Covered Market

Meknes


Virtually a tourist attraction in itself, the medina's main market hall is bursting with beautifully arranged pyramids of sugary sweet delicacies, baskets of dried fruits and olives in glistening piles. The faint-hearted may want to avoid the butchers and the automated chicken-plucking machines on the west side. The activity spills out onto the street out back, too.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Meknes attractions

1. Place El Hedim

0.04 MILES

Cleared by Moulay Ismail so his populace could better admire Bab El Mansour, this square is the social heart of the medina, and it really livens up at…

2. Dar Jamaï Museum

0.07 MILES

On the north side of Place El Hedim, this museum was under renovation at last visit, with a possible reopening in 2020. Built in 1882 by the powerful…

3. Bab El Mansour

0.08 MILES

The focus of Place El Hedim is this huge gate, perhaps the grandest of all imperial Moroccan gateways. The gate is well preserved, if a bit dulled by soot…

4. Musée de Meknès

0.13 MILES

Housed in the peeling old tribunal building in the imperial city walls, this small museum is long overdue for a refresh, but while the larger Dar Jamaï…

5. Koubbat As Sufara

0.13 MILES

Moulay Ismail's reception hall for foreign ambassadors is a lovely show of zellige (patterned tile) work. It's here that Unesco officially inscribed…

6. Place Lalla Aouda

0.16 MILES

South of Bab El Mansour lies this public garden and car park that's a popular place with local families in the evening – less raucous than Place El Hedim,…

7. Medersa Bou Inania

0.17 MILES

Opposite the Grande Mosquée, this religious school, completed in 1358, is typical of the exquisite Merinid interior design. Although it is not as lavish…

8. Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail

0.2 MILES

Closed since 2016 for a massive renovation, the final resting place of the sultan who made Meknes his capital in the 17th century is ordinarily a must-see…