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Cocktail Bars in Fez: The Honest Guide

Let's set expectations straight: Fez is a dry-ish city. Morocco is Muslim-majority, the medina has essentially no bars, and cocktail culture as you'd know it doesn't exist here. What exists is a small, specific scene — hotel and riad bars with licences, juice bars on every corner, and café culture that runs late.

This page won't invent bars. Here's what's actually there, and what to order instead.

The honest picture

No, you're not missing a secret bar street. There isn't one.

Photo: Andy Li, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Fez has no cocktail-bar scene in any Western sense. The medina — where you'll spend most of your time — has no bars at all, and that's not a gap in the market, it's the culture. Drinking happens in licensed hotels and riads, discreetly, and in the new town's restaurants.

This is worth knowing before you arrive so you're not disappointed. The compensation is real: Fez's café and juice culture is superb, the rooftop terraces are made for long evenings, and nobody will think twice about you ordering a third mint tea at midnight.

Keep reading: Where a drink is actually possible →

Where a drink is actually possible

The licensed bars that do exist are inside hotels and upscale riads. Palais Amani in the medina has two licensed bars including a rooftop bar — the most reliable 'proper bar' experience in the old city, open to non-residents. New-town hotels (the Barceló, the ibis, and the larger business hotels along Avenue Hassan II) have lobby bars that serve beer, wine, and spirits without fuss.

Expect hotel prices, a quiet atmosphere, and early-ish closing by European standards. These are places for a civilised drink, not a night out.

Keep reading: What locals actually drink →

What locals actually drink

Photo: Frettie, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What Fez lacks in cocktails it makes up for in juice. The jus stands around Boujloud and the new town do avocado, panaché (layered fruit), and raïb (a yoghurt drink) for a few dirhams — the panaché, a striped tower of layered juices, is practically a cocktail in a tall glass.

Café culture runs late: the cafés along Avenue Hassan II and around Place Florence fill up after dinner and stay busy past midnight, especially in summer. Order a nous-nous (half coffee, half milk), watch the street, and you've had the Fez equivalent of a nightcap.

Practical tips

• Alcohol is available but low-key — licensed hotel and riad bars, not street bars.
• Never drink in the street or in the medina's public spaces.
• Moroccan wine exists (Guerrouane, Boulaouane) and is decent; order it in licensed restaurants.
• The real local drink is mint tea, avocado juice, and raïb — lean in.

Fez won't give you a cocktail list. It'll give you something better: the best seat in the medina at golden hour, with mint tea.

Run a bar or cafe in Fez? List it on Dayfari free →