LOTUS EATERS TRAVEL

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FEZ OR MARRAKECH: WHICH SHOULD YOU VISIT?

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Marrakech and Fez are often considered as Morocco’s two essential cities when it comes to travelling. If you’re planning a first trip, chances are you’ll be deciding between them, or trying to work out how to fit both into your itinerary (as we did).

On the surface, they have a lot in common. Both have vast historic medinas, both are full of souks, riads, and centuries of history, and both can feel a bit bonkers at first. But in practice, they offer very different travel experiences.

Having spent time in both cities recently, here’s an honest, practical comparison based on what it actually feels like to visit each one.

Should You Visit Marrakech or Fez?

If this is your first time in Morocco, Marrakech is generally the easier place to start. It is more used to tourists, easier to navigate, and offers a wider range of experiences, from traditional to modern. You’ll also find more regular flights to and from the UK and other European destinations.

Fez is more intense. The medina is larger, darker, and more complex. It feels less curated for visitors and requires a bit more confidence and patience. It’s also quite hilly, something to keep in mind if mobility is a challenge for you.

That does not make one better than the other, but it does mean they suit different types of travellers.

Marrakech feels like a city that has adapted itself around tourism, which is both a good and bad thing. Whilst in Fez, although there are many tourists, it still has a bit of an “off the beaten track vibe”, which again, is both a good and a bad thing!

Food scene

Marrakech

Marrakech has a strong and varied food scene. You can eat very well without much planning.

In the medina, there are traditional restaurants and street food tours around Jemaa el-Fnaa. Outside the medina, particularly in Gueliz and Hivernage, you’ll find modern cafés, international restaurants, and brunch spots.

Some of our favourites included:

• Café 1112 near Dar El Bacha for tea and breakfast
• Simple Specialty Coffee and Hyuna House Café
• Café des Épices overlooking Spice Square
• Dada, Kabana and Bazaar Café for evening food and drinks

There is also a big culture of food tours and cooking classes, which are very affordable in Marrakech and easy to book.

Fez

Fez is more traditional when it comes to food. There is less variety, but when you find a good place, it is often excellent value.

We ate particularly well at:

• Fondouk Bazaar (we went twice)
• Café Clock (also great for coffee and live music)
• Le Tarbouche
• The Ruined Garden
• El Forno

Street food in Fez is also very good, especially around the Achabine area. Harira soup, msemen pancakes and grilled meats are easy to find and very inexpensive.

Overall: Marrakech offers more variety and choice. Fez offers simpler, more traditional food at much lower prices.

Bars & nightlife

Marrakech

Marrakech has a genuine nightlife scene.

There are rooftop bars, hotel bars, cocktail lounges and nightclubs, particularly in Hivernage and Gueliz. Alcohol is easy to find and many restaurants serve wine.

Our top recommendations are Kabana, Dada and Bazaar Café.

Rooftop evenings are one of the highlights of Marrakech and a big part of the social experience.

Fez

Fez is very limited in this respect.

Close to the medina, the main options are:

• The British Saloon
• Riad Fes – Relais & Châteaux

Both are quite specific experiences. One is oddly empty and expensive for what it is, the other is beautiful but very high-end.

Most evenings in Fez for us revolved around cafés like Fez and Friends, Cinema Café, or Café Clock, with tea, milkshakes and games or live music rather than alcohol.

Overall: If nightlife matters to you, Marrakech offers far more.

Accommodation

Marrakech

Marrakech has huge variety.

You can stay in:

• traditional riads in areas like Mouassine
• boutique hotels
• large resorts in Hivernage
• modern apartments in Gueliz

It is easy to match your accommodation to your travel style.

We stayed in a gorgeous riad in Mouassine and found it ideal for walking to restaurants, cafés and sights while still feeling calm.

Find our guide to accommodation and where to stay in Marrakech here.

Fez

Fez is more limited but that’s not to say there aren’t wonderful places to stay. Most accommodation is in the form of riads inside Fes El Bali. They are often beautiful, but location matters more, especially at night.

There are modern hotels outside the medina, but fewer options overall and less choice in terms of style. And realistically, you’ll need a cab to get to and from the medina.

In Fez, where you stay has a bigger impact on how comfortable you feel in the evenings.

Find our guide to where to stay in Fez here.

Overall: Fez is much cheaper and there are some delightful places to stay, but Marrakech has far more variety.

Prices

Marrakech

Marrakech is noticeably more expensive.

Accommodation, coffee, cocktails and restaurants all cost more than elsewhere in Morocco. We often paid:

• 25–35 MAD for espresso
• 150–250 MAD for main courses
• €6–€8 for a beer or glass of wine

It is still possible to travel cheaply, but you need to be more selective.

Anecdotally, we didn’t see much difference in prices between souvenirs and craft items in Marrakech versus Fez – with Fez being perhaps marginally cheaper.

That said, certain experiences like hammam, food tours and walking tours tend to be a little cheaper in Marrakech than Fez.

Fez

Fez is much cheaper. Food and accommodation are very well priced. Our accommodation in Fez came in at around €35 per night, versus closer to €100 in Marrakech.

Dining out feels particularly good value, and street food is extremely affordable. We would often eat dinner out for around 200 MAD (€20) for two of us.

However, tours and things like cooking classes can be a little more expensive than in Marrakech (albeit they are still very reasonable by European standards.)

Overall: Fez is the better option for budget travellers.

