Are there thermal or hot springs in Morocco (spa towns)?

Yes, and most travellers have no idea this side of Morocco exists. The famous one is Moulay Yacoub, only about twenty minutes from Fes. It's a proper thermal spa town built around naturally hot, sulphur-rich mineral springs that Moroccans have used for healing for generations. There's a modern thermal centre with treatment pools alongside the older communal baths, and the whole place has the slightly faded, characterful feel of a working spa town rather than a polished resort. People come for skin and rheumatic conditions, but it's just as good as a curiosity and a soak.

Nearby, Sidi Harazem (sometimes linked with the Lalla Haya springs) is the other Fes-area thermal site, a historic source set in a palm oasis that's been a pilgrimage and bathing spot for centuries — you'll recognise the name from the bottled mineral water sold all over the country. Out in the Atlas and the south there are wilder natural hot springs too, the kind you reach down a track and bathe in under open sky, though those take local knowledge to find and aren't always set up for visitors.

I want to be honest about the experience: these thermal towns are authentic and local, not luxury. The water is the star; the facilities are functional. If what you actually want is a polished pampering experience, the better route is a high-end spa hammam in a Marrakech or Fes riad or hotel, where the same bathing and scrubbing tradition is delivered with candlelight, rose oil, and a treatment menu. Both are wonderful — they just serve different moods.

The hammam itself is the thread running through all of this. Every town has a public hammam, and the ritual of steam, black soap, and the kessa scrub-glove is woven into ordinary Moroccan life. I usually suggest combining a genuine, slightly rough-around-the-edges thermal or public-bath experience with one indulgent spa-hammam treatment, so you get both the real thing and the luxury. We can arrange either, with a driver out to Moulay Yacoub from Fes if you fancy the springs.