Mouassine Fountain and Quarter

Mouassine is one of the medina's most rewarding districts for a self-guided walk. It took shape in the 1560s and 1570s, when the Saadian sultan Abdallah al-Ghalib built the Mouassine Mosque as the Friday mosque for a redeveloped neighbourhood. Around it he created a religious and charitable complex that included a madrasa, a library, a hammam and a public fountain, and much of that ensemble still functions today.

Start at the Mouassine Fountain, beside the mosque. It has four bays: three were drinking troughs for animals and one supplied water for people, separated by a wooden bar. The original 16th-century cedar corbels and lintel survive, and the painted and carved plaster decoration dates from a renovation around 1867. A Thuluth inscription runs along the lintel, and it is one of the finest fountains in the city. The mosque itself is active and closed to non-Muslims, and its unfinished minaret is unusually short.

From the fountain, the lanes of Mouassine lead in several directions. Rue Mouassine runs south towards Jemaa el-Fnaa and north into the souks, lined with craft shops, while side streets hide restored riads, galleries and design boutiques. Le Jardin Secret, a restored palace garden with a viewing tower, is a few minutes along the same street, and the dyers' souk, with its skeins of coloured wool drying overhead, is close by.

This is a walk to take slowly, allowing an hour or two depending on how often you stop. Shopkeepers here are generally used to visitors browsing without buying, but bargaining is normal if you do. Mornings are calmer, and a map app with offline data helps, as the lanes twist. The streets suit families and solo travellers alike, although motorbikes pass through, so keep to the side.

Mouassine lies about ten minutes' walk north-west of Jemaa el-Fnaa. Dar El Bacha and Bacha Coffee are a short walk west, and Café Arabe, on Rue Mouassine, is a convenient place to finish with lunch or a drink on its roof terrace. Nomad and the spice square of Rahba Kedima are a little further east if you want to continue exploring. Petits taxis cannot enter the lanes, so plan to arrive and leave on foot from Jemaa el-Fnaa or the nearest road. Bring small change for purchases, as many shops prefer cash.