Sidi Harazem Thermal Baths

A hot spring has been used at Sidi Harazem for centuries, and in 1960 the architect Jean-François Zevaco was commissioned to build a thermal station around it - a complex of raw concrete pavilions, canopies, terraces, a hotel and pools set among palms in the valley, in a modernist idiom adapted to shade and water rather than imported wholesale, and it is now regarded as one of the significant buildings of post-independence Moroccan architecture. It decayed badly for decades. A restoration project supported by an international conservation award began in the 2010s, documenting and repairing the structures, and it has become a case study in what to do with twentieth-century concrete heritage in a country that mostly has not decided. The baths still operate at a local level, the water is bottled and sold nationally under the same name, and the site is busy with Moroccan visitors rather than foreign ones.

What you actually see

• A 1960 concrete spa - Zevaco pavilions and canopies built round a hot spring.
• Modernism adapted - shade, water and terrace rather than an imported idiom.
• A restoration in progress - documented and repaired under an international award.
• A local clientele - Moroccan visitors using the baths, not a tourist spa.

When to go

October to April. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Restoration is partial and much of the site is still worn. The baths are basic and local rather than a hotel spa. Facilities and cleanliness vary. It is fifteen kilometres out of Fes and needs a taxi.

Nearby

Fes is west; