Fes is Morocco's cultural capital and usually the second city on a Hong Kong itinerary. It is also where a driver earns his keep most obviously. Fes el Bali is a walled medieval quarter of roughly nine thousand lanes, and not one admits a vehicle - goods still move through it on donkeys, exactly as they have for twelve centuries.
For photographers it is the richest city in the country and the hardest to work. The tanneries are shot from the terraces of the leather shops above them, which means being there in the morning when the light drops into the vats. The dyers' souk, the medersa courtyards and the gates all have their hour, and none of them is reachable by vehicle.
One thing to know before arriving: your driver cannot legally guide you inside the medina. Moroccan law licenses tour guides as a separate profession and enforces it. In Fes that matters more than anywhere else - without a licensed guide most visitors see the tanneries, one medersa and the inside of several shops, and very little else.
Why hire a driver here
- Some 9,000 lanes make up Fes el Bali and not one of them takes a car
- Choosing the correct gate cuts fifteen minutes of walking with your bags
- This is the one city where a licensed guide is necessary rather than optional
- The tanneries and the dyers' souk both reward being there early
- Southbound the route climbs over the Middle Atlas and falls through the Ziz Gorge
Included in every booking
- Fuel, tolls and the driver's fee for the agreed route
- Airport, riad gate, hotel or railway station pickup
- English-speaking drivers as standard on the Hong Kong site
- Help with luggage as far as the entrance of the derb
- Early departures for morning light at no extra charge
