Are the Marrakech tanneries worth visiting compared to the Fes tanneries?

Yes, Marrakech has tanneries — they're a genuine, centuries-old working part of the medina, mostly clustered around the Bab Debbagh ('Gate of the Tanners') on the eastern edge of the old city, where leather has been cured and dyed the traditional way for a very long time. So if you specifically want to see the ancient tanning craft and you're only going to Marrakech, you can. You'll see the pits, the hides, the lime and dye baths, and craftsmen at work, and it's authentic.

But I'll be straight with you on the comparison, because it matters: the Marrakech tanneries are considerably smaller, less visually dramatic, and far less famous than the great Chouara tanneries of Fes. The Fes tanneries are the iconic ones — that vast, honeycomb panorama of round stone vats filled with brilliantly coloured dyes, viewed from the terraces of surrounding leather shops, that you've seen in every photograph of Morocco. They are a genuine bucket-list spectacle. Marrakech's tanneries simply don't deliver that jaw-dropping, photogenic scale; they're more workaday and harder to view from a good vantage point.

There's also a hassle factor to flag honestly. The Marrakech tanneries area has a reputation for aggressive touts and 'faux guides' who latch onto tourists, press sprigs of mint on you 'for the smell' (the tanneries are pungent — that part's true), steer you to shops, and then demand money. It's navigable, and a reputable guide solves it entirely, but wandering in alone you should expect some pressure, and it can sour the experience for the unprepared. The smell, by the way, is strong at both cities' tanneries — that's the nature of traditional tanning.

So my practical verdict: if your trip includes Fes, save your tannery experience for Chouara there — it's one of the most memorable sights in Morocco and worth doing properly from a terrace with a guide. In Marrakech, treat the tanneries as a minor, optional, lower-priority sight: interesting if you have a knowledgeable guide and curiosity to spare, but not something I'd push to the top of a short Marrakech itinerary, and not a substitute for the Fes spectacle. If you'll never reach Fes, then the Marrakech tanneries with a good guide are a reasonable way to witness the craft.