Free Walking Tour Fez: Madrasas, Tannery, Coppersmiths

Your Fez Walking Tour Stop by Stop, From Attarine to the Karaouine

1. 1

   Al Attarine Madrasa

   

   You start right in the old heart of Fez, near the Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque, at a madrasa whose name smells of its neighbourhood: Attarine means the perfumers, after the Souk al-Attarine, the spice and perfume market it was named for. Behind the entrance opens an ornate internal courtyard, and around it everything a student needed: a small prayer hall, an ablutions facility and sleeping quarters.

   The Marinid sultan Uthman II Abu Said had it built between 1323 and 1325. The Marinids were prolific madrasa builders, and not only out of piety. The madrasa, an institution born in northeastern Iran by the early 11th century, trained scholars in Islamic law, and it had struggled in Morocco under the Almohads, whose doctrine it opposed. Their Marinid successors used these schools to court the influential but fiercely independent religious elite of Fez, to present themselves as protectors of orthodox Sunni Islam and to train the men who ran their bureaucracy.

   Al Attarine belongs to a cluster of madrasas, with the Saffarin and the Mesbahiyya, built close to the Qarawiyyin, the main centre of learning in Fez. They played a supporting role: the mosque taught, the madrasas housed students, especially those who came from outside the city.

   Look at how much fits into so little ground. The madrasa counts among the high points of Marinid architecture precisely because its decoration is rich and harmonious while the space is used so efficiently. Entry is charged, and if carved surfaces and courtyards move you, give it half an hour.

   From here it is 980 m, about 17 minutes, to Bou Inania Madrasa, the longest walking leg of the route and a good chance to compare a compact Marinid madrasa with a far grander one.

   Local name

   Médersa Al-Attarine

   Hours

   Daily 10:00–17:00

   Price

   20 MAD

   Location

   Al Attarine Madrasa on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   Bou Inania Madrasa

   

   Bou Inania stands on the south side of Tala'a Kebira, the main souk street of the medina, and it is the only madrasa in Morocco that also functioned as a congregational mosque. That double role explains what you notice first: a prominent minaret, which almost no other Moroccan madrasa has. Inside, a courtyard is framed by galleries with student rooms built above them, flanked by two classroom chambers and leading to a wide prayer hall.

   Take your time with the surfaces. Much of the building is covered with high-quality carved stucco, zellij mosaic tilework and carved wood, and it is widely regarded as a high point of Marinid and of historic Moroccan architecture generally. Then turn around: across the street stand the ablutions facility and the Dar al-Magana, whose street façade carries an elaborate water clock.

   The man behind it was Abu Inan Faris, who built the madrasa between 1350 and 1355. His father Abu al-Hasan had pushed the Marinid empire as far east as Tunis. Abu Inan rebelled against him and declared himself sultan in 1348; he could not hold the new eastern lands, but Morocco prospered under him. On 10 January 1358 his own vizier assassinated him, aged 31, and his death marked the start of the dynasty's definitive decline. He had named the school the Madrasa al-Mutawakkiliya, yet the name that stuck comes from his own: Bou Inania.

   Entry is charged, and for anyone interested in Moroccan craftsmanship this is the interior on the route most worth paying for.

   Boujloud Gate is only 150 m further along Tala'a Kebira, a two minute walk.

   Local name

   Médersa Bou Inania

   Hours

   Sat–Thu 09:00–17:00, Fri closed to non-Muslim visitors (or restricted during prayer times)

   Price

   20 MAD

   Location

   Bou Inania Madrasa on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   Boujloud Gate

   

   Boujloud Gate looks like the ancient front door of Fes el Bali, yet the monumental gate you see is younger than many of the houses behind it. After the French Protectorate was established in 1912, the colonial administration wanted a grander entrance to the old city. Captain Mellier, chief of municipal services, drew up plans in December 1912, and the new gate was finished in 1913.

   Look to the left of the big arch when you face it from outside: there is the old Bab Bou Jeloud, a simple and modest gate that may date essentially from the 12th century, closed off today. Its passage ran sideways, parallel to the city wall, so you entered Tala'a Kebira from the side rather than head on. Many old Moroccan gates were built this way because a bent entrance was easier to defend and to control. Once gunpowder and heavy artillery arrived, such walls lost their serious military value, though they still kept out poorly armed rural tribes, and gates became mostly decorative.

