Christmas and New Year in Fès: Fès-Saïss to the Medina

Christmas Day 2026 falls on a Friday, and so does New Year's Day 2027. If you're spending the festive season in Fès, your flight may well land at Fès-Saïss on the 24th or the 31st, and not always at a convenient hour. Fès adds a quirk of its own: if you're staying in Fès el-Bali, the car stops at one of the medina gates, and the last stretch is on foot, luggage included, sometimes after dark.

School holiday dates vary by school and local authority, so we don't list any here: check your own. Nor will you find an airport crowd figure for December: we haven't measured one, and we don't publish what we haven't measured. What follows is what you can settle from home: festive-night service, Moroccan time, the right gate (bab), groups and your booking timeline.

The festive calendar: four dates that matter

None of these dates interrupts the transfer service. They matter for timing: when you land, when you fly home, and when you tell the riad to expect you.

Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve: the transfer still runs

The obvious worry when your flight lands on the 24th or the 31st is whether anyone will be waiting at Fès-Saïss. Our transport partners work without interruption on 24, 25 and 31 December and on 1 January. The price doesn't move: €15 one way, €27 round trip, per vehicle for up to 6 passengers. It depends on neither the date nor the hour, so landing late on New Year's Eve costs exactly what a Tuesday-afternoon arrival in November does.

Two limits, in the interest of completeness. Get Me! covers the journey between Fès-Saïss airport and where you're staying in Fès: it isn't a city taxi service and doesn't pick up at the train station, so getting around on New Year's Eve needs another plan. And if you're staying in Fès el-Bali, the arrival doesn't end at the car door: there's still the walk from the bab, and that's the part to prepare.

Moroccan time: update your bearings

Since 20 September 2026, Morocco has run on GMT all year round, dropping the permanent GMT+1 it adopted in 2018. In December, Fès is therefore on the same time as London and Dublin, and one hour behind Paris and Madrid. If you remember Morocco being an hour ahead of the UK, that's no longer the case. No clocks change during the festive period either: the UK and the EU stay on winter time until late March.

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

Fès-Saïss airport is about 15 kilometres from the centre, a 25 to 35-minute drive to the medina gates, a little less to the Ville Nouvelle. In the Ville Nouvelle, the car pulls up at your hotel. In Fès el-Bali, the UNESCO-listed medina, no car goes in: your vehicle drops you at a driveable gate, a bab, and the rest is on foot, often on a slope, over cobbles that get slippery in the rain.

In practice, reaching the riad means two journeys: the drive to the bab, then the walk from the bab to the riad door. In December, with winter luggage and possibly in the dark, the second one decides how the arrival feels. It's also the only one you can't improvise on the spot.

The right bab: your riad's

Four gates matter to travellers. The right one isn't the best known: it's the one your riad gives as its reference gate. The medina sits in a bowl, and two gates that look like neighbours on a map can mean very different walks.

The habit works whether or not you ever book with us: before you travel, send the riad three questions. Which is your reference gate? How long is the walk from there? 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, and their price is agreed before you set off. With Get Me!, if needed, the driver can walk you there or let your riad know you have arrived, and can lend you a phone or share a mobile connection to make your arrival easier.

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 before you leave the airport wifi.

Nothing booked: the taxi and its limits

At Fès-Saïss airport, expect about 200 dirhams by taxi to Fès (price observed by our drivers, October 2026), to be agreed before you get in. That price was logged in October: we have no observation for festive nights. Moroccan regulations cap a petit taxi at 3 passengers: with four or more, you need two. A grand taxi seats 6, but its fare is negotiated before you get in too, and you need to ask for the whole car. Either way, the drop-off gate is part of the deal: “the medina” is not a destination.

What about apps? According to Uber’s announcement, when it returned to Morocco in November 2025, Uber opened only in Marrakech and Casablanca. If you plan to rely on an app in Fès, check what it actually offers before you travel, and keep a fallback.

Families and groups: one vehicle per six

A Get Me! transfer is priced per vehicle, not per passenger: from 1 to 6 travellers, it's €15 one way and €27 round trip, whether you're three or six. Beyond that, the booking adds the vehicles you need on its own.

• Count every traveller, babies included: that number sets the number of vehicles.
• Enter the riad's name when you book, and its reference gate under special requests.
• Winter suitcases, presents, a pushchair: flag large luggage in the same requests.
• Baby seats (under 13 kg) and child seats (9 to 36 kg) are free: add them under child equipment.
• Seven or more: one address and one meeting gate for the whole group. Arriving on several flights: one booking per flight.

Landing late on a festive night, leaving before dawn

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 if everything is set in advance: gate confirmed, riad told your exact arrival time, riad phone number saved, and ideally someone waiting at the bab. Add your flight number when you book: the driver waits at the exit with a sign showing your name; your flight is tracked in real time, the driver contacts you when you land and waits up to 60 minutes after the actual landing, free of charge.

Keep a warm layer in your hand luggage: December nights in Fès are cold, and the walk from the gate is outdoors. Flying home at dawn raises the opposite problem: porters aren't always around that early, and the walk from riad to gate happens in the dark with your bags. A Get Me! 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.

Christmas in Fès, New Year in Marrakech: the train in between

If you're splitting the holidays between two cities, ONCF trains link Fès with Casablanca and Marrakech. By train from Fès, allow 3 h 20 to about 4 h to Casablanca depending on the train, and about 7 hours to Marrakech direct (ONCF timetables checked on 17 October 2026). Check the times for your own dates on the ONCF website. Get Me! doesn't sell the journey between cities, but covers the airport transfer at both Fès-Saïss and Marrakech-Menara: flying in to one and out of the other saves you making the trip twice.

Your booking timeline

The €27 round trip is €3 cheaper than two one-way rides and settles your return before you've even left. The outbound leg can no longer be edited within 24 hours of pickup; the return stays editable up to 12 hours before (time, flight number, address). Cancellation is free and refunded up to 24 hours before the first pickup. The price is fixed, so waiting gains you nothing.

1. When you buy your flights: book the round trip with both flight numbers, and ask the riad for its reference gate. Bookings open up to 6 months before pickup, so every festive date is already bookable.
2. Early December: check the flight times in your airline account; a schedule may have shifted since you booked.
3. The week you travel: double-check the riad's address, the passenger count and your special requests (gate, child seats, luggage).
4. The day before you fly: send the riad your arrival time, in Moroccan time, and confirm who will meet you at the bab.
5. No later than 12 hours before the return pickup: last window to change the time, flight or address, for instance if you switch riads between Christmas and New Year.

Frequently asked questions

Our take

In Fès, Christmas isn't a road problem: the drive from the airport is short, and the transfer runs on both festive nights at the usual price. It's a last-stage problem. The gate, the walk, the time you gave the riad, the person waiting at the door on a December night: that's where the arrival is won or lost, and where this year's Moroccan time can throw everything off by an hour. Our advice: settle three things when you buy your flights, not when you step off the plane. Your riad's reference gate, your arrival time in Moroccan time, and a round trip whose price and drop-off point are fixed in advance. The rest, the first alley, the riad door opening onto the courtyard, is Fès, and it can't be booked.