For the widest view of Fes el-Bali — minarets, tannery roofs, the spire of Bou Inania, the green dome of Moulay Idris II, the valley wall climbing toward the Marinid Tombs — there is one obvious viewpoint and it has stood there for over four centuries. Borj Nord is a Saadian fortress built in 1582 by sultan Ahmad al-Mansour, modelled on contemporary Portuguese coastal forts, with star-shaped bastions designed for the gunpowder age.

Inside the walls now is Morocco's first arms and armour museum, founded in 1963 and reopened in March 2025 after a multi-year renovation. The collection runs to roughly 5,000 pieces from 35 countries: axes, sabres, Iranian helmets, ornamental saddles, pistols, revolvers, cannons. Many of the firearms were made just below the fortress in the 1886 Makina arms factory next to the royal palace.

The centrepiece of the museum is a Saadian cannon recovered from the 1578 Battle of the Three Kings near Ksar el-Kebir — roughly five metres long, twelve tonnes, displayed in its own dedicated room. Hours run Tuesday through Sunday, roughly 09:00 to noon and 14:00 to 17:00; the fortress is closed Mondays. Reach it on foot uphill from Bab Guissa in fifteen to twenty minutes, or by petit taxi.