Discovering...
The right rooftop, the right hour, and knowing how to sidestep the sales pressure — here is everything you need to visit one of Morocco’s most extraordinary living craft sites.
Leila Tazi· Fes, Culture & Cuisine Editor
Fes-based journalist with a food and crafts obsession, Leila spends her weeks between the tanneries, the Qarawiyyin quarter and the kitchens of the old city. She covers Fes, Meknes, food and Moroccan culture. Fes · 11+ years covering Morocco
Published 25 May 2025 Last updated 25 March 2026
The Chouara Tannery is the oldest working tannery in the world — an eighth-century craft site still producing leather by methods that predate the Almohad dynasty. From the right rooftop terrace, looking down into a honeycomb of circular stone vats filled with saffron yellow, poppy red, and indigo blue, it is one of the most arresting sights in North Africa.
It is also, frankly, one of the most aggressively commercialised corners of the Fes medina. Shop touts position themselves at lane entrances; guides steer groups toward whichever shop pays commission; and the smell — pigeon dung, quicklime, fermenting hide — hits you well before the view does. None of this should put you off. But going in with realistic expectations and a clear plan makes the difference between a frustrating thirty minutes and a visit you will still be describing years later.
This guide covers the three best rooftop viewpoints, when to go for the best light and activity, what the dyeing process actually involves, and how to handle the shopping floor without spending money you did not intend to.
Best hours
8–11 a.m. & 3–5 p.m.
Admission
Free (rooftop via leather shop)
Location
Derb Chouara, Fes el-Bali
Closed / quiet
Friday midday prayers; some public holidays
Smell rating
Significant — mint sprigs provided at shop entrances
All three are within a short walk of each other; visiting two in the same morning is straightforward.
North edge of the tannery complex
Best overall — almost directly above the circular vats
Most shops on this stretch let you up for free; expect a polite browse through the leather floor to exit. Get here by 9 a.m. before tour buses arrive.
South-east corner, Derb Chouara lane
Best for photography — slightly elevated angle, fewer crowds
Order a mint tea (around 15 MAD) and stay as long as you like. No purchase pressure. Good light from mid-morning onwards.
West approach, near Bab Guissa
Best in afternoon light for warm golden tones on the yellow dye pits
Slightly further from the vats, but the wider angle captures the full grid of pits and the medina skyline behind.
Morning is best. Here is how a typical tannery day unfolds so you can time your visit.
| Time | Activity level | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00–9:30 a.m. | Workers arrive; vats are freshest | Best colours, fewest tourists |
| 9:30–11:00 a.m. | Peak activity, ideal light | Busiest period — arrive early or be patient |
| 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. | Full operation, midday sun | Harsh light for photos but vivid colours |
| 1:00–3:00 p.m. | Lunch break; tannery quieter | Some vats emptied — less photogenic |
| 3:00–5:00 p.m. | Afternoon shift, warm light | Good for golden-hour shots from the west terrace |
Raw animal hides — mostly cow, goat, sheep and camel — arrive from the slaughterhouse and are first soaked in the white vats you can see around the edges. That mixture of water, salt, quicklime and pigeon droppings removes the hair and softens the skin over several days. The smell concentrates here.
The hides then move to the coloured dyeing pits. Traditional dyes are still used alongside modern chemical ones: poppy petals for red, henna for orange-brown, indigo for deep blue, saffron for yellow, and mint for green. Workers stand knee-deep in the vats, treading the hides by foot — work that is as physically demanding as it looks.
After dyeing, the leather is stretched over rooftops and terraces across the surrounding medina to dry — which is why seemingly random rooftops in the Andalusian quarter are draped in coloured hides on a warm morning. The whole cycle from raw hide to finished leather takes roughly two to three weeks.
The lane leading to the tannery — Derb Chouara — has a string of leather shops, most with roof terraces. Men at the lane entrance sometimes present themselves as "guides" and steer you into a specific shop. You are not obliged to follow them, and doing so usually means a more insistent sales experience upstairs.
The simplest approach: walk confidently into one of the clearly signed leather shops — look for the ones with terrace signs in English and French — say you would like to see the tannery from the terrace, and head straight up. Most staff are professional and the expectation is simply that you browse briefly on your way out.
