Thirty-one suites in a restored 19th-century Fassi palace at the edge of the Medina — Andalusian courtyards, hand-cut zellige, a rooftop pool over the old city, and a hammam that residents of Fez actually use.
"You sleep inside a 19th-century palace whose original Fassi family — the Tazis — still owns it. The rooftop pool sits at the level of the Karaouine minaret, and at sunset the Medina turns the colour of a saffron tagine."
Palais Faraj sits against the southern wall of the Fes Medina at Bab Ziat, the residential Ziat quarter that bourgeois Fassi families have favoured since the late 19th century. The building was constructed in the 1880s as the private residence of the Tazi family — one of the great commercial dynasties of Fes — and was used as a family palace for more than a century before its conversion to a hotel in 2011. The restoration was led by the Tazi descendants themselves and supervised by Moroccan craftsmen drawn from the Karaouine guild network: every panel of carved cedar, every sheet of hand-cut zellige tile, every stretch of incised plasterwork is original to the building or was remade by the families that made it the first time.
The 31 accommodations are all suites — there are no standard rooms — arranged across three floors around two principal Andalusian courtyards. The smallest categories (Junior Suites) run to 35 square metres; the Royal Suite occupies the top floor of the original palace with its own private terrace looking directly across the Medina to the Karaouine. Many suites preserve the original 19th-century painted-cedar ceilings and carved-plaster walls; the bathrooms are contemporary but quiet, finished in tadelakt and Carrara. There is no lift in the historic palace itself — a deliberate preservation choice — though porters handle bags between floors at any hour.
L'Amandier is the rooftop restaurant — a glass-walled room and open terrace at the highest point of the property, with the Medina spread directly below. The kitchen runs a Fassi-French menu with the city's best couscous on Fridays and a serious wine list (rare in Fez). The Mezzanine is the courtyard salon for breakfast and afternoon tea; the bar serves the only proper cocktails in the Medina. The spa occupies the original lower-level rooms of the palace and includes a traditional hammam with the long ritual treatment (gommage, savon noir, rhassoul wrap) that Fassi women still book for weddings — a hammam that locals use, not a hotel imitation.
The position is the second proposition. Bab Ziat sits at the southern edge of the Medina — a five-minute walk to the Andalous mosque, ten to the Karaouine, twelve to the tanneries — but in the residential Ziat quarter rather than the souk crush, so the approach is quiet and the night is silent. The hotel's own door opens onto a private alley with a guard; the public Bab Ziat gate is thirty seconds beyond. For travellers who want to be inside the Medina but not consumed by it, this is the most considered address in Fez.
For Fez honeymoons Palais Faraj is the obvious answer. The Royal Suite has the only fully private rooftop terrace in the Medina with a Karaouine view; the hammam ritual for two is the most considered spa treatment in Morocco's heritage cities; L'Amandier at sunset is the most romantic dining room in Fez. Couples who want palace-not-riad scale, with proper restaurant and bar, book here over Riad Fes.
For a milestone anniversary the property handles the brief at multiple intensities. A Junior Suite for a quiet weekend; the Tazi Suite or Royal Suite for the major year. The Marble Salon is the city's preferred private-dining room for groups of eight to twenty. The hammam ritual, dinner on the rooftop terrace, and a private guided dawn walk through the Medina (the concierge arranges) is the best Fez anniversary itinerary.
The hammam alone justifies a four-night stay. The full Fassi ritual takes ninety minutes and is exactly the treatment Fez women have used for a thousand years — gommage with kessa, savon noir, rhassoul-clay wrap, argan-oil massage. Add the Saturday rooftop yoga, the Thursday meditation session, and a daily walk through the Medina, and it becomes the most authentic wellness week in Morocco. The Givenchy spa at Hotel Sahrai is the modern alternative; Palais Faraj is the heritage one.
Bab Ziat, Quartier Ziat
Fes Medina
30000 Fez, Morocco
Bab Ziat gate 30 seconds; Karaouine 10 minutes on foot; Fes-Sais Airport 25 minutes by car
31 suites (no standard rooms)
Junior Suites from MAD 1,554/night
Tazi Suite from MAD 4,800/night
Royal Suite from MAD 12,000/night
Check-in: 3:00 PM
Check-out: 12:00 PM
Built 1880s as Tazi family palace; opened as hotel 2011 after restoration
L'Amandier rooftop restaurant
Traditional hammam & spa
Rooftop pool over the Medina
Free Saturday yoga, Thursday meditation
Free WiFi throughout
Free minibar soft drinks
From MAD 1,554/night. The Royal Suite and the rooftop-facing Tazi Suite book three months ahead for spring (March–May) and autumn (September–November); the Festival of Sacred Music (June) sells the entire hotel out.
Book This Hotel →Relais & Châteaux palace-riad in the heart of the Medina — the small-scale alternative to Palais Faraj.
The natural Fez pairing — La Mamounia, Royal Mansour, El Fenn. Most Morocco itineraries combine the two.
The country's commercial capital and the entry point for most international flights into Morocco.