Arriving in Fez before your riad check-in: what to do with your bags

You reach Fez on a morning train, your riad only hands over the room at 2pm or 3pm, and you are dragging a 20 kg suitcase. Before heading into the medina, there is one detail many travellers learn too late: the BoxSpot point in Fez only opens at noon. Here is what that changes depending on when you arrive, and how arriving at a riad in Fes el-Bali actually works.

A point that opens at noon: what it means

Barber Shop Alami is a barber's shop in the ville nouvelle. It is not a counter inside the station, and there is currently no BoxSpot point open inside the medina. The exact address and directions appear in your booking: with suitcases, the easiest way is a petit taxi (they are red in Fez, ask for the meter), then follow the directions shown.

• Before 12pm: the point is closed, no drop-off is possible.
• Between 12pm and mid-afternoon: the right window to drop your bags.
• In the evening: pick-up is until 10pm at the latest, which leaves room for a late train or bus.

Keep the geography in mind too: the point is in the ville nouvelle, while most riads are in the medina. Dropping off, sightseeing, coming back for your bags and then heading to the riad means one extra taxi round trip. It is worth it in some cases, not in all.

Arriving at 9am: your real options

Let's be honest: at 9am, BoxSpot cannot help you in Fez. Here is what works.

1. Ask the riad to keep your bags. Many riads and hotels will take suitcases before check-in time, even if the room is not ready. Message them the day before to confirm and ask about any conditions.
2. Get met at the gate. If the riad keeps your bags, plan the arrival as explained below: taxi to the nearest gate, then someone from the riad or a porter.
3. Take your time in the ville nouvelle. Breakfast in a café, a stroll, then drop-off at the point at 12pm. This only makes sense if your riad really cannot keep your bags, or if you are staying in the ville nouvelle.

Arriving late morning or at noon

A train arriving around 11:30am or noon works well: by the time you leave the station and find a taxi, the point is open. It is especially handy if you are staying in a hotel or flat in the ville nouvelle, where check-in is often in the afternoon: drop your bags, explore the medina hands-free, and collect them on the way to your accommodation. For a first visit without luggage, our guide to the Fez medina without luggage suggests a route from Bab Boujloud to Seffarine square.

Departure day: the ideal case

This is when the Fez point is most useful. Your riad checks you out at noon and your train leaves in the evening. You carry your suitcases out of the medina only once, leave them in the ville nouvelle on the way to the station, and keep the afternoon for yourself. If you are leaving by train, the luggage storage near Fez station page gathers the practical information for the station side.

Reaching a riad in the medina: taxis, gates and porters

Fes el-Bali is pedestrian. Taxis drop you at the gates, not outside the riad, and there is often a few minutes' walk through the lanes, sometimes a quarter of an hour or more depending on the address.

• Ask the riad which gate to give the taxi driver: Bab Boujloud, Bab R'cif or Bab Guissa depending on the neighbourhood. The closest is not always the best known.
• Get picked up. Ask whether someone can wait for you at the gate, especially in the evening or on your first visit.
• Porters with carts: you will be offered one at the gates. Agree on the price before setting off.
• Expect a temperamental GPS: between high walls it gets lost. Save the riad's location offline and keep its phone number handy.

Three arrivals, three calculations

9am train, riad at 2pm

The point is closed when you arrive. The riad keeps your bags: 0 MAD for storage. You explore, and the room is ready at 2pm.

Arrival at noon, flat in the ville nouvelle at 4pm

Drop-off around 12:15pm, pick-up around 4:15pm: 4 hours, the minimum, so 36 MAD for one bag.

Check-out at noon, train at 7pm

Drop-off around 12:30pm, pick-up around 6:15pm, then a taxi to the station. Book 6 hours: 54 MAD for one bag. With two suitcases for a full day, count 59 + 49 = 108 MAD.

Payment is online, by card, in dirhams. At drop-off, the shopkeeper scans your QR code and takes a timestamped photo of your bags; they are only returned against that same QR code. To see the point on the map, visit the Fez luggage storage page. Travelling on to another city? The other BoxSpot points in Morocco are on the luggage storage map.