A Day in Meknes: Morocco's Overlooked Imperial City

Meknes is one of Morocco's four imperial cities but sees a fraction of the visitors Fes or Marrakech does, which makes it one of the best "hidden in plain sight" stops on a Morocco itinerary — most travelers only see it briefly en route to Fes, but its Bab Mansour gate alone is worth the stop.

Bab Mansour

Widely considered the most beautiful gate in Morocco, Bab Mansour was built under Sultan Moulay Ismail in the early 18th century and is covered in intricate zellige tilework and marble columns reportedly taken from the Roman ruins at Volubilis. It's genuinely one of the most photogenic single structures in the country and takes only minutes to appreciate properly.

The Agdal Reservoir and Royal Stables

Moulay Ismail built Meknes into an enormous fortified capital with an ambition to rival Versailles, and the scale still shows in the Agdal Basin (a massive water reservoir originally built for irrigation and defense) and the ruins of the Heri es-Souani royal granaries and stables, built to house thousands of horses with a genuinely impressive vaulted-ceiling design that kept the space cool year-round.

The Old Medina

Smaller and less overwhelming than Fes's, Meknes' medina and the Bab el-Khemis (Thursday Gate) market area are worth an hour's wander for a lower-key souk experience, especially if Fes's scale felt like a lot the day before.

How Much Time You Actually Need

Two to three hours covers the highlights well, which is exactly why Meknes works best as a stop on the way between Rabat/Chefchaouen and Fes rather than an overnight destination in its own right — the approach we take on every itinerary, pairing it with Volubilis the same day, as on the 8 day tour's route from Rabat to Fes.