Between the old medina of Fes el-Bali and the Marinid-built Fes el-Jdid, there is a 7.5-hectare green corridor that does what no other corner of the city does: lets you breathe. The Jnan Sbil gardens — also known historically as Bou Jeloud — opened to the public in 1917 and were fully restored between 2006 and 2010 under the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection.

The footprint dates further back to the 19th-century reign of Sultan Moulay Hassan I, who laid out the gardens as a royal pleasure ground inside the corridor of walls he had built to link the two medinas. Today the grounds hold over three thousand plant species across Andalusian, Mexican and Bamboo sections, fed by water channels off the Oued Fes, with a central pond and bird coops housing peacocks and doves.

Entry is free, the garden is open daily during daylight hours, and locals come in droves at dusk to promenade. In early summer the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music holds afternoon concerts among the palms. As a walking route the gardens are the most pleasant 20-minute corridor in the medina — Bab Bou Jeloud at the eastern gate, Place des Alaouites and the Mellah at the western gate.