The Gates (Babs) of Fès el-Bali: Which Entrance to Use for Your Riad

The question sounds anecdotal; it is actually decisive. Fès el-Bali is one of the largest pedestrian zones in the world, a UNESCO World Heritage site: no car enters it. Every vehicle — taxi, transfer, rental car — therefore stops at one of the medina’s driveable gates, the "babs", and that is where the walk to your riad begins. Pick the right gate and you arrive within a few minutes on foot; pick the wrong one and you cross an entire medieval city with your suitcases.

We have already published the full airport-to-riad arrival guide for Fès. This article goes deeper into the central link of that journey: the gates themselves. Where each one is, which neighbourhoods it serves, and what you find when you step out of the vehicle. These bearings are useful to everyone — whether you arrive by getme transfer, negotiated taxi or your own car.

Reading Fès el-Bali through its gates

Fès el-Bali has no driveable addresses: it has gates. The medina sits in a bowl — the Bab Boujloud side is high ground, the R’cif area lies below, towards the centre — and its alleys descend, climb and fold back on themselves. The practical consequence: two gates that look like neighbours on a map can lead to very different walks, with slopes and detours no map shows. Which is why the real question is never "which gate is the most famous?" but "which is MY riad’s reference gate?". Here is what you need to place each one all the same.

Bab Boujloud — the blue gate, west side

This is the medina’s most famous entrance, the one from the photos: the "blue gate", on the western side of Fès el-Bali. It is also the liveliest — cafés and restaurants with terraces around the gate, a constant flow of visitors and Fassis. From Bab Boujloud, the two great arteries plunge down into the medina, and many of the best-known tourist riads sit in this upper part of the old city: if your riad describes itself as "near the blue gate", this is where you will be dropped.

Two useful caveats. First, Boujloud is at the top of the medina: if your riad is deep in the bowl, entering here means a long descent — pleasant when sightseeing, less so with luggage. Second, its fame makes it the "default" gate for many drivers when no other instruction is given. If your riad is not on this side, that default is precisely the mistake to avoid.

R’cif — the central access, often closest to the heart

Place R’cif is the other great drop-off point of Fès el-Bali, and the most underrated by visitors who only know the blue gate. Reachable by car on the edge of the medina, on the central-south side, it brings the vehicle closest to the bottom of the bowl — where many riads in the heart of the old city are found. For those addresses, R’cif is often the gate that shortens the final walk the most, sometimes to just a few minutes on foot.

Stepping out, the atmosphere is more local than at Boujloud: a lively, commercial square, used first and foremost by Fassis. That is a genuine logistical asset — and proof that in Fès, the "obvious" gate is not always the right one. Many central riads give R’cif as their reference gate: if yours does, stick to it, even if the driver spontaneously suggests the blue gate.

Bab Ftouh — the south-east, potters and the Andalusian quarter

Bab Ftouh opens the medina from the south-east. It is the natural gate for the Andalusian quarter — the historic bank on the far side of the river from the most-visited core — and the closest to the potters’ district, whose workshops lie outside the walls on this side of the city. If your riad gives an address in the Andalusian quarter or near Bab Ftouh, this is your drop-off point — entering through Boujloud would condemn you to crossing the entire medina.

The area is less touristy than the west of the medina: fewer terraces, more neighbourhood life. For a traveller, that mainly means one thing: your riad’s written directions are even more valuable here, because the landmarks "everyone knows" are scarcer.

Bab Guissa — the north and its palace hotels

To the north of the medina, Bab Guissa serves the upper neighbourhoods of that slope — notably the side of the great palace hotels of northern Fès el-Bali. If you are staying in one of those palaces or a riad in the northern sector, Bab Guissa is generally the logical drop-off: entering from the south or the west would send you across the medina in the wrong direction.

As with Bab Ftouh, the rule is simple: deduce nothing from a map. The north of the medina is on a slope, and the real walk depends on alleys no mainstream map renders faithfully. One message to the riad — "which gate, and how long a walk?" — replaces all the guesswork.

Arrival advice: gate, porters, GPS, night

First habit, before you even take off: message your riad and ask two questions — "which is your reference gate?" and "how long is the walk from that gate?". Then give that gate to the driver, at booking or during the negotiation. In a street taxi, the fare is agreed before you get in — usually around 150 to 250 dirhams from the airport depending on the hour, cash only — and the gate must be part of the agreement: "the medina" is not a destination.

At the gates, porters with handcarts will take your suitcases to the riad — a real trade, precious in cobbled, sloping alleys; agree the price before setting off. Many riads send someone to wait for you at the bab if you have announced your arrival time: the most comfortable option. Finally, do not rely on pedestrian GPS: in the covered alleys of Fès el-Bali, the blue dot jumps around and suggested routes end in dead ends. Rely on your riad’s written directions and physical landmarks instead.

The classic mistakes

Frequently asked questions

Our take

In Fès, the entrance gate is not a picturesque detail: it is the variable that decides whether your arrival lasts a few minutes or turns into urban hiking with suitcases. Our conviction: the habit worth gold is one message to the riad — "which gate, how long a walk?" — sent before departure. It costs thirty seconds and works for everyone, including if you never book with us.

What the getme transfer adds is certainty: the gate is known before the car starts, the price is fixed before you take off, and nobody has anything to negotiate on arrival. The rest — the porter’s cart, the first alley, the smell of cedar wood — is Fès, and it cannot be booked.