Morocco · Fès-Meknès · Fes
Fès al Bali, Fes — Area Guide & Where to Stay
The medina of Fez begins here: Fès al Bali is its oldest quarter, listed by UNESCO with Fes Jdid for a surviving pre-modern plan.
About Fès al Bali
Where to stay in Fès al Bali
Not every neighbourhood fits every trip — here's what each one is good for.
Riad Ba Mohamed Chergui names the kind of bed the old quarter keeps, a courtyard house on a lane rather than a block with a forecourt, and it sits within a short walk of Funduq al-Najjariyyin and Dar al-Magana. Lanes, not avenues. Fes Jdid completes the medina on the other side, while the French-created Ville Nouvelle holds the wider streets and the larger hotels for anyone who would rather not carry a bag through Fès al Bali.
About Fès al Bali
What are the main landmarks in Fès al Bali?
Dar al-Magana, Funduq al-Najjariyyin and Dar Batha stand inside the same walled quarter, and the register adds the Mnebhi Palace, Kasbah Tamdert and the Al-Wad School Mosque to that short list. Eight names, one district. Riad Ba Mohamed Chergui appears on it as well, so the monuments of Fès al Bali run to houses and courtyards at least as much as to public halls, and the Museum of Arms of Borj Nord stands apart from that pattern.
What is the history of Fès al Bali?
Fes el Bali is the oldest part of Fez. What earned the UNESCO World Heritage inscription was not one building but the survival of a whole pre-modern urban layout together with the monuments standing in it, from Dar Batha to Kasbah Tamdert. The Ville Nouvelle came later, drawn up by the French outside the walls, which left Fès al Bali and Fes Jdid to hold the medina between them.
Where is Fès al Bali?
Fès al Bali, Fes Jdid and the Ville Nouvelle divide Fez between them, and the first two together make up the medina.
Good for
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Updated September 2026