Fès in the Autumn Holidays: Landing at Fès-Saïss and Reaching the Medina

An October half-term or an autumn break is short, and in Fès the arrival has a quirk worth planning for. The drive from the airport is the easy part. But if you are staying in a riad in Fès el-Bali, the car stops at one of the medina gates, and the last stretch is on foot, luggage and children included.

School holiday dates vary by school and local authority, so this guide doesn't list any: check your own. It doesn't quote airport crowd figures either, because we have none we trust, and we don't publish what we haven't measured. It covers what you can settle from home: the time-zone trap that is new this year, choosing the right gate (bab), the rules that matter when you travel as five or eight, and the booking timeline.

This year's trap: Moroccan time has changed

Since 20 September 2026, Morocco has dropped the permanent GMT+1 it had used since 2018 and now runs on GMT all year round, with no seasonal change. Meanwhile, the UK, Ireland and the EU put their clocks back overnight on Saturday 24 to Sunday 25 October. Depending on where you fly from, the gap with Fès shifts on 25 October, which may well fall in the middle of your trip.

Your ticket won't mislead you: airlines always print times in the local time of the airport concerned. The risk lies in everything you work out yourself: the pickup time for your return transfer, the time you give the riad so someone meets you at the gate, the alarm on a phone still set to home time. In Fès, an hour's error has a specific cost: the person from your riad who was meant to meet you at the bab isn't there yet, or has been waiting for an hour.

From Fès-Saïss to the medina: two journeys, not one

Fès-Saïss airport is about 15 kilometres from the centre, a 20 to 30-minute drive. If you are staying in the Ville Nouvelle, the car pulls up at the hotel entrance like anywhere else. If your riad is in Fès el-Bali, it's another matter: the UNESCO-listed medina is one of the largest pedestrian zones in the world, and no car enters it. Your vehicle drops you at a driveable gate, a bab, and the rest is on foot, often on a slope.

In practice, reaching the riad means two journeys: the drive to the bab, then the walk from the bab to the riad door. With a week's luggage and tired children, the second one decides how the arrival feels. It's also the only one you can't improvise on the spot.

The right bab: the real arrival question

Fès el-Bali has no driveable addresses, it has gates. Four matter to travellers. None is the right one in absolute terms: the right one is whichever your riad gives as its reference gate. The medina sits in a bowl, and two gates that look like neighbours on a map can lead to very different walks, with slopes and detours no map shows.

The habit works for everyone, whether or not you ever book with us: before you travel, send the riad two questions, “which is your reference gate?” and “how long is the walk from there?”. Then a third, which makes all the difference with a family: “can someone meet us at the bab?”. Many riads do this if you give them your arrival time. Otherwise, porters with handcarts work at the gates: a real trade, and a precious one on cobbled alleys. Agree the price before you set off, not on arrival.

One last point: don't rely on pedestrian GPS. In the covered alleys of Fès el-Bali, the blue dot jumps around and suggested routes end in dead ends. Save the riad's written directions and a few physical landmarks before you leave the airport wifi.

Travelling as a family: what's different in Fès

Walk out of Fès-Saïss with nothing booked and you are left with taxis and the bus, each with its limits for a family. Moroccan regulations cap a petit taxi at 3 passengers: with four or more, you need two. A grand taxi seats 6, but the fare is negotiated before you get in, in cash, and you need to make clear you want the whole car so it isn't shared. The line 16 bus only serves the Ville Nouvelle, with limited frequency: it won't get you near a medina gate.

A getme transfer is priced per vehicle, not per person. From 1 to 6 passengers: €15 one way, €27 round trip. From 7 to 12, two vehicles: €30 and €54. From 13 to 18, three vehicles: €45 and €81. No night, weekend or holiday surcharge: a Saturday in the middle of the holidays costs the same as any Tuesday.

• Count everyone, toddlers included, in the number of passengers.
• Enter the riad's name when you book, and add its reference gate and the amount of luggage, pushchair included, in the special requests field.
• Need a child seat? Ask in the same field, with the child's age, and wait for confirmation before treating it as sorted.
• With 7 or more: one address and one meeting gate for the whole group.

Late arrivals, dawn departures

Holiday flights don't always land at convenient hours, and at night it's the medina that needs preparing, not the road. Fès el-Bali empties out and some alleys are poorly lit. Nothing alarming, provided everything is set in advance: gate confirmed, riad told your exact arrival time in Moroccan time, riad phone number saved, and ideally someone waiting at the bab. Add your flight number when you book: that's what lets the driver follow a delay.

Flying home at dawn raises the opposite problem: a sleeping city, irregular taxi availability, porters not always around that early, and the walk from riad to gate in the dark with your bags. A getme transfer must be booked at least 6 hours before pickup: for an early flight, book it the day before at the latest, and walk the route to the gate once in daylight.

The right booking timeline

For a holiday, the €27 round trip is the obvious format: €3 less than two one-way rides, and your return sorted from day one. The two legs don't have the same flexibility: the outbound leg can no longer be edited 24 hours before pickup, while the return stays editable up to 12 hours before (time, address, flight number). Cancellation is free and refunded up to 24 hours before the first pickup. Waiting gains you nothing: the price is fixed and doesn't drop as the date approaches.

1. When you buy your flights: book the round trip with both flight numbers, and ask the riad for its reference gate.
2. A week before you travel: check the latest flight times with your airline, the riad's address and the passenger count.
3. The day before you fly: send the riad your arrival time, in Moroccan time, and confirm who will meet you at the bab.
4. If you fly home after 25 October: re-check your pickup time, as the gap with home has changed.
5. No later than 12 hours before your return pickup: last chance to adjust the time, address or flight number.

Frequently asked questions

Our take

An autumn break in Fès isn't a road problem: fifteen kilometres is short. It's a last-stage problem. The gate, the walk, the time you gave the riad, the person waiting at the door: that's where a family arrival is won or lost, and this year it's also where the clock change can throw everything off by an hour. Our view: three things settled before you leave beat any negotiation on arrival. The riad's reference gate, your arrival time in Moroccan time, and a ride whose price and drop-off point are fixed in advance. The rest, the porter's cart, the first alley, the smell of cedar wood, is Fès, and it can't be booked.