11 Best Shopping in Fez and the Middle Atlas, Morocco

The first store from the award-winning Anou Cooperative showcases fair-trade shopping at its finest. Owned and managed by a group of more than 600 artisans from around Morocco, the cooperative was set up to cut out the middleman and give 100% of the price tag back to the makers. You can meet the artisans, try a workshop, or just shop till you drop for handcrafted rugs, jewelry, leather bags, ceramics, and more; then enjoy a mint tea on the rooftop terrace.

Hamid Hakim, proprietor of this carpet shop, gives an impeccably seasoned and erudite presentation of Moroccan rugs and carpets as well as the architecture and traditional life in a privileged Moroccan residence. This 14th-century palace has exquisite ceilings of carved cedar restored and enriched with olive oil. Mr. Hakim's assistants roll and unroll a large selection of rugs with great flair and precision while serving an excellent mint tea. Prices are steep and tough negotiating is required—don't feel pressured to buy unless you are comfortable with the price. The store is large enough to accept credit cards and ships rugs overseas—and they really do arrive.

A family affair, this long-established carpet and antiques shop has been in the Bouzidi-Idrissi family for decades. Besides stocking tribal carpets in all hues and textures, from shaggy Beni Ourain to tightly woven kilims, the store carries ornate silver jewelry, Fassi pottery, silk caftans, and antique wooden doors. They can ship everything to your door, too.

The government-run Ensemble Artisanal is, as always in Moroccan cities, a good place to watch craftspeople at work and check for fixed-price, quality handcrafted products and prices before haggling in the souks.

Azrou's artisan center, just off the P24 to Khénifra (and a mere five-minute walk from Place Mohammed V), is a collection of small crafts shops selling carpets, kilims, leatherwork, and cedarwood and stone carvings.

These two adjoining 13th-century fondouks are dedicated to disappearing crafts, such as ornate Fassi embroidery, wooden hammam buckets, and fire bellows, making it easy to buy direct from the artisans. Then use the elevator and head to the roof terrace for stunning medina views. It's part of an ambitious project involving the Millennium Challenge Corporation, in which several long-abandoned fondouks—medieval inns built around a courtyard, where traveling merchants parked their animals on the ground floor, stored their goods, and slept upstairs—have been restored to their former glory, with soaring stone columns and fragrant cedarwood balconies. 

Hundreds of handcrafted bronze, copper, and silver objects, antique and new, are sold at affordable prices.

At this family-run workshop, Ezzouak Abdelhak specializes in the fast-disappearing art of damascening (meticulously inlaying a thread of gold, silver, or copper onto a metal surface), creating exquisite decorative objects and jewelry.

Discover the intricate work of local embroiderers, including beautiful tablecloths and napkins.

A specialist in the disappearing art of damascening (inlaying a thread of gold, silver, or copper on a metal surface), the Palais sells jewelry and decorative vases and dishes.

The picturesque Place Seffarine is the place for all things metal: bowls, boxes, candleholders, and ornate lamps. You can watch the artisans as they rhythmically hammer the copper and brass into shape outside their workshops. For a ringside seat, stop for a mint tea break at the Crémerie La Place.