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Local dishes to try in Fes

1. 1🥧

   Pastilla (Bastilla)

   A flaky pastry pie filled with shredded chicken or pigeon, almonds, and spiced egg, dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon. This sweet-savory showpiece is considered finest in Fes, where it originated.

   📍 Fes signature dish
2. 2🍲

   Harira

   A hearty tomato-and-lentil soup with chickpeas, fine vermicelli, and lamb, finished with cilantro and lemon. Traditionally eaten to break the Ramadan fast, it's served year-round, often with sticky chebakia.

   📍 National soup
3. 3🫘

   Bissara

   A thick fava-bean soup finished at the table with olive oil, cumin, and a dusting of paprika. Filling, very northern, and just a few dirhams — grab a bowl from a medina stall in the morning.

   📍 Cheap breakfast soup
4. 4🍯

   Tagine

   The conical clay-pot stew Morocco is known for. In Fes, try lamb tagine with prunes and almonds for a rich sweet-savory balance, or chicken with preserved lemon and olives, slow-cooked until tender.

   📍 Slow-cooked clay pot
5. 5🍗

   Rfissa

   A traditional festive plate of chicken slow-cooked with lentils and spices, served over shredded msemen flatbread and fragrant with fenugreek. Many riads need it ordered in advance.

   📍 Celebration dish
6. 6🍵

   Mint Tea (Atay)

   Green tea brewed with fresh mint and plenty of sugar, poured from a height to build foam. Nicknamed 'Berber whiskey,' it's offered at any hour as a sign of welcome — never refuse a glass.

   📍 Ritual of hospitality

1. 1🧵

   Chouara Tannery

   The largest of the medina's tanneries, where leather is hand-dyed in vivid stone pits using natural dyes like saffron and indigo — a process unchanged since the 11th century. View it from the leather-shop terraces ringing the pits.

   📍 The city's icon
2. 2🎓

   Al-Qarawiyyin University

   Founded in 859 AD by Fatima al-Fihri and recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest continually operating university on earth. Still a working mosque; non-Muslims can admire it from the doorways and surrounding lanes.

   📍 Oldest in the world
3. 3🕌

   Bou Inania Madrasa

   A 14th-century Quranic school and one of the few religious buildings in Fes non-Muslims may enter. Famous for its carved cedarwood, intricate zellige tilework, and a serene marble courtyard.

   📍 Marinid masterpiece
4. 4🚪

   Bab Bou Jeloud (Blue Gate)

   The grand western entrance to Fes el Bali, faced with blue tiles outside and green (the color of Islam) within, added in 1913. It's the classic jumping-off point for exploring the medina.

   📍 The blue gate
5. 5👑

   Royal Palace Gates (Dar al-Makhzen)

   The palace itself is closed to visitors, but its seven monumental brass-and-zellige gates in Fes el-Jdid are dazzling — and one of the most photographed spots in the whole city.

   📍 Seven golden doors
6. 6🌅

   Merenid Tombs

   The ruined 14th-century Marinid royal tombs sit on a hill north of the city, about a 15-minute climb. The reward is the finest panorama of the entire medina, especially at golden hour.

   📍 Best sunset view
7. 7🪵

   Nejjarine Museum

   Set in an 18th-century funduq (caravanserai), this museum showcases traditional Fassi woodworking tools and carved doors. Climb to the rooftop terrace for calm, crowd-free views over the medina.

   📍 Fassi woodcraft
8. 8🌳

   Jnan Sbil Gardens

   An 18th-century public garden restored in 2011, spanning 7.5 hectares of palm-lined avenues, fountains, a central pond, and historic waterwheels — the best spot to escape the medina's intensity.

   📍 Green escape