   The name is far older than either gate. By one account Bou Jeloud is a vernacular corruption of Abu al-Junud, father of the troops, pointing to the parade ground now called Place Bou Jeloud or Place el-Baghdadi. Nearby stood one of the main citadels of Fes el Bali, the Kasbah Bou Jeloud, and the Kasbah en-Nouar.

   The gate is free and always accessible, so a few minutes here cost nothing. Next comes the second long leg: 1210 m, about 15 minutes, back into the medina to Place Nejjarine, passing Rcif Square on the way.

   Local name

   Bab Bou Jeloud

   Hours

   Always accessible (open 24/7)

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Boujloud Gate on Google Maps ↗

4. 4

   Place Nejjarine

   

   Place Nejjarine is a small square built around an 18th-century fountain, and the fountain is the reason to stop. Its zellij mosaic work counts among the finest examples in Fes, and a carved cedar wood canopy shelters the basin. Step close and follow the geometry of the tiles, then look up at the carving above them.

   Right beside the fountain stands the Fondouk Nejjarine, a caravanserai from 1711 that has been restored and now houses the Museum of Wooden Arts and Crafts, spread over three floors of traditional Moroccan woodworking. If the carved wood in the madrasas caught your attention, this is where you can see the craft up close; you pay the entry fee at the door. If you are mainly here for the walk, the fountain and the square are free at any hour.

   Place Seffarine is 300 m away, about 4 minutes on foot.

   Hours

   Always accessible (open 24/7)

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Place Nejjarine on Google Maps ↗

5. 5

   Place Seffarine

   

   You will probably hear Place Seffarine before you see it. The small square is named after the coppersmiths, the seffarin, who have kept their workshops here for centuries; Leo Africanus already noted them in the 16th century, and they are still at work today.

   Around you stand three institutions that tell the story of Fez as a city of learning. To the east is the entrance of the Saffarin Madrasa, built in 1271 by the Marinid sultan Abu Yusuf Ya'qub. It is the oldest purpose-built madrasa in Morocco, still in use and most recently renovated in the late 2010s, so you are looking at the model for Al Attarine and Bou Inania. To the northwest lies the library of the Qarawiyyin, first built on this spot in the late 16th century by Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur. To the southwest is the Saffarin Hammam, a bathhouse from the 14th century.

   The square dates back to the Middle Ages, but much of what you see today comes from renovations in the 1930s and 1940s, during the French protectorate, requested by the manager of the Qarawiyyin's endowments and backed by King Mohammed V. In that programme the Qarawiyyin library was greatly expanded and reopened in 1949 in its present form, and the Madrasa Mohammadia, an 18th-century annex of the Saffarin Madrasa, was enlarged as well.

   Stay a quarter of an hour, watch the metal take shape and then head 390 m, about 5 minutes, to Chouara Tannery, which lies near the Saffarin Madrasa along the river.

   Hours

   Square always accessible 24/7; artisan coppersmith workshops typically active Mon–Sat 08:30–19:00

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Place Seffarine on Google Maps ↗

6. 6

   Chouara Tannery

   

   Chouara is the largest of the three tanneries of Fez and one of the oldest, set in Fes el Bali along the Oued Fes, also called the Oued Bou Khrareb. What you look down on is a field of round stone vessels, some filled with dye, others with white liquids that soften the hides. The tanning here has continued in much the same fashion as in the city's early centuries, and the leather made in these vats is exported around the world.

   Local tradition says Chouara, like the Sidi Moussa Tannery, goes back to the city's foundation by Idris II at the beginning of the 9th century, though its early history is not firmly established. What is clear is the scale of the trade: Fez leather was prestigious enough to reach Baghdad, the Almohads reportedly counted 86 tanning workshops in the city, and a later source speaks of around a hundred under the Marinids. Tanneries clustered near the river then for the same reason they do now: they need water.

   Viewing from the street is free. For the classic view you go onto one of the rooftop terraces, which usually expect a small tip per person. The workshops are busiest in the mornings, with limited activity on Friday afternoons, so if the tannery is your priority, come early or reach it before lunch.

   The last leg is 380 m, about 6 minutes, to the University of Karaouine.

