohamed V, a useful low-hassle contrast to the medina’s density and a good place to handle any logistics you’ve been putting off. In the afternoon, head back up to Borj Nord, the 16th-century hilltop fortress and arms museum (verify current fee and hours on site), or simply return to the Merenid Tombs for a second sunset now that you’re not rushing to fit it in around anything else. This is the day to buy whatever souvenir you kept circling back to and still haven’t bought.
Is 6 days enough time for Fes?
Six days is more than most itineraries give this city, and it shows: every madrasa, a guide day, the Mellah, a rest day, the Andalusian quarter, the potters’ district, and now Ville Nouvelle too. The only thing a 7-day trip adds is one more truly unplanned day, which matters more to some travelers than others.
How much does 6 days in Fes actually cost?
Figure 2,750-3,050 MAD ($296-328) total for a solo budget traveler: six riad nights, two madrasa entries, a half-day guide, the Dar Batha entry, a hammam visit, and one splurge riad dinner, on top of regular food throughout. Ville Nouvelle and the second Merenid Tombs sunset cost nothing beyond a bus or taxi fare.
Check the official Morocco tourism site before you go for any seasonal closures, and keep small MAD bills on hand through to your last day; vendors near the airport road rarely break large notes either.