What's a perfect 3 days in Fes?

Fes is the spiritual and intellectual heart of Morocco and its medina, Fes el-Bali, is the largest car-free urban area on earth — so three days, not one, is what it deserves. Day one I dive straight into the labyrinth, ideally with a local guide for the first morning so you don't waste hours lost (you will get lost here regardless, and that's part of it). The headline stops are the Chouara tanneries, where leather is still dyed in stone vats exactly as it was 1,000 years ago; the Al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859 and considered the world's oldest continuously operating university; and the dazzling zellij-and-cedar madrasas, Bou Inania and Al-Attarine. End in the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter, with its distinctive balconied houses.

Day two I slow the pace right down and go behind the scenes. Fes is Morocco's craft capital, so I arrange workshop visits — the brass and copper beaters of the Seffarine square, the ceramic and zellij potters in the Aïn Nokbi quarter, the weavers. A hands-on cooking class is the single best afternoon here, learning to fold a pastilla or build a proper tagine in a riad kitchen. Climb to the Borj Nord fort or the Merinid Tombs at sunset for the classic panorama of the whole medina filling the valley below as the call to prayer rises from a thousand mosques. It's one of Morocco's great views.

Day three I get you out of the city, because Fes sits beside two extraordinary day trips. Volubilis, an hour west, is the best-preserved Roman city in Morocco — mosaic floors, triumphal arch and columns standing in open countryside. Pair it with Moulay Idriss, the whitewashed holy town spilling over two hills nearby, and the imperial city of Meknes with its monumental Bab Mansour gate. It's a full but very rewarding day of ancient and imperial Morocco.

Three days is genuinely the right length for Fes. One day only scratches the medina; two miss the day trips that give the city context. With three you get the maze, the crafts, and the Roman and imperial hinterland — the complete picture of why Fes, not Marrakech, is the city Moroccans regard as their true cultural capital.