   Local name

   Tannerie Chouara

   Hours

   Daily 08:30–18:30 (workshop activity highest mornings; limited activity Friday afternoons)

   Price

   Free viewing from street; rooftop terrace access typically 10-20 MAD tip/gratuity per person

   Location

   Chouara Tannery on Google Maps ↗

7. 7

   University of Karaouine

   

   The walk ends where learning in Fez began. In 859 Fatima bint Muhammad al-Fihri founded the Qarawiyyin Mosque, which became one of the leading spiritual and educational centres of the Islamic golden age. Lessons began in study circles right after the mosque was built, although some historians think it only became a university under the Almoravids or the Marinids. UNESCO and Guinness World Records list it as the oldest existing institution of higher education still teaching without interruption.

   Teaching here still follows the old pattern. Students sit in a semicircle, the halaqa, around a sheikh who has them read passages from a text, questions them on grammar, law or interpretation and explains the difficult points. The focus is on Maliki jurisprudence and the grammar of classical Arabic, with some lessons in French and English. Most students are between 13 and 30 and come from all over Morocco and Muslim West Africa, a few from as far as Central Asia. In 1963 the Karaouine was integrated into Morocco's modern state university system.

   Non-Muslim visitors cannot enter, so this stop is about the exterior and the glimpses the open doors allow, at no cost. Think back to the madrasas you saw this morning: they existed to house the students who came to study here, and Al Attarine Madrasa, where you started, stands close by. The GPS navigation in your browser can lead you back there if you want to close the loop.

   Local name

   Université Al Quaraouiyine

   Hours

   Exterior view accessible daily 08:30–19:00 (exterior viewing during open door hours; non-Muslim tourists cannot enter the interior)

   Price

   Free (exterior only; non-Muslims cannot enter)

   Website

   uaq.ma ↗

   Location

   University of Karaouine on Google Maps ↗

Shorter Ways to Walk the Fez Medina

Not every visitor wants the full loop of gate, madrasas and workshops. These cuts keep the route order and use the same walking legs.

Crafts and the Karaouine

Stops: 4, 5, 6, 7

For anyone short on time who cares more about living crafts than monuments: the zellij fountain of Place Nejjarine, the coppersmiths of Place Seffarine, Chouara Tannery and the Karaouine from outside. 15 minutes of walking, no entry fees; only the tannery terraces expect a small tip.

The Marinid madrasas

Stops: 1, 2, 3

For architecture lovers: Al Attarine Madrasa and Bou Inania Madrasa, then the short hop to Boujloud Gate. 19 minutes of walking and two tickets.

The free route

Stops: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

For a tight budget: start at Boujloud Gate and follow the route to the Karaouine without any ticketed interior. 30 minutes of walking; everything is free from the street, and the tannery terrace tip is up to you.

How Long This Fez Tour Takes, With and Without the Madrasas

The pure walking time is 50 minutes over 3.4 km. The longest legs are the 980 m from Al Attarine Madrasa to Bou Inania Madrasa and the 1210 m from Boujloud Gate back into the medina to Place Nejjarine; everything after that comes in short hops of 300 to 390 m.

Half an hour inside each madrasa, a few minutes at the gate, a quarter of an hour each at Place Nejjarine and Place Seffarine, 20 minutes at the tannery and a short look at the Karaouine add up to about three hours. Start at 10:00 and you reach Bou Inania around 10:45, the tannery around 12:20 and the Karaouine just before 13:00. The variants need far less: 15 minutes of walking for the crafts cut, 19 for the madrasas, 30 for the free route, plus whatever time you spend at each place.

Before You Set Off in Fez

• Start and finish: The recommended start is Al Attarine Madrasa, the finish is the University of Karaouine, but you can join at any stop. From the last stop the GPS navigation in your browser can lead you back to the start if you wish.
• Best day: Pick your day with care: Bou Inania Madrasa does not admit non-Muslim visitors every day, the tannery is quieter on Friday afternoons, and the coppersmith workshops on Place Seffarine do not work every day.
• Time of day: Start in the morning, once Al Attarine Madrasa has opened, so you have room for long looks inside both madrasas.
• Costs: Each madrasa charges an entry fee; add a small tip if you climb onto a tannery terrace, and the ticket for the wood museum on Place Nejjarine if you go in. The AI Tour Guide starts with 100 free credits; after that you choose between this tour all-inclusive for €19.99 with no time limit or credits at €5 per hour.

Common Questions About Walking Fez