Our Fes 7 Day Culinary Adventure gives you time to experience Moroccan culture while learning how to make some of our traditional and delicious dishes.  This experience is open to anyone – from the novice cook to the experienced chef.  The tour includes cultural trips in and around Fes, as well as hands-on cooking lessons.  Explore the narrow streets of the Fes Medina.  Shop for your fresh ingredients in the traditional Moroccan souk (open air market).  Take a trip to the Middle Atlas cedar forests and Azrou, a Berber mountain town outside of Fes, and to the Imperial city of Meknes.  And of course, learn how to make delicious Moroccan recipes!

This tour includes:

• Transfers to and from Fes-Saiss airport, bus or train station
• 6 nights accommodation (including breakfast)
• 3 cooking classes
• Booklet of Lahcen’s favourite recipes
• Day trip to Azrou (including transportation and lunch)
• Day trip to Meknes (including transportation, historic and cultural guide, and lunch)
• Historic and cultural visit of Fes medina and surrounds
• Welcome and farewell dinner at your Riad

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DAY 1: Arrive in Fes

Pick up at train, bus, or airport.  Arrive at your Riad where you will be welcomed with a warm pot of refreshing Moroccan mint tea. Take the afternoon to settle into Fes. In the evening, you will be served a welcome dinner at your Riad.  Transfers to Fes from other cities (Casablanca, Tangier, Rabat) can be arranged.

DAY 2: Cooking Day 1 – Introduction to Moroccan cuisine and the souks of Fes

After breakfast we take a trip to the souk (the open-air market) to see what is in season and decide on today’s menu – entrée, main and dessert.  Learn how to pick out the freshest products for your meal and experience how Moroccans do their daily grocery shopping.  Come back to the Riad and start to prepare your first tagine of the week!  Relax over lunch and enjoy your creation.

In the afternoon, relax or take a historic and cultural tour of the Fes which takes you through the 2000 year old living medina; a labyrinth of narrow lanes alive with markets and souks, craftsmen, donkeys and mules transporting their loads.  Visit the Attarine and Bou Anania Medersas (Islamic universities), the Nejjarine fountain, the Moulay Idriss Mausoleum, and the Karaouine Mosque.  Finish your tour with a visit to Fes Jdid, and the revered Merenid Tombs for a spectacular panoramic view of Fes.

While you are out you may want to scope out some interesting restaurants for dinner or ask at the Riad for their recommendations.

DAY 3: Day Trip to Meknes

After breakfast, leave for Meknes, Fes’s neighbouring smaller Imperial city.  Spend a relaxing day with a guide visiting the old medina, the most beautiful gate in Morocco, Ban El Mansour; the Royal Stables of the Alaouite Sultan Moulay Ismail, and the Jewish Quarter.

After lunch, continue to explore Meknes, or visit one of Morocco’s most renowned wineries just outside of Meknes and experience the wine legacy that the French left behind.  On your way back to Fes visit the sprawling ancient ruins of Volubilis, a 2000 year old Roman city with remains of palaces, baths, basilicas and stunning mosaics.

Arrive back in Fes in the late afternoon/early evening.  Have dinner at your Riad or another restaurant if you prefer.

DAY 4: Cooking Day 2 – Pastilla

After breakfast, spend the day relaxing or continue to explore Fes.  Your cooking class starts in the late afternoon.  Learn how to make make pastilla, an Andalusian dish brought to Morocco by the Moors and “perfected” in Fez.  For this meal, you will also be making harira (Moroccan soup) and a light delicious fruit salad with mint and rose water.  Enjoy your pastilla dinner!

DAY 5: Cooking Day 3 – Traditional Friday Couscous Lunch

Since Friday is the holy day in Islam and couscous is most Moroccan’s favorite dish, it is the tradition in Morocco to eat couscous on Fridays!  After breakfast start your lesson on how to participate in this national tradition.  During this class you will also make zaalouk and one of own fruit salads.

After enjoying your couscous lunch, spend the rest of day relaxing or exploring Fes.  Visit Ain Nokbi, where the famous pottery of Fes is made.  Watch the potters sculpt and intricately paint beautiful pieces of work. Have dinner at a local restaurant in Fes.

DAY 6: Day Trip to Azrou

After breakfast leave for Azrou and spend the day in this beautiful quaint Berber mountain town. Take a walk in the cedar forests, visit the Barbary apes, and shop for some of the best rugs in Morocco.  Lunch at a restaurant in Azrou.  Return to Fes in the late afternoon and get ready for your farewell dinner!

*An additional option is to overnight in Azrou and learn how to make meshwi, a traditional Berber meat dish which is cooked underground for a several hours.

DAY 7: Farewell and checkout

After breakfast, and saying your goodbyes, transfer to airport, bus or train station.

* This itinerary can be reordered to take account of best times to visit places, for example timing your visit to Azrou for the Tuesday weekly market; and best times during the week to prepare certain menus, for example timing a cooking class for the days fresh fish is delivered to Fes.  The menu for your classes is also heavily influenced by what is fresh and in season.

Contact Us for more information