Fes itinerary for first-timers

Most visits start at Bab Boujloud, the Blue Gate, tiled in blue on the outside and green on the inside, with the minarets of the medina framed in its arches. A couple of minutes inside is the Bou Inania Madrasa, a 14th-century Marinid school whose courtyard of carved cedar, stucco and zellige tilework is one of the finest in Morocco, and one of the few religious buildings in Fes that visitors of any faith can enter.

• Bab Boujloud
• Bou Inania Madrasa
• Carved cedar and zellige
• Start of the souk streets

Men offering to guide you will gather around the gate. A polite 'no, thank you' is enough; if you want a guide, book a licensed one in advance.

Talaa Kebira, the long main street of the medina, runs downhill from the Blue Gate past spice sellers, butchers, leather workers and tiny workshops. Near the bottom it opens onto Nejjarine Square, with its tiled fountain and the old carpenters' quarter, and a few steps on is the shrine of Moulay Idriss II, the city's founder and patron saint, the most revered place in Fes.

• Talaa Kebira
• Nejjarine Square and fountain
• Shrine of Moulay Idriss II
• A roof terrace over the medina

Non-Muslims cannot enter the shrine of Moulay Idriss II, but you can look through the doorway from the lane outside. Wooden bars across some lanes mark where only pedestrians may pass.

Seffarine is the square of the coppersmiths, where the hammering of brass and copper pots rings out under a big fig tree, just as it has for centuries. Beside it stands the Qarawiyyin, founded in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri and counted as the oldest existing university in the world, with the Al-Attarine Madrasa a few steps along the lane.

• Coppersmiths at work
• Al-Qarawiyyin
• Al-Attarine Madrasa
• Qarawiyyin Library

Non-Muslims cannot enter the Qarawiyyin mosque, but its doorways give glimpses of the courtyard. The Al-Attarine Madrasa nearby is open to visitors.

The great tannery of Fes, worked in the same way for around a thousand years: a honeycomb of stone vats filled with white lime and coloured dyes, where workers soak and colour hides by hand. The leather shops around it have terraces where you can look down over the whole scene.

• Dye vats
• Leather shop terraces
• Residential lanes nearby

The light is best and the vats busiest in the morning or early afternoon. A sprig of mint, often handed out at the door, helps with the smell; the shops expect you at least to look at the leather.

Between the old medina and Fes el-Jdid, the Jnan Sbil gardens are one of the oldest public gardens in Morocco: shaded paths, palms, bamboo and ponds fed by the waters of the Fes river. It is a calm start before the walk into the royal city.

• Shaded paths and ponds
• Palms and bamboo
• Bab Boujloud nearby

Fes el-Jdid, the 'new' Fes, was built by the Marinids in the 13th century as a royal city beside the old one. Its wide main street of shops leads to the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter, whose houses are different from the rest of Fes, with wooden balconies and windows opening onto the street, and which still keeps its old synagogues and a large Jewish cemetery.

• Grand Rue of Fes el-Jdid
• The Mellah
• Wooden balconies
• Old synagogues
• Jewish cemetery

On the square at the edge of the Mellah stand the seven great gilded doors of the Royal Palace, framed in zellige tiles and carved cedar, one of the most photographed sights in Morocco. The palace itself is not open to visitors, but the gates and the square in front of them are.

• The golden doors
• Zellige and carved cedar
• Palace square

Come in the late morning or afternoon, when the sun is on the doors.

On the hill north of the medina, the 16th-century fortress of Borj Nord and the ruined tombs of the Marinid sultans give the best view of Fes: the whole of Fes el-Bali packed into its valley, with its minarets and green-tiled roofs. At sunset the calls to prayer rise from the mosques below, and the walk down passes the Bab Guissa cemetery and gate back into the medina.

• Borj Nord
• Viewpoint over the medina
• Marinid Tombs
• Bab Guissa

Take a taxi up and walk down before dark; the hillside is quiet and best visited while there are other people around. With only one day in Fes, this is the easiest sunset to add.