Fes, Morocco

Fes is Morocco's great city of craft and scholarship, and walking its old quarter feels like slipping back several centuries. Donkeys and handcarts still carry goods past coppersmiths hammering in tiny workshops, the scent of cedar drifts from carpenters' stalls, and carved doorways hide palaces and tiled fountains. Few places reward slow exploration as richly, ideally with a local guide to lead the way.

Mobile coverage in Fes

Outside its famous walls, Fes is a large, modern city, and the Ville Nouvelle, laid out with broad avenues, hotels and cafes, generally enjoys strong, consistent signal. Morocco's three mobile networks, Maroc Telecom, Orange and inwi, all cover Fes, and in the new town and along the main roads around the old city you can usually expect reliable 4G for maps, messages and calls home.

Fes el-Bali, the old medina, is a different world. It is vast and maze-like, its lanes often only an arm's span wide, many of them partly covered, and lined with tall buildings with thick walls. Signal near the gates and in the small open squares is often fine, but deep inside the lanes it can become patchy or drop out completely, and indoors in a riad it may be weak, which is why most riads rely on Wi-Fi. If you have a preference for one network over another, each plan's page shows which network it uses.

Getting around Fes

Fes-Saiss (FEZ) lies to the south of the city, and a taxi into the Ville Nouvelle or to one of the medina gates usually takes in the region of half an hour. Many riads offer a pick-up and will meet you at a gate, since cars cannot enter most of the old city. The railway station sits in the Ville Nouvelle, and ONCF trains connect Fes with Meknes, Rabat, Casablanca and Tangier, while long-distance coaches serve other cities such as Chefchaouen.

Petits taxis are the easiest way to move between the new town and the medina gates, and signal in the back of a cab is generally steady on the main roads. Once inside Fes el-Bali, though, everyone goes on foot, and this is where coverage becomes unpredictable at exactly the moment you are most likely to get lost. On the train, expect good signal near towns and the occasional quieter stretch in open countryside between them.

Where you'll use data most in Fes

Most visitors enter the medina at Bab Boujloud, the ornate Blue Gate, which makes a handy meeting point with usually decent reception. From there the main lane runs downhill past the Bou Inania Madrasa, one of the finest examples of Marinid architecture in the city, with its carved wood and zellige tilework. The famous tanneries, where hides are dyed in a honeycomb of stone vats, are best seen from the terraces of the surrounding leather shops; being open to the sky, these terraces are often a better place to snap and share than the dark lanes that lead there.

Deeper in the old city, around the squares of the metalworkers and dyers, signal varies from spot to spot, so it pays to have your route and riad saved before you set off. Beyond Fes, the imperial city of Meknes and the Roman ruins of Volubilis make a popular day trip. Meknes is a sizeable city with generally good coverage, while Volubilis is an open hillside site in farming country where signal is usually workable but can be variable as you wander the ruins.

Tips for staying connected in Fes

• Get your eSIM installed before you travel and switch it on at Fes-Saiss, so you can confirm your pick-up or send your taxi driver the right gate.
• Download an offline map of Fes el-Bali and drop pins on your riad, your entry gate and any sights you plan to visit, so you can still navigate when signal disappears.
• Consider an official guide for your first walk through the medina, then explore on your own once you have your bearings.
• Roaming on a UK plan is a costly way to stay online here: Morocco is not covered by the European roaming allowances most UK plans include, so charges are usually at higher worldwide rates. Check your provider's rates for Morocco first.
• Keep your phone secure in the busiest lanes and souks, where crowds, carts and donkeys all compete for space.
• Before day trips, add Morocco's emergency numbers to your phone: 19 (police) and 15 (ambulance and fire).

Compare plans on the Morocco eSIM page, or continue your route with eSIM for Chefchaouen, eSIM for Merzouga and eSIM for Rabat.