Can you day trip to Meknes from Fes?

Meknes is the imperial city most travellers skip, which is exactly why I love sending day-trippers there from Fes. It is barely an hour away — about 60 kilometres — and the train link is so good that I usually recommend the rail rather than a car. Trains run frequently from Fes station, take roughly 40 minutes, and cost almost nothing; you step off at Meknes and grab a cheap petit taxi to the medina. No driver, no parking, no fuss.

What you get is a calmer, more breathable version of imperial Morocco. Meknes was Sultan Moulay Ismail's 17th-century capital, and his ambition shows. The Bab Mansour gate is arguably the grandest in the country, the mausoleum is one of the few religious sites non-Muslims can enter, and the colossal Heri es-Souani granaries and stables — built to feed and house thousands of horses — are genuinely awe-inspiring in their scale. The medina has the souks and the buzz without the relentless hustle of Fes, so it is an easy place to wander.

A full day is comfortable but you can do the highlights in a half-day if you want to combine it with something. The classic move, and the one I push, is to make Meknes part of a Volubilis loop: those Roman ruins are only a short drive further west, so a private driver can do Meknes in the morning, Volubilis and Moulay Idriss in the afternoon, and have you back in Fes by evening. If you go by train, just keep it to Meknes itself and take the relaxed pace it invites.

Honestly, Meknes rewards low expectations — people arrive thinking it is a quick tick and leave charmed by how unforced it feels. Have a tagine in the Place el-Hedim watching the square, see the gate, the mausoleum and the granaries, browse the souk, and you have had a lovely, low-stress day. It is the easiest imperial-city day trip in the country, and the train makes it almost effortless from Fes.