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Ten evenings of Sufi chant, gospel, Gnawa, Gregorian polyphony and global devotional music — all performed under the stars at Bab Makina, inside one of the world’s most intact medieval medinas.
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 3 September 2025 Last updated 19 April 2026
The Festival de Fès des Musiques Sacrées du Monde — the Fes Festival of Sacred Music — is not a niche world-music gathering. Since 1994 it has drawn performers and audiences from across every major spiritual tradition, held together by the conviction that music is the closest thing humans have to a shared language. For ten days each late May or early June, the 9th-century medina of Fes becomes its stage.
The main venue is Bab Makina: a royal plaza wide enough to seat eight thousand people, with centuries-old ramparts serving as the natural backdrop and the night sky as the roof. Concerts usually start at 21:30 and run well past midnight. Arrive early — the atmosphere before the first note is already extraordinary, especially when the ramparts are lit gold and the call to prayer from a nearby minaret drifts across the crowd.
This guide covers the 2026 festival: expected dates, how to buy tickets, what to expect at each venue, a practical day-by-day plan for your stay, and everything non-Muslim visitors need to know before they book.
When
Late May – early June
Duration
10 days / evenings
Gala tickets
From ~100–800 MAD
Audience
All faiths welcome
Four principal spaces host the programme — from a plaza that fits eight thousand to an intimate riad garden for a few hundred.
| Venue | Type | Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bab Makina | Main stage | ~8,000 | The royal square opposite the Bou Inania Medersa is the festival’s heartbeat — a roofless theatre with ramparts as its backdrop. Evening gala concerts start around 21:30 and often run past midnight. |
| Bab Al Makina Garden | Evening concerts | ~2,000 | Intimate garden stage adjacent to the main arena, used for smaller ensemble performances and late-night Sufi music sessions. |
| Dar Tazi | Forum sessions | ~300 | The historic riad hosts the Forum for Peace — daytime lectures, panel discussions and smaller musical presentations, mostly free of charge. |
| Jnan Sbil Garden | Free concerts | Open | Public evening concerts that run parallel to the gala programme. No ticket needed. A good fallback if main-stage seats sell out. |
Tip: Jnan Sbil Garden concerts are completely free and a good way to sample the atmosphere on your first night before committing to a gala ticket.
Concerts are evening-only, which means your days are free for the medina. Here is how a 4–6 day visit typically flows.
Arrival (Day 1)
Fly into Fes-Saïss Airport (FEZ) or take the train from Casablanca (around 4 hours, roughly 100 MAD). Check into a riad inside Fes el-Bali — staying in the medina means you can walk to Bab Makina in ten minutes. Explore Bou Inania Medersa and the Attarine souk in the late afternoon before the first concert.
Days 2–5
Mornings are quiet — the medina has not yet woken up, and this is the best time for tannery visits and the Nejjarine fountain. Afternoons bring Forum sessions at Dar Tazi (often free). Evenings are for Bab Makina: gates typically open at 20:30 for 21:30 starts. Arrive early for good standing positions if you have general admission.
Days 3–4 (optional)
The festival runs ten days but concerts are mostly evening-only, leaving days free. Meknes and Volubilis are 50 km away — a half-day there costs around 400–600 MAD for a private car. Closer in, the Merinid Tombs above Fes give a panorama of the entire city.
Final day (Day 6+)
The closing concert is usually the headline act. Book transport for the following morning rather than the same night — closing concerts finish late. Train back to Casablanca leaves Fes station from around 06:00.
June evenings in Fes are warm but a light layer helps once you are sitting still for two or three hours. Dress modestly — covered shoulders and knees is appropriate for both the medina and the concert plaza. Bab Makina is an open-air stone space; bring a small cushion or rent one at the gate if you are in general admission. No photography is permitted during performances at Bab Makina (this is strictly enforced). Bring cash for late-night street food — the derbs around Bab Boujloud are alive until 02:00 during the festival.
The festival traditionally takes place over ten days in late May or early June. Based on historical scheduling, the 2026 edition is expected to run in late May to early June — the exact dates are confirmed by the festival organisers (fesfestival.com) typically four to six months in advance. Check their official site and book accommodation as soon as dates are announced, as riads inside the medina fill up weeks before the opening concert.
Gala concert tickets at Bab Makina sell through the official festival website and via authorised box offices in Fes. Prices for reserved seated sections at the main stage run from approximately 200–800 MAD (indicative) per night, depending on the performer and seat category. General admission standing tickets are cheaper, typically around 100–200 MAD. Many morning Forum sessions at Dar Tazi are free. Book online as soon as tickets go on sale — headline nights sell out within days.
The principal venue is Bab Makina, a vast open-air plaza opposite the royal palace in the heart of Fes el-Bali, used for gala evening concerts under the stars. Smaller performances take place in Dar Tazi (the Forum space), the Bab Makina garden, and public venues including Jnan Sbil Garden. Some years the Andalusian quarter also hosts late-night Sufi sessions in mosque courtyards — check the programme for venue-by-venue scheduling once it is published.
Absolutely — the festival is inside the medina, not outside it. Staying in a riad in Fes el-Bali lets you walk to Bab Makina in minutes, explore the tanneries and Attarine souk during the day, and attend concerts in the evenings. A guided medina tour in the morning is a natural companion activity: the narrow derbs are quieter before midday, and a knowledgeable guide makes sense of the labyrinthine layout that first-time visitors find disorienting.
The festival is deliberately ecumenical — the programme draws Sufi ensembles from Morocco and Turkey, Gregorian chant choirs from Europe, Jewish cantorial music, Buddhist chant, gospel, and devotional music from West Africa and Central Asia. Past headliners have included Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s former ensemble, Mauritanian griot masters, and Spanish early-music ensembles. Moroccan Gnawa and Aïssawa brotherhoods perform in public spaces around the medina during the day. The full 2026 lineup will be announced closer to the event.
Yes, and it was designed that way. Founded in 1994 by Faouzi Skali as a dialogue between spiritual traditions, the festival explicitly welcomes all faiths and backgrounds. The main concerts at Bab Makina are secular ticketed events. Dress modestly out of respect for the medina setting (covered shoulders and knees is appropriate), but there is no religious requirement for attendance. The Forum sessions discuss interfaith themes, and many visitors attend specifically for the cross-cultural musical experience.
Four to six days is the sweet spot. That gives you three or four evening concerts — enough to catch headline acts without festival fatigue — plus time to explore the medina at a proper pace. If you want to attend the opening and closing galas (which are usually the most spectacular), you would need to stay eight or nine days. Three days is the minimum if you are combining Fes with the rest of Morocco; two days feels rushed given that each concert alone runs two to three hours.
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