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Eat

The markets near the 'main' gate of Bab Boujeloud (near to Hotel Cascades) are full of yummy food. It is worth just wandering through them, buying random bits of food. Street food is very cheap and is often safe. Restaurants, even cheap ones, will often be up to twice the cost of street food, and the quality can be the same. In the medina it is difficult to find cheap food other than in the Bab Boujeloud area. There are only a very few tourist restaurants where you will get ripped off and some food stalls down in the food market near the R'cif place.

Drink

Almost all drinking establishments in Fez are hotel bars. The rest are local bars that women and anyone without a good command of Arabic might be uncomfortable entering. In bars of either type, prostitutes are frequent but mostly ignore western travellers. Fes is a much more traditional town than Casablanca or Marrakesh, and it is illegal to drink in public. Purchasing alcohol or seeming intoxicated are sure to draw stern looks from passersby.

La Cave at the Centre Commercial Borj Fes. Take a taxi to the Borj shopping centre. Tucked into a small, easily ignored corner near the Carrefour is a small bottle shop called La Cave with a good selection of beer and wine at decent prices.

Sleep

Most visitors to Fez will want to stay in the Fez El Bali (Old Fez, or Medina) as the main tourist sights are located there and where many local residences operate as guesthouses. Also, the new town is quite a distance from the medina, so you will be relying on taxis to take you in and out every day.

Stay healthy

As of May 2019, one traveler has confirmed two cases of bed bug infestations: one at Riad el Mizan and another very close by at Dar Naima. These are highly unlikely to be isolated incidents. Also, see the general information on riads.

Stay safe

Fez is somewhat safe, but crowded. Take standard precautions against pickpocketing.

If you hear "Belek! Belek!" behind you, stand aside because a heavily-laden donkey is bearing down on you!

Appear to know where you are going, even if you don't, or you will get offers from false guides. False guides are not dangerous but they can be exasperatingly tenacious. Best technique is to not even acknowledge their presence. That is rude and they won't be pleased, but it is better than to have them walk with you for half an hour. If you have to ask directions ask someone that is obviously busy in their own business or a shopkeeper behind a counter, and try to appear as sure as you can of the way you are going ("This way to Bab R'cif, right?"). Getting caught with a faux guide will cost you, but it will cost the faux guide more: they can receive up to 2 days imprisonment if they get caught. Police are often in plain clothes, so be wary! A useful strategy with false guides is to say all the lines they have been taught before they have said them to show you know what you are doing; they all say the same thing so just learn it and repeat.

Due to the maze like alleyways in Fes El Bali (Medina) touts will often attempt to mislead visitors by saying this road is closed further down, then offer to take you to a different direction, obviously with intention to turn quick profit out of the unsuspecting foreigner. This is especially endemic around the tanneries. It's best not to take advice fr…

Connect

A decent number of restaurants in the medina offer wifi.

SIM cards offering 4G service and one week of data up to 1 gigabyte (abbreviated Go, as in French gigaoctet) are available in many stores. In 2017, a SIM card by provider INWI (there are others) can be obtained for 30 dirham. Keep the credit-card-sized card the SIM comes in, it may have a PIN number you'll need to set up the service.