sussysawit

Hello, I am planning a 3 week trip (2 wks spain, 1 week morocco) for May 2014. I plan to spend a week in morocco.
The first night we will take the overnight train from Tangiers to Marrakech, and we will use up another night taking a night train from M'kech to Fes.

My question to those who have traveled there is:
should we do 3 nights in M'kech and 2 nights Fes, or 2 nights M'kech and 3 nights Fes.

A little bit about us as travelers:
We travel for food, (although I expect some challenges as a vegetarian), historical sites (wandering independently, we do not do structured tours) and general low-key exploration of cities. We are more into cities than countrysides.
We typically stay in mid-range hotels. I am less comfortable with roughing it and seedy-underbelly type places, my husband likes seeing all sides -- good and bad of the places we go.
We are a married couple (30 yrs old) from Canada. My husband speaks french.

thanks so much!

Fra_Diavolo

French will be useful in both cities.

My personal preference would be three night Fes, two nights Marrakech. The Fes medina demands at least a day, and then there is a very rewarding day trip to the ruins of Roman Volubilis.

Marrakech is a larger city, and to me the medina seemed far more tourist oriented than authentic. Still, you will easilyt fill your two days with the Bahia palace, the Saadian tombs, and the various madrassas (best guess at spelling, it varies!.

The Moroccan salads offered as appetizers on most Moroccan menus are largely vegetarian, quite delicious and frankly, enough to make a meal. I can't really recall if there are vegetarian main courses -- not an issue for us.

Dustoff

I would agree. We just got back. We found the shops in Fez much more agressive though. You shouldn't have a problem with vegetarian as long as you make it clearly understood what you're looking for.

I enjoyed the Jemaa el-Fnaa but was somewhat underwelmed.

Leslie_S

Also agree with more time in Fez vs. Marrakech. And also agree about trying to Volubilis if you're at all into Roman ruins - it is spectacular.

thursdaysd

I agree that Fes is more interesting then Marrakash. However, I was seriously underwhelmed by the very ruined ruins at Volubilis (although you could substitute Meknes) and quite enjoyed Essaouira, which you could do as a day trip from Marrakesh.

Fra_Diavolo

Guess it depends on your enthusiasm for Roman mosaics. I was stunned to find so many of such high quality on site. In Europe they'd all be in museums.

As you mentioned, nearby is Meknes and Moulay Idriss.

thursdaysd

I'm a big fan of mosaics, but after Pompeii, Herculaneum, Villa Romana del Casale, etc. etc, even Conimbriga, Volubilis was a disappointment. I guess it depends on what else you've seen.

For photos of Meknes and Volubilis see: http://kwilhelm.smugmug.com/Travel/L...-and-Volubilis

Pollaround

I've only been to Marrakesh, so I can only talk about this experience.
I think that Marrakesh is worth the 2 nights, you need one day to discover the souk, one day to do the maddrassa and the Bahia palace, and during the evenings you can enjoy the main Jame El Fna.
Then you can go to Fes, I didn't visit yet, but really looking forward to it.