Things to do

Marrakech

When it comes to things to do, Marrakech comes into it’s own. You can find a wide mix of structured sightseeing and more relaxed experiences, which makes it an easy city to fill your days without too much planning. We spent five days in Marrakech and I could have happily spent longer.

Most first-time visitors start with the main historical sights in the medina, such as Bahia Palace, Ben Youssef Madrasa and the Dar El Bacha Museum. These are all well signposted, easy to access, and give a good introduction to the city’s history and architecture.

Majorelle Gardens is another big draw, especially for people visiting Marrakech for the first time. It’s beautifully designed, but busy and needs to be booked in advance. We enjoyed it, but found it worked best when combined with time in Gueliz afterwards, which offers a calmer, more spacious side of the city.

One of Marrakech’s strengths is how well it balances culture with leisure. You can spend the morning sightseeing, then head for a hammam, a rooftop terrace, or a long lunch. Food tours and cooking classes are also very popular and relatively inexpensive, especially compared to similar experiences in Europe.

Overall, Marrakech feels like a city where you can choose how intense you want your days to be. You can pack in activities, or you can slow things down and still feel like you’re getting a lot out of the experience.

Find our guide to the best things to do in Marrakech here.

Fez

Fez is a very different type of city when it comes to things to do. There are fewer headline attractions, and the main experience is simply being in the medina itself.

In Fez, sightseeing feels less structured and more observational. If you’re a happy people watcher, you will most likely enjoy it. But if you like high octane activities, you might find yourself boring easily after a day here. Three days in the city is more than enough for most people.

A walking tour is almost essential on your first day. The scale of the medina is difficult to comprehend until you are inside it, and having a guide helps you make sense of what would otherwise feel like a maze of workshops, souks, and residential streets.

The Chouara Tannery is one of the few truly iconic sights and, although it’s very much part of the tourist circuit, it’s still interesting to see the dye vats from above. It’s also often bundled into walking tours, so you don’t need to seek it out separately.

Beyond that, places like Bab Boujloud, Cherratine Medersa and Dar Batha Museum are worth visiting, but none of them feel like “must-sees” in the same way as attractions in Marrakech.

Fez also has a strong culture of workshops and local experiences, from cooking classes at Cafe Clock to weaving and craft workshops with cooperatives like Anou. These feel less commercial and more rooted in local life than similar experiences in Marrakech. But can be a little more on the expensive side.

Find our city guide to Fez, which includes the best things to do, here.

Overall: Marrakech will suit you if you like lots of things to do, whilst Fez suits a slower and more intrepid travel style.

Vibe

This is where the difference becomes most noticeable.

Marrakech

Marrakech feels busy, social and international.

There are lots of tourists, but that creates anonymity. You blend in, and that makes the city feel easier to navigate emotionally. There is less pressure, fewer intense interactions, and more space to just exist.

Geographically, it is also much easier to navigate. The main square Jemaa el-Fnaa is a helpful point in the city, with streets spilling off it in all directions. If you get lost, simply head back to the square. The ground is generally flat and the medina streets much wider than you might expect. But of course, motorbikes whizzing about are quite an annoyance!

It is chaotic, but lively and well-lit, even at night. And this may be a weird thing to comment on, but frankly it smells much nicer than Fez.

But, you have to work quite hard to feel like you are finding anything particularly unique. Most tourists will be on a similar circuit – it that doesn’t bother you, then it’s a great city to visit.

Fez

Fez feels quieter, denser and more inward-facing, purely just because of the way the medina dominates.

The medina is darker, more enclosed and more confusing. You feel more visible as a visitor. Interactions can feel more intense, especially in quieter areas. And with 9000 alleyways to navigate, it’s just flat out confusing to get around.

At night, the medina becomes very dark and quiet, which can feel unsettling, even if nothing actually happens – I challenge anyone not to feel a little jumpy.

Fez feels far less polished and less touched by tourism. It’s somewhere I’m very glad to have visited, but I would only recommend to certain friends.

Day Trips

From Marrakech

Marrakech works extremely well as a base for day trips, and this is one of its biggest advantages.

There is a huge range of options, from easy cultural trips to more adventurous excursions. Many people visit the Atlas Mountains, which offer a complete change of scenery and are surprisingly close to the city. Essaouira is another popular option and makes for a very pleasant coastal day trip.

There are also countless organised tours offering everything from waterfalls, hot air balloon rides and desert experiences to quad biking and camel rides. You can even climb Mount Toubkal. These are easy to book, competitively priced, and well established, which makes Marrakech feel very flexible as a travel base.

From Fez

Fez has fewer day trip options, but the ones it does have are very good and feel more culturally focused.

Meknes is an easy and worthwhile visit and feels noticeably calmer than Fez. Volubilis, the Roman ruins nearby, is often combined with Meknes and is one of the most impressive archaeological sites in Morocco.

Chefchaouen, the blue city in the Rif mountains, is further away but very popular. It’s visually striking and offers a completely different atmosphere, especially compared to the intensity of Fez.

So which is best for you?

Marrakech may suit travellers who want:

• an easy introduction to Morocco
• good food and nightlife
• variety, comfort, bougie
• lots of organised activities
• flexibility and choice

Fez may suit travellers who want:

• something more traditional
• a deeper cultural experience
• fewer tourists
• lower prices
• a slower, more observational trip.

More info on both cities

You can find our city guides to both Fez and Marrakech below.

Written by Emma

Wine Lover. Yogi. Hiker. Writer.

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