Fes el Bali is the medina area and the city's oldest neighborhood. It's thought to be the largest intact surviving medina in the world.The main gate into the area is Bab Boujloud. As you approach this grand old gate you get wonderful views of the neighborhood's famed landmark the minaret of the Medersa Bou Inania which sits just after the Bab Boujloud gate.Within its walls, the rambling derbs medina alleys spiral out into two distinctly different districts, divided by a meandering river.The left bank is home to the most historic monuments and the majority of the shopping souqs while the right bank may be scruffier but is full of local life and photogenic alleyways.The right bank also has some interesting buildings to search out, including the Al-Andalus Mosque built in 1321 and noted for its prominent green and white minaret which actually dates back to the 10th century.Nearby you'll find a variety of interesting other monuments including an old fondouk and the crumbling Medersa Sahrij

The Medersa Bou Inania was built between 1350 and 1357 by the Merenid sultan Bou Inan.As one of the few religious buildings in the city that non-Muslims may enter, the Medersa (a "madrassa" is an Islamic school of learning) is one of the most popular monuments to visit in Fes and a must-do stop on any tour of the medina.Up until the 1960s, this was still a functioning theological school, and the restoration efforts that were carried out afterwards have carefully returned the medersa to its ornate original state.The carved woodwork and stucco decoration is magnificent and is a tribute to Morocco's master artisans.

For keen shoppers, the skinny souq (market) lanes of Fes el Bali are one of the major attractions of a Fes stay.Fes is renowned within Morocco for its artisan heritage, and you'll find all types of Moroccan handicrafts here, from leatherwork to metalware and ceramics.The local ceramic tradition (called Fassi ceramics), made from local clay, tends towards blue tones and is usually hand-painted with intricate patterns and recurring motifs.The streets just west of the Qaraouiyine Mosque have the greatest concentration of shopping opportunities.As with Marrakesh, more tourist orientated shops, selling a range of souvenir-style giftware and more mass-produced items, as well as the big carpet emporiums, tend to line main roads in the medina such as Talaa Kebira. Specialty artisan workshops are usually found in smaller lanes.

This fine example of Merenid-era architecture was built in 1325 by Abu Said.The Medersa el-Attarine's central internal courtyard is a wonderful display of the intricate decoration from this period, with elaborate zellige tile work and cedar wood carvings.The upper floor is made up of a warren of cells that were once home to students studying theology at the neighboring Qaraouiyine Mosque, one of the world's first universities.After admiring the building's interior decoration, make sure to climb up onto the medersa's rooftop from where you can get great views over the surrounding rooftops, including a close-up view of the green tiled roof of the Qaraouiyine Mosque next door.

The Chouara tanneries of Fes are one of the city's most famous sights. Sitting in the northeast corner of Fes el Bali, just east of the Qaraouiyine Mosque, the tanneries have been the bustling center of the city's leather industry since the medieval era.The only way to get the iconic bird's-eye views over the dying pits, where hides are soaked in a multitude of colors to later become bags, clothing, shoes, and a variety of other products, is to head to the leather stores surrounding the tannery area, which offer views from their rooftops.You have to tip the leather shops for entry, and do expect them to try a bit of sales patter while you're there.Come in the morning if you can, as this is when the tannery pits are still filled with a rainbow palette of dyes.

The atmospheric old Mellah (Jewish Quarter) is in Fes el Jedid, just south of the Royal Palace.Throughout this compact district, the lanes are lined with fine (though highly dilapidated) examples of early 20th-century houses, which were once home to the vibrant Jewish community of Fes.Within the district, the small, restored Aben-Danan Synagogue is open for visitors.On the edge of the Mellah is the rambling Jewish cemetery, one of the city's most tranquil spots, and a Jewish Museum housing a collection of objects highlighting Moroccan Jewish life and culture.

For the best views over Fes el Bali, walk up the steep hill just outside the city ramparts, to the Borj Nord area.Here, you'll find a 16th-century fortress, home to a military museum. The museum is worth a look for its collection of weapons, which includes some extremely rare pieces that represent armory from across the world. Amid the cache is the five-meter-long cannon (with a weight of 12 tons) that was used during the Battle of the Three Kings.After viewing the arms museum, keep heading up the hill to the summit where a scattering of golden-stoned Merenid tombs sits.Although the tombs are in a heavily ruined state today, you're here for the views, which take in the entire walled medina area and out to the green hills beyond

Built in AD 857 by Tunisian immigrants from the holy city of Kairouan, the Qaraouiyine Mosque was a thriving center of theological study and one of the medieval period's most distinguished universities.It vies for title of the oldest university in the world with the Al Azhar Mosque in Cairo, Egypt.Today, in its function as a working mosque, it is one of Morocco's largest centers of worship with a prayer hall that can hold 20,000.

The Merenids built this "New City" in the 13th century, when they realized that Fes el Bali would be too small to contain their palaces.The grand Royal Palace takes center stage here. Its 80 hectares of grounds are not open to the public, though, you can stop and admire its ornately decorated entranceway.There's a tranquil air to this small section of the city, which sits between bustling Fes el Bali and the European-style Ville Nouvelle, and it makes a welcoming, peaceful lull between these two faster-paced worlds.The mellah (Jewish quarter) is in the southern section of this district.

The Batha Museum is inside a Hispano-Moorish summer palace built in the late 19th century. The museum collection traipses through a selection of traditional Moroccan craftsmanship, with wood carved doors, wrought-iron work, embroidery, carpets, and jewelry all on display. The centerpiece exhibit of the museum is the ceramics room, where the famous Fassi ceramic collection, colored with cobalt, is displayed. More interesting than the displays themselves is the building's own original decoration and the lovely internal courtyard garden, which is full of shady trees and tall palms and is a true oasis within the city. The Batha Museum is in the southwest corner of the medina.

Right amid Place Nejjarine, surrounded by metalworker workshops, you'll find the Nejjarine Museum in an old fondouk (khan or caravanserai), which has been transformed into a museum exhibiting the diversity of traditional Moroccan wooden arts and crafts. Here, in the salons where traders once slept on their trips to town are displays of highly detailed engraved granary doors, dowry chests, and mashrabiya (lattice screen) window frames. The central courtyard of the fondouk, with its sturdy pillars and balconies decorated in carved wood and stucco detailing, is worthy of the entrance price alone and has been painstakingly restored to its original glory.