Dine on the terrace of a caravanserai

From caravanserai to table

Before hotels existed, Fès had fondouks. These merchant inns were the beating heart of the old Medina: a courtyard below for goods and animals, galleries of rooms above for the traders who arrived with caravans from across Morocco and beyond. Around their fountains, deals were struck, stories exchanged, and travellers from distant cities shared a meal.

Fondouk Kettanine — also known as Fondouk Jdid, "the new fondouk" — was built in the late 19th century, during the reign of Sultan Moulay Hassan I, to lodge the merchants visiting the city. It stands in Al Qatanin, the historic quarter of the cotton and linen traders, whose name the fondouk still carries: kettan means linen.

Today, this monument welcomes travellers once again. We restored its rooftop with respect for the building's soul — zellige, cedar and carved plaster — and turned it into a place where the hospitality of the caravan routes lives on, one table at a time. When you dine with us, you're not just visiting a restaurant. You're continuing a story that began more than a century ago.

"Guests have arrived here for more than a century. Now, we cook for them."

• Late 1800s — The caravanserai is built

  Fondouk Kettanine rises in the reign of Sultan Moulay Hassan I, commissioned to shelter merchants and their goods in the heart of the old Medina.

• 1900s — The merchants' inn

  For decades, traders of cotton, linen and crafts pass through its courtyard — the fondouk lives at the rhythm of the souks of Al Qatanin.

• 1981 — A world treasure

  The Medina of Fès is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site — the fondouk counted among its living monuments.

• Today — The rooftop

  The terrace above the old courtyard becomes Fez Medina Rooftop Restaurant & Lounge — panoramic dining, reached by elevator.