Car hire in Fes from $22/day

Renting without a deposit in Fes

189 cars can be rented with no deposit at all, starting at $27.89 a day. Nothing is blocked on your card. The “No deposit” button above the search shows only these cars. Deposit terms appear in the booking conditions before confirming.

Is it worth hiring a car in Fes?

Inside the city, mostly no. Fes el-Bali, the old medina, is a car-free maze of alleys that no vehicle can enter, and the Ville Nouvelle is a short petit-taxi ride from most hotels, so a rental car sits idle while you're staying in Fes itself. Where it pays off is the day you leave: Meknes and Volubilis, the towns of the Middle Atlas, and the long road south toward the Sahara are all things you reach far more easily with your own car than by tour or shared transport. Most visitors are better off starting the rental on the day they leave the city, either with delivery to the hotel that morning or a pick-up on the way out through Fes-Saïss airport, rather than paying for a car parked outside the medina walls for several days first.

Picking up at Fes-Saïss Airport (FEZ)

For collection at Fes-Saïss, check that your chosen offer covers the airport and follow its desk or meeting instructions; compare the full price with city hand-over. Give your flight number when you book so a late or delayed arrival is covered, and check the offer for whether an out-of-hours hand-over carries an extra fee. The airport sits a short drive south of the city, about 35 minutes to the medina gates, depending on traffic, which makes it a convenient place to start a trip that heads straight for Ifrane and the south without a detour through central Fes. Returning is the same in reverse: fill the tank and agree the return point before your flight.

Parking at the medina: the car stays outside the walls

No car enters Fes el-Bali. You park at a gate, such as Bab Boujloud, and walk in, often with a porter and cart carrying your bags the rest of the way if your riad arranges one. Guarded car parks sit at several of the main gates; ask your riad in advance which one is closest and whether someone will meet you there, since the alleys inside are not signposted the way a driver would expect. On the approach roads it's common for unofficial guides to wave cars down and offer to lead you in for a fee: it's simplest to decline politely and follow your riad's own directions instead. The Ville Nouvelle is ordinary city driving, with paid street parking usually watched by an attendant. Around 98% of cars here can be delivered straight to a hotel outside the medina walls, which avoids the gate-and-porter step entirely for a first or last night.

Day trips from Fes: Meknes, Volubilis and the Middle Atlas

Meknes and Volubilis, and Ifrane, Azrou and Sefrou in the Middle Atlas, are the easy day trips from Fes by car.

The road south from Fes to Merzouga and the Sahara

The road south from Fes to Merzouga is paved all the way and is best treated as two days rather than one, with an overnight stop partway.

Which car for Fes and the road south

For day trips and the paved run down to Merzouga, a compact car from $20.08 a day is enough. For the full loop over the Middle Atlas passes, a compact SUV from $44.62 rides more comfortably, and families travelling together often prefer a 7-seater from $50.19. A 4x4 only matters once you leave the paved road for the desert tracks beyond Merzouga. Automatics make up 63% of the fleet here, so they're easy to find if you'd rather not shift gears on the mountain passes. Available models in Fes include Renault Clio, Dacia Sandero, Dacia Logan, Peugeot 208, Kia Picanto. Morocco drives on the right, the same as most of mainland Europe. For licence requirements and other country-wide advice, see the Morocco car hire page.

Rental companies in Fes and at the airport

Both international desks and local firms operate in Fes and at Fes-Saïss airport, and this page compares their offers side by side on price, deposit and cancellation terms rather than by brand. 74% of cars need no deposit at all, with some available from $27.89 a day, and 73% of bookings can be cancelled free of charge if your plans change. A share of offers also come with unlimited mileage (92%), worth checking if the drive south to Merzouga is on your itinerary. When comparing reviews, the details that matter most are how promptly deposits are returned, the condition of the car at hand-over, and whether pick-up ran on time.