If you genuinely want to buy leather goods, the tannery shops are a reasonable place to do it — the goods are the real thing and the connection to the production process feels authentic. Prices are not fixed; expect to negotiate. Indicative starting prices for a small leather bag run from around 200–400 MAD before haggling. A quality leather jacket might open at 800–1,500 MAD (indicative). Know what you want to spend before you start the conversation.
The most relaxed visit is with a knowledgeable guide who has standing relationships with the shops and can explain the process as you watch — removing both the navigation stress and the commercial awkwardness. A private Fes medina tour typically covers Chouara alongside the medersa, the souks and the foundouk in a half-day that makes sense of the whole quarter.
Photography tip
A telephoto lens (70–200 mm equivalent) lets you pick out individual workers and vat details from the rooftop without leaning precariously over the railing. Smartphone users: portrait mode helps separate the coloured vats from the surrounding roof clutter. Shoot toward the sun for dramatic silhouettes early morning; shoot with the sun behind you for maximum colour saturation mid-morning.
The tannery is most photogenic and active between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. Workers are spreading fresh hides across the dye vats, the colours are richest, and the morning light falls cleanly from the east. By midday the sun is directly overhead, flattening the colours and baking the smell into something considerably more aggressive. A second good window opens around 3–5 p.m. with warm afternoon light, though activity has slowed by then. Avoid Fridays when the tannery is largely closed for midday prayers.
No — there is no obligation to buy anything. Most leather shops along Derb Chouara allow you upstairs for free on the understanding that you walk through the shop floor. Guides may steer you into a specific shop; if a purchase is not on your agenda, a simple "shokran, just looking" is enough. The most relaxed option is Lamssia Rooftop Café, where buying a mint tea (around 15 MAD) is all that's expected. Never feel pressured to spend more than you want.
The rooftops directly above the northern edge of the tannery complex — broadly called "Chouara Leather Shops" — offer the closest, most dramatic overhead view of the circular vats. For a slightly elevated perspective with less foot traffic, try the Lamssia Rooftop Café on the south-east approach. For a wider angle that includes the medina skyline and works well in afternoon light, the Boutique Batha terrace on the western approach is a strong alternative. All three are within a 3-minute walk of each other.
The short answer: pigeon dung. The traditional process for softening raw hides before dyeing uses a mixture of water, quicklime, and pigeon excrement — the ammonia in the droppings helps break down the skin fibres. Add fermenting organic matter and the acrid tang of chemical dyes, and the result is one of the more memorable olfactory experiences in Morocco. Shops at the entrance hand out sprigs of fresh mint to hold under your nose, which helps. The smell is worst in the heat of midday and after rain; it's mildest in dry, cool winter mornings.
There is no formal gate or official admission charge. Access is through the surrounding leather shops and rooftop terraces, which are free to enter; the implicit cost is walking through their sales floor. Some "guides" near the lane entrances may claim a ticket is required — this is not true. If someone asks for money at the lane entrance, simply walk on to one of the established shops further along, which have clear terrace signs and no entrance fee.
Allow 45 minutes to an hour from arrival to leaving the terrace — enough time to take photos, absorb the process, and browse the leather goods without feeling rushed. If you plan to visit two or three different rooftops and compare the views, budget 90 minutes. Most people combine Chouara with a broader walk through the Andalusian quarter on the same half-morning, which makes for a natural 2–3 hour medina loop. A guided tour covers the context of the dyeing process in a way that independent visiting rarely matches.
The tannery sits in the Fes el-Bali medina near Place Seffarine, roughly a 15-minute walk from the Bou Inania Medersa. The classic approach is through Talaa Kebira, turning onto Rue Chouara (also signed "Derb Chouara"). Offline maps — Maps.me or Google Maps offline — work well enough for main lanes, but the final hundred metres require following "tannery" signs on shop walls. If you take a taxi to the medina edge, ask for Bab Rcif or Bab Guissa, whichever is closest to your riad, then navigate on foot. A local guide removes the navigation stress entirely and adds craft-history context the signs cannot.
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