Best Rooftop Restaurants in Fes — Views Over the Medina

The medina of Fes el-Bali is a bowl of tightly packed houses ringed by hills, and its rooftops offer the only way to grasp its scale. From a terrace you look across thousands of flat roofs punctuated by the green-tiled minaret of the Qaraouiyine — home to one of the world's oldest universities — with the Merenid tombs and Borj Nord fortress on the ridge above. It is a view that rewards a long, slow meal or a pot of tea.

Rooftop dining here is generally more about the Fassi classics than experimental cooking: expect tagines, pastilla, brochettes and mezze-style salads served on riad terraces, often as part of a guesthouse restaurant. Because the medina is so dense, rooftops also double as the coolest, calmest place to sit, catching a breeze that never reaches the shaded lanes below. Around the Talaa Kebira and R'cif areas you will find terraces above shops and riads that welcome walk-ins for tea.

Sunset and the early evening are the best times, when the light softens over the roofs and the calls to prayer roll across the medina from every direction — an extraordinary, overlapping sound heard best from above. Lunch on a terrace is also lovely, giving you the panorama in full daylight with the hills clear behind the city.

Many rooftop cafés and restaurants are attached to riads and shops, so you can stop for just a mint tea and pastry to enjoy the view without committing to a full meal. Bring a hat for midday sun and a layer for the evening, and take your time — the view is the reason to be there.