Fes is Morocco's cultural capital and usually the second city on a Singaporean itinerary, either after Marrakech or straight off the flight into Casablanca. 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 none of them admits a vehicle - goods still move through it on donkeys, as they have for twelve centuries.
That single fact reshapes the arrival. With a hire car you must identify the right gate out of moving traffic, find parking for several days, and then walk into a maze you have never seen while carrying luggage. With a driver you stop at the gate that serves your riad, the bags come out, and the car disappears until you want it.
One more 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 little else.
Why hire a driver here
- All of Fes el Bali walks - roughly 9,000 lanes and none of them drivable
- Arriving at the right gate for your riad saves fifteen minutes on foot with bags
- Fes is the one city where a licensed guide is necessary rather than optional
- Volubilis, Meknes and Moulay Idriss are simple with a car and awkward without
- Heading south the road crosses the Middle Atlas and drops through the Ziz
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 Singapore site
- Help with luggage as far as the entrance of the derb
- Bottled water and phone charging in the vehicle
