Fes Travel Tips

These are the Fes travel tips we wish someone had handed us before we landed, learned over a week of getting lost in the medina with two small kids, a driver on standby and a wallet full of small bills.

Fes Travel Tips for Your Family Trip

Transportation

In Fes, you will likely find yourself spending most of your time in the medina or Fes el-Bali.  This is claimed to be the largest metropolitan, car-free, area in the world.  So you do not need a car to get almost everywhere.  Since we have small children and can only cover so much ground on little feet, we were grateful that we had a driver on stand by.  Even though the medina is car free, it is often faster to walk out of the medina to be picked up then driven around to the other side of the medina and be dropped off.  This was useful on a day we tried to knock out several sites.  Other days it was nice to stroll through the medina and take in the experience.

If you are looking for a driver to take you around all of Morocco like we used after departing Marrakech, we can’t speak highly enough about Suntrails Morocco and our incredible driver Boujeema. Please visit our post on SunTrails Morocco, here, to learn more about our road trip between destinations and the amazing company/individuals that made it not only possible but an incredible experience. By far the most convenient way to see Morocco! You can also check out their website www.sun-trails.com.

Getting Lost is a thing

This is probably one of our best Morocco travel tips. It is a bit of an initiation into being in medina of Fes, and you must experience it once, whether you like it or not. You will try to follow google maps, you will try to follow apple maps, you will even try to follow maps.me maps. But even then, especially in Fes, they are not completely accurate. You will think one alley connects to another (because the map says it does!!!) but you will be wrong. There are also no easily displayed street names, so don’t bother trying to figure that out either. Just be prepared for this and maybe don’t go out late at night trying to walk somewhere you have never been.

We learned pretty quickly the route from our apartment to the main streets and necessities. First tip: Allow yourself extra time to get anywhere if you have a reservation. Second tip: use the Maps.me app where you can download offline maps for Marrakech or Fes and those are the most detailed if you are in a pinch. I read this on many blogs before leaving, and after being there, I must agree.

Female Clothing

As a predominately Muslim country, I read many blogs post tips about what you should wear as a woman traveler, that you should always have your knees and shoulders covered, etc. I prepared for this, bought new hot weather clothes that covered these areas and ended up not really needing them.

 The young woman who was our host at our vacation rental in Marrakech, and who spent a lot of time with our family, explained how things have changed a lot over the past couple of decades. With tourism as prominent as it is, the locals are very much used to seeing shoulders and knees of those passing through, and our host said that no one really bats an eye at it anymore. She also explained that there is a difference between a woman traveling with her husband and/or kids vs a woman traveling alone or with a friend. She said that if you are with your husband and/or kids you are automatically respected, regardless of what you are wearing. However, if you are a solo female showing your shoulders and knees, it implies you are looking for something and it could get you unwanted attention. I would say to use your best judgement and wear what you are comfortable wearing. I wore tank tops and shorts or shorter dresses, and never felt people looking at me uncomfortably, but I also never had my cleavage or ass cheeks hanging out. Final tip, use your best judgement and be respectful.

Money, money, money! Most important tip: ALWAYS have cash in Morocco. Most people will tell you they don’t take credit cards, even if they do, they don’t want to pay the credit card fee and might not accept it. I would say in Fes and Marrakech, most restaurants accepted a credit card, but that changed once you headed to rural areas. Things are cheap by western standards so having small bills is key. I can’t tell you how many times I had trouble buying something because they couldn’t (or refused to) break my 200drm (about the equivalent of $20USD). Tip: hoard the dirham coins and 50 and 20 dirham bills!

Note: Morocco is a closed currency market, meaning you cannot get Dirhams outside of the country before your travels. So, bring a decent amount of cash to exchange at the airport. ATM’s also have a limit of the equivalent of $200USD so if you want to do a lot of shopping in the souks, plan accordingly. Morocco travel tip: Dawson and I each took our own ATM card linked to the same checking account, so we were able to draw a total of $400USD per day in case something came up. Our Riad in the dessert only took cash (or so they say), so we needed to have a large chunk of cash for that, and as you may have guessed, there are not a lot of ATMs in the Sahara!

Markets and daily needs

In the more populated cities in Morocco, you can find large box stores that have EVERYTHING you might need. Like if you forget something or want to find your kids a cereal that they will eat before heading into the Sahara where they will have who knows what options. These stores are somewhere between a Walmart and a grocery store, mostly groceries but also a lot of home goods, clothing, TVs, etc. The most popular of these box stores around the country is Carrefour Market.

Corner markets are everywhere. These are very small stalls or shops that you often don’t even walk into, just up to a counter or display case and ask the owner (or point to) what you would like. These usually have your basics like milk, yogurt, bread, eggs, cookies, toilet paper, etc. Expect that they only take cash and might not be able to break a large bill. Again, they are found on almost every street.

Do you need an electric converter?

Morocco uses plug types C and E.

Safety

Is Morocco a safe place to travel? In our experience, absolutely! There is not one time, even walking the souks at night in a big city, did I feel we were truly in any danger. In Fes, there was one evening, after dark, I was walking alone through some alleyways that were less traveled. I looked to my right and saw a very narrow, creepy, dark alleyway, and felt a bit of uneasiness realizing I was alone in this remote pathway…that’s when a cute little five-year-old girl came skipping down the alley by herself! I was like, ok, I’m good.

But seriously, besides pesky hagglers trying to make a buck, we never felt uncomfortable or in any danger. The people of Morocco, in both the large cities and rural areas, were incredibly warm, welcoming and kind. We were invited into private homes with sincere hospitality, and treated basically like family, everywhere we went. I can’t speak highly enough about the people of Morocco.

The hagglers of Morocco

They are everywhere, cites big and small, rural farms and even the nomad kids in the Atlas Mountains will stand on the side of the road hoping to get something. But back to the people desperate to sell you something on the street or give you directions…be warned, they are relentless! There was literally one 6ish year old boy in Jamaa el-Fna square that followed us for 5 minutes trying to sell us some Kleenex. I felt bad because we were there during COVID and there was no tourism, so they seemed extra desperate.

However, COVID aside, I read the same thing on everyone’s blogs, they can be a bit aggressive. You really need to be stern about your “La Shukran” (no thank you), I eventually dropped the thank you and finally went with la…la…la…LA….LA….LA LA LA LA!!!!

People will also try to help you with directions, a lot. “The square is that way, Bahdi palace is this way, let me show you”. They seem as if they are just being nice, but they will demand money in return for you allowing them to take you somewhere, even if it’s not where you wanted to go. Tip: if you really do get lost (which can certainly happen in the souks) you can always accept their help and thank them with some change.  I received less of this haggling in Fes compared to Marrakech.

Hopefully some of these Morocco travel tips help prepare you a bit more for your journey!

Planning the Rest of Your Fes Trip

Two more Fes travel tips before you go. Build in a slow morning after any long drive, because the medina is a lot to absorb on tired legs. And book your riad before your sightseeing, since where you sleep decides how far the kids have to walk each day.

From here, start with our guide to visiting Fes with kids, then work out where to stay in Fes with a family and which things to do in Fes with kids are worth the walk.