Fes or Marrakech?

Neither city has a beach, and for swimming both come down to a hotel pool or a riad's plunge pool, which matter a lot in the summer heat. Marrakech has a little more on offer: Essaouira's windy Atlantic sands are a long day away, and the Lalla Takerkoust reservoir makes a lakeside afternoon about 40km out. From Fes, the coast is roughly three hours off in either direction and seldom worth the drive.

The two cities eat equally well, but in different styles. Fes is known for its refined, Andalusian-influenced cooking, such as pigeon pastilla with almonds and cinnamon and tagines with quince, and it is at its best over a long multi-course dinner in a riad. Breakfast bowls of bissara and sfenj doughnuts are the street food of the medina.

Marrakech is more of a city for eating outdoors. You get tanjia slow-cooked in the embers of a hammam furnace, mechoui lamb pulled from underground ovens, and the grill stalls of Jemaa el-Fna at dusk. It also has more international restaurants in Gueliz, though in both cities alcohol stays in hotels and licensed places.

Both are UNESCO-listed medinas of the first rank, so the difference is in character. Fes el-Bali is the more complete medieval city, a car-free maze where tanners, coppersmiths and woodworkers still work, built around the Quaraouiyine and the superb Bou Inania and Al-Attarine madrasas.

Marrakech is more about monuments and spectacle. It has the Koutoubia minaret, the Saadian Tombs, the Bahia and El Badi palaces and the Ben Youssef Madrasa, along with a twentieth-century layer at the Jardin Majorelle and the Yves Saint Laurent museum. Its main sights fit into two or three days, while Fes rewards slower wandering.

Marrakech has much more to do after dark. Jemaa el-Fna stays crowded with food stalls and performers well into the evening, and Hivernage and Gueliz have lounge bars, rooftop terraces and a handful of large clubs with DJs, though prices there feel more like a resort than Morocco.

Fes has little of this. The medina empties when the shops close, and the few hotel bars in the Ville Nouvelle are the only options. A night out there means dinner and mint tea on a roof terrace.

Marrakech has the stronger outdoor offer because the High Atlas is right there. Imlil is the starting point for village walks and the climb of Jebel Toubkal, the Ourika valley leads to waterfalls, Oukaimeden has winter skiing, and the stony Agafay desert offers camel rides and balloon flights much closer to town.

Fes has quieter, greener landscapes. The cedar forests around Azrou with their wild Barbary macaques, the lakes on the Middle Atlas plateaux and Tazekka National Park suit gentle walks rather than big days in the mountains, and you need a car or driver to reach any of them.

Fes is the much better base for seeing other towns. Meknes is a short train ride away, and a single day with a driver can take in its imperial gates, the Roman mosaics of Volubilis and the holy town of Moulay Idriss. Ifrane, Sefrou and the cave houses of Bhalil add variety to the south.

Marrakech's excursions are mostly into the countryside rather than to other towns. Essaouira makes a long day that is better with an overnight stay, Ait Benhaddou needs a night, and closer to the city there are mainly village souks at Asni and Amizmiz and the remote Almohad mosque at Tinmel.

Neither city is easy with young children: both medinas are crowded mazes with persistent sellers and fierce summer heat. Fes adds steep lanes, donkeys and the smell of the tannery quarter, while Marrakech has a water park, camel rides in the palm grove and the acrobats of Jemaa el-Fna. In both, the answer is a base with a pool and older children who enjoy a bit of adventure.

Getting around is similar in both: you walk the medina, get lost now and then, and take petit taxis to the new town. Fes el-Bali is completely car-free but steeper and more confusing, and porters with handcarts carry luggage from the gates. Marrakech's flatter medina has motorbikes squeezing through the lanes, and its taxis often need the fare agreed before you set off. Fes has one advantage for excursions, the train to Meknes.

Both are excellent for crafts. Fes is where much of the work is actually made: leather straight from the tanneries, copper hammered in the Seffarine square, and Fassi blue pottery and zellige tiles with the workshop behind the counter.

Marrakech is more of a marketplace with a modern edge. Its souks are laid out by trade and full of carpets, lanterns, argan oil and Berber jewellery, while Gueliz has concept stores and Sidi Ghanem has showrooms where designers rework traditional crafts. Neither city has luxury fashion.

Fes is the cheaper of the two. Street food, taxis, madrasa entries and modest medina riads all cost very little, and only grand riads, private drivers and alcohol push spending up.

Marrakech is also cheap at street level, but it has a much larger luxury tier of palace hotels, boutique riads and smart restaurants. First prices in its souks are set high for visitors, so careful spending takes more effort there.

Fes has the more serious musical tradition. Andalusian classical music and Sufi devotional music both run deep there, and the Festival of World Sacred Music fills palace gardens and old gates with concerts. Outside the festival, though, you are left with occasional Sufi evenings and music at riad dinners.

Marrakech's performing life happens mostly in Jemaa el-Fna, with gnawa musicians, drummers and storytellers every night for free. Beyond the square and the Popular Arts Festival, most staged entertainment is belly-dancing dinner shows aimed at tourists.

The hammam is part of daily life in both cities, and in both the real rest comes from a riad courtyard away from the noise of the medina. Marrakech has the wider range of spa hammams, from neighbourhood baths to lavish marble spas with argan oil massages, and gardens such as Majorelle and Agdal for a quiet hour. Fes has something Marrakech lacks: the centuries-old hot springs of Moulay Yacoub, about half an hour away, with Sidi Harazem closer still.