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Free entry, real kilns, genuine craftspeople — and a showroom at the end. Here is an honest, step-by-step account of what happens when you visit the pottery district in Fes, and how to make the most of it.
Amelia Hart· Itineraries & Trip Planning Editor
British writer who has built and road-tested Morocco itineraries for everyone from honeymooners to families. She covers multi-day routes, costs, the best time to visit and how to plan a first trip. Casablanca · 9+ years covering Morocco
Published 28 May 2025 Last updated 19 May 2026
A pottery workshop visit in Fes is one of the most genuinely interesting craft experiences in Morocco — and one of the most misunderstood. It is not a tourist activity in the conventional sense: the Ain Nokbi district on the southern edge of the medina is a working industrial quarter where several hundred artisans produce ceramics for export, wholesale buyers and the local market every single day. Tourists are welcome, but they are secondary to the actual work going on.
Walk in from the narrow alley entrance and you are immediately in a different register from the polished-for-tourists atmosphere of the souvenir stalls in the northern medina. Kilns belch wood smoke. Painters crowd around low tables in near silence. A potter on a kick-wheel pulls a vase from a lump of reddish clay in the time it takes you to take your phone out for a photo. The whole visit — kiln yard, wheel-throwing, painting, zellige-cutting, showroom — runs between 60 and 90 minutes at a relaxed pace.
Below is a step-by-step account of what to expect at each stage, what things cost, and what separates a genuinely informative visit from a rushed commission-driven one.
Visit duration
60–90 minutes
Location
Ain Nokbi, Fes el-Bali
Entry cost
Free (showroom at end)
Every workshop runs slightly differently, but this sequence covers what a typical visit in Ain Nokbi looks like, from the moment you enter to the moment you leave.
0–10 min
Most workshops begin in the open-air yard where wood-fired kilns the size of beehives smoulder constantly. A worker will explain the firing cycle — pieces go in raw, come out bisque-fired, get painted with metal-oxide pigments, then return for a glaze firing at around 950°C. The heat hits you before you reach the entrance.
10–30 min
Upstairs (or in a ground-floor workshop room), you watch a skilled potter centre a lump of reddish-brown clay and pull a bowl or vase in under two minutes. It looks effortless — it is not. Most workshops let visitors have a short go. Expect lopsided results and clay up to your elbows. That is part of the appeal.
30–55 min
A separate room houses painters working on the fine cobalt, green and black geometric lines that make Fes pottery recognisable worldwide. Watch closely: the brushwork is done freehand, from memory, using thin reed pens loaded with oxide paste. Adjacent to this (sometimes in a different building) zellige craftsmen chip individual tiles into precise geometric shapes with a small hammer and chisel — a skill that takes years to learn.
55–90 min
Every workshop ends in the sales room. Prices are genuine and broadly fair — tagines from around 80–200 MAD, decorative plates 120–400 MAD, large decorative urns 500 MAD upward. You are under no obligation to buy, but the quality is real and shipping can be arranged for larger pieces. This is one of the few souvenir purchases in Morocco that comes direct from the maker.
Zellige tile-cutting — a separate but related craft made in the same Ain Nokbi district
Workshop admission is genuinely free. The trade-off is the showroom at the end. The pressure is mild compared to the old medina souks, but have a polite exit phrase ready if you do not want to buy.
Painters and potters work from around 8am to noon with the most energy. By mid-afternoon the workshop floor can be quiet and some kilns are cold. Aim to arrive between 9am and 11am.
Most Ain Nokbi workshops welcome camera use — it brings them attention. Ask first, and tip the worker if you want a close-up portrait. A 10–20 MAD tip is appropriate.
The Fes style uses a distinctive white tin-glaze base with cobalt and turquoise geometric patterns. Safi pottery (Morocco's other main centre, on the Atlantic coast) favours bolder colours and more figurative designs. What you see in Fes workshops is specifically the Fes tradition.
Zellige tile-cutting happens in the same industrial district but is a distinct craft from wheel-thrown ceramics. A good workshop tour shows both; ask specifically if zellige is included before you go in.
Yes — with a qualifier. If you walk in with a commission-based guide who earns 15–20% on whatever you spend in the showroom, the "visit" will be short on explanation and long on sales talk. The craft itself is extraordinary; that structure does it a disservice.
Go with a knowledgeable private guide who is paid a flat fee rather than a commission, or go independently in the morning when the workers are most active. A good guide will explain why the cobalt pigment is applied before the glaze fires rather than after, what distinguishes a hand-painted plate from a stencilled one, and which showroom pieces represent genuine quality versus the mass-produced versions made for coach-tour groups. That context is the difference between a memorable hour and a forgettable one.
Combined with the nearby tanneries, the Ain Nokbi district makes for one of the best half-days in Fes. A private guided tour of both — tannery overlook, pottery demonstration, zellige workshop and the relevant medina lanes in between — runs around 3–4 hours and gives you the southern medina in proper depth.
Yes — the Ain Nokbi pottery district on the southern edge of the Fes el-Bali medina is open to visitors at no entrance fee. The workshops operate commercially, making pieces for export and local sale, and have been receiving tourists alongside buyers for decades. You can walk in independently during working hours (roughly 8am–5pm on weekdays, shorter Fridays), though a guide or driver will navigate the approach roads for you. Saturdays are partially open; most workshops close Sunday.
Pottery in Fes refers to wheel-thrown and hand-built ceramic pieces — tagines, plates, bowls, decorative vases — that are glazed and painted with geometric or floral patterns. Zellige is a completely separate craft: small squares of plain fired clay are hand-chipped into geometric shapes with a pointed hammer and set into plaster to form the intricate mosaic tilework you see covering palace walls, fountain surrounds and mosque floors. Both are made in the Ain Nokbi district, but by different artisans using different techniques.
Plan for 60–90 minutes for a proper visit that includes the kiln yard, wheel-throwing room, painting studio, zellige-cutting demonstration and showroom. If you rush through the demonstrations and skip the hands-on try, 45 minutes is the minimum to see the main stages. Guides often combine a pottery visit with the nearby tanneries into a half-day itinerary, which works well because both districts sit on the southern edge of the medina.
Not in the way the tourist souk stalls are. Ain Nokbi is a genuine working industrial district: the kilns fire constantly, the painters work to commercial orders, and the pieces sold in the showrooms actually come from the workshops behind them. The "trap" element is that guides earn a commission if you buy, so a commission-based guide will rush you through the demonstrations and linger in the sales room. Paying for a fee-based private guide, or going independently, removes that pressure entirely.
Most workshops offer a brief wheel-throwing try — a minute or two at the wheel with a worker guiding your hands. It is an informal add-on rather than a structured class; do not expect to walk away with a finished piece. If you want a genuine hands-on pottery class where you work with clay for an hour or more, book a dedicated cooking or craft workshop through a riad or private guide in advance. These tend to be in smaller studio settings rather than the large commercial workshops of Ain Nokbi.
Prices in the workshop showrooms are broadly fair and fixed or lightly negotiable. Indicative ranges: small painted bowl 60–100 MAD (~$6–$10), standard tagine pot 120–250 MAD (~$12–$25), decorative plate 150–400 MAD (~$15–$40), large decorative urn 500–1,500 MAD (~$50–$150). Prices are higher than the medina souk for the same style, but you are buying direct from the maker. Most workshops can arrange international shipping for fragile or oversized pieces for an additional fee.
Ain Nokbi sits roughly 1.5km south of Bab Bou Jeloud, the main medina gate. On foot through the medina, follow signs toward the tanneries; the pottery district is a short walk further south. By petit taxi from Fes el-Jdid or the Ville Nouvelle, the ride costs around 15–25 MAD. The lanes approaching the district are too narrow for larger vehicles, so drivers drop you at the district edge. A local guide makes navigation significantly easier as the alleys are not well signed.
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