# Markets & medinas

> The best markets & medinas to visit: Marrakech, Fes, Istanbul, Bangkok, Tangier. Travel guide and street photography prints for each.

- Source: https://clevertourists.com/guides/collection-markets-and-medinas
- Authors: Evan & Clara, Clever Tourists (first-hand, from a 526-day trip across 20 countries)
- Published: 2026-04-08

A good market doesn't need a reason beyond itself. These are the ones we'd have visited even without a shopping list.

## Places

### Marrakech, Morocco

Marrakech, the largest of Morocco's imperial cities, spreads beneath the snow-capped High Atlas at the edge of the plains. Its red-earth ramparts enclose a dense medina of souks, palaces and riads, while the open square of Jemaa el-Fnaa has been a center of trade and performance for nearly a thousand years.

### Fes, Morocco

Fes is Morocco's oldest imperial city and the seat of its spiritual and intellectual heritage. Its walled medina, Fes el-Bali, is one of the largest car-free urban areas in the world, a dense warren of thousands of alleys, workshops and one of the planet's oldest universities.

### Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul spans the Bosphorus strait that divides Europe from Asia, the only major city set across two continents. Once capital of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, it layers monumental mosques, palaces, churches and covered markets across its hills.

### Bangkok, Thailand

A frenetic capital of glittering temples, canals, street food and soaring skyline.

### Tangier, Morocco

Tangier stands at the northern tip of Morocco, overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic and the Spanish coast is visible across the water. Long a cosmopolitan port and former international zone, it blends Moroccan, Spanish and European influences.