Where can you see traditional Moroccan crafts and artisans?

Morocco is one of the last places on earth where a vast living craft tradition still works largely by hand, in plain sight, the way it has for centuries — and seeing it is one of the great pleasures of a trip. The medinas are organised the old way, by trade, so you wander from the coppersmiths' clang into the dyers' rainbow of drying wool into the leatherworkers' street. I always build proper artisan time into itineraries, because watching a master at work, and buying directly from them, is far richer than any shop.

Fes is the craft capital. The famous Chouara tanneries — those honeycomb vats of dye seen from the surrounding leather-shop terraces — are a medieval spectacle (carry a sprig of mint for the smell). Close by you'll find the brass and copper beaters of Place Seffarine hammering trays by hand, the zellige cutters chipping tile with a hammer, weavers at their looms, and the potters of the Fes ceramic quarter painting the city's signature blue. Marrakech mirrors this with its souk districts — the dyers' souk (Souk Sebbaghine), the blacksmiths, the babouche slipper-makers, the lantern and lamp metalworkers of the Haddadine.

For a calmer, hassle-free overview, the government Ensemble Artisanal craft complexes in Marrakech, Fes and other cities gather many trades under one roof at fixed (if slightly higher) prices, often with artisans demonstrating — a good first stop to learn quality before you brave the souk. The women's cooperatives are especially worth seeking out: argan-oil cooperatives on the Essaouira and Agadir roads where Berber women crack and grind the nuts by hand, and weaving cooperatives where you can watch carpets being knotted and buy ethically.

Out in the regions, the craft has its capitals: Safi on the Atlantic is the great pottery town with its hillside potteries and ceramics museum; Tetouan in the north has a renowned artisan school and a UNESCO-listed medina of fine crafts; Tamegroute near the desert makes its distinctive green-glazed pottery; and the Middle Atlas villages weave the famous Beni Ourain and Azilal rugs. The best way to engage is hands-on — a pottery, zellige, leather or weaving workshop where you try it yourself — which I can arrange in Fes or Marrakech. You come away understanding why these objects cost what they do, and with something made, not just bought.