فندق الكتانين
Our homeA 19th-century caravanserai in the heart of the old Medina of Fès — and the home of our restaurant.
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 were exchanged, and travellers from distant cities shared a meal after weeks on the road.
Fès counts dozens of these historic buildings, and each carries the name of the trade it served — the carpenters, the goldsmiths, the tanners. Ours belongs to the weavers of linen.
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 craft the fondouk's name still carries: kettan means linen. In 1981, the entire Medina of Fès — the fondouk among its living monuments — was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
"Guests have arrived here for more than a century. Now, we cook for them."
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 the terrace above the old courtyard into Fez Medina Rooftop Restaurant & Lounge. When you dine with us, you're not just visiting a restaurant: you're continuing a story that began more than a century ago.
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.
For decades, traders of cotton, linen and crafts pass through its courtyard — the fondouk lives at the rhythm of the souks of Al Qatanin.
The Medina of Fès is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the fondouk counted among its living monuments.
The terrace above the old courtyard becomes Fez Medina Rooftop Restaurant & Lounge — panoramic dining, reached by elevator.
A merchant inn of the Medina — courtyard for goods below, rooms for travelling traders above. The ancestor of the hotel.
From kettan, linen — the guild of linen merchants who gave this fondouk and its quarter their name.
The quarter of the cotton traders, one of the historic market lanes at the heart of the old Medina of Fès.
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