In short
Fes el-Bali, the medina founded in the ninth century, has close to ten thousand lanes and no cars. Goods move by donkey. It is the largest car-free urban area in the world, and a World Heritage site.
Al-Qarawiyyin university, founded in 859, is regarded as the oldest still operating in the world.
What it really costs
Fes is cheaper than Marrakech, with restored riads at noticeably lower rates for a denser heritage.
The train reaches Casablanca in three hours and Tangier in four on the high-speed line. Morocco's rail network is cheap and reliable.
What nobody tells you
You get lost in the medina, and it is structural: the lanes follow no readable plan and GPS works badly there. An official guide for the first half day saves two days.
The Chouara tanneries are viewed from the terraces of the surrounding leather shops. Access is presented as free and followed by a hard sell; the smell, meanwhile, is genuinely strong.
Fake guides approach at the medina gates and claim the street is closed or that a festival is on elsewhere. It is the classic ploy, and it leads without fail to a shop.