8 Best Markets & Souks in Fes

The Chouara Tannery is the most iconic market sight in Fes — and one of the most visited in all of Morocco. The tannery itself is a vast open-air complex of stone vats filled with coloured dyes (red, yellow, orange, blue, white) where leather is processed using methods unchanged since medieval times. Hides are soaked in pigeon droppings and lime (for softening), then dyed with natural pigments — saffron, poppy, mint, and indigo. The surrounding leather shops offer free terrace access to view and photograph the tannery (they hand you a mint sprig to counter the smell), with the expectation that you'll browse their leather goods. The leather products — bags, jackets, babouches, wallets, belts — are genuinely excellent quality and cheaper than anywhere else in Morocco because you're buying at the source.

Place Seffarine is the oldest continuously operating craft market in the world — coppersmiths and brasssmiths have worked on this small, atmospheric square for over a thousand years. The sound of hammers on metal fills the air as artisans shape brass and copper into trays, lanterns, teapots, bowls, and decorative objects using hand tools and techniques passed down through generations. This is not a tourist market — these artisans supply Moroccan households with the copper and brass vessels used daily for cooking and serving. Prices are at artisan rates because there's no middleman: a hammered brass tray costs 100-300 MAD (vs 300-800 MAD in Marrakech), a traditional teapot costs 80-200 MAD, and small decorative items start from 30 MAD. The square is also architecturally significant — it's flanked by the Kairaouine Library (one of the oldest in the world) and a beautiful medieval fountain.

The Souk Attarine (Souk of the Perfumers) is Fes's spice and perfume market — a narrow, covered alley near the Kairaouine Mosque where vendors sell spices, dried herbs, traditional cosmetics, essential oils, and attars (traditional perfume oils). The souk takes its name from the attar sellers who have been blending fragrances here for centuries. The stalls display pyramids of colourful spices — cumin, turmeric, paprika, ras el hanout, dried roses, and saffron — alongside bottles of argan oil, rose water, orange blossom water, and traditional kohl (eyeliner). Prices are generally lower than Marrakech's Rahba Kedima. The souk is adjacent to the magnificent Attarine Medersa (30 MAD entry — one of Fes's most beautiful buildings), making it easy to combine shopping with sightseeing.

The Souk Nejjarine (Woodworkers' Souk) is centred around the beautiful Nejjarine Square — home to one of the most exquisite fountains in Morocco and the Nejjarine Museum of Wooden Arts and Crafts (20 MAD entry). The surrounding souk is where Fes's master woodworkers create furniture, screens, mirror frames, boxes, and chess sets from thuya wood (a fragrant cedarwood native to the Atlas Mountains), walnut, and cedar. The workshops are open to the street — you can watch artisans carving, turning, inlaying, and polishing by hand. Thuya wood has a distinctive warm, honeyed scent and beautiful grain pattern. Small thuya boxes make perfect souvenirs (30-80 MAD). Larger pieces (tables, screens, mirror frames) showcase extraordinary craftsmanship — marquetry inlay work using thousands of tiny pieces of wood, bone, and mother-of-pearl.

Beyond the tanneries, the Leather Souk (Souk Dabbaghine) is where the finished leather products are sold — and where you'll find Fes's best prices on bags, belts, wallets, jackets, babouches, and bookbindings. The leather here is genuinely superior to most Marrakech leather because it's made from locally tanned hides using traditional methods (the tanneries are literally next door). The babouche section is particularly impressive — hundreds of styles in every colour, from 50 MAD (basic) to 200 MAD (embroidered). Leather bags range from 150-500 MAD for excellent quality (the same bags in Marrakech or European import shops cost 3-5 times more). The souk is less tourist-oriented than the tannery terraces, which means calmer shopping and better prices.

The Ain Nokbi pottery quarter (outside the medina, on the hillside above Fes) is where the city's famous blue-and-white ceramics are made. The large pottery cooperatives offer free tours of the entire production process: clay preparation, wheel-throwing, hand-painting (the intricate geometric and floral patterns), glazing, and kiln-firing. The showrooms have vast selections of plates, bowls, tagine pots, tiles, vases, and decorative pieces at factory prices — 40-60% cheaper than the medina souk shops. A hand-painted plate costs 30-80 MAD (vs 80-200 MAD in the souks). A tagine pot costs 40-100 MAD. The ceramics use a distinctive Fassi style — cobalt blue on white with geometric patterns — that's been produced here for centuries. The cooperatives also sell Berber and Amazigh-pattern ceramics from other regions.

The Rcif market area (near Bab Rcif gate, on the eastern edge of the medina) is Fes's main local food market — where families do their daily shopping for produce, meat, fish, bread, olives, and household goods. This is the cheapest and most authentic market in the city, with zero tourist orientation. The produce stalls have the freshest seasonal fruit and vegetables at the lowest prices. The olive sellers have dozens of varieties to taste. The bakeries sell fresh bread (1-2 MAD per loaf) and traditional Moroccan pastries. The market also has a section selling kitchen equipment — traditional tagine pots (20-50 MAD for unglazed cooking tagines — much cheaper than the decorative ones sold in the souks), mortar and pestle sets, and mint tea glasses.

The textile souk near the Kairaouine Mosque is where Fes's textile tradition comes alive — bolts of fabric, finished kaftans, djellabas (hooded robes), embroidered linens, and wedding textiles fill the shops. Fes has been a textile centre for over a thousand years, and the craftsmanship here is the finest in Morocco. The kaftans are particularly impressive — hand-embroidered with gold thread, sequins, and intricate patterns (200-2,000 MAD depending on complexity). Simple everyday djellabas cost 100-300 MAD. Embroidered table linens and cushion covers (30-150 MAD) are popular, practical souvenirs. The souk also sells raw fabrics — silk, cotton, and wool — for those who want to have custom garments made. Several tailors in the medina can produce a custom kaftan or djellaba in 1-3 days.