Meknes
UNESCO World Heritage Site: Historic City Of Meknes (1996), The Capital Of Sultan Moulay Ismail From The Late Seventeenth Century And The Most Complete Surviving Example Of A Fortified Alawite Imperial City · Meknes, Fes-Meknes
Meknes is the quietest of Morocco's four imperial cities and the one most visitors see in a half day between Fes and Volubilis. That is a fair reading, and it is also a shame, because the half day it gets is a good one. Sultan Moulay Ismail made this his capital in the late seventeenth century and built on a scale nothing else in the country matches: kilometres of kasbah wall, a monumental gate at Bab Mansour that is often called the finest in North Africa, a royal granary and stable complex large enough to be mistaken for a ruined city of its own, and a stone-lined basin to water it all. He is remembered for his cruelty as much as for his building. His mausoleum is one of very few religious buildings in Morocco that non-Muslims may enter, which alone justifies the stop. Around Place el-Hedim the covered market is where the city is genuinely enjoyable, and the hills behind it grow most of Morocco's wine. Honest caveats: the medina is small and tame next to Fes, several monuments have been under restoration for years, and two nights here would be one too many.
Imperial city and medina around Place el-Hedim and Bab Mansour, with the Moulay Ismail mausoleum and the royal granaries to the south, Meknes, Fes-Meknes, Morocco
Place el-Hedim, Bab Mansour and the covered market have no opening hours; the market runs from early morning to about 20:00 and the square is at its best in the evening. The monuments keep a broad pattern of roughly 9:00 to about 17:00 or 18:00, usually daily, with shortened hours in Ramadan and some shifting around Friday midday prayers: the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail closes to visitors around prayer times, the Heri es-Souani granaries and the Dar Jamai museum each keep their own day off, and the Agdal basin is open ground. Several buildings have been in long-running restoration, so ask your accommodation that morning what is actually open. Getting there: Meknes is on the main rail line with frequent trains, roughly 40 minutes from Fes, about 2 hours from Rabat and around 3 hours from Casablanca, and the city has more than one station, so check which one your train uses. Nothing needs booking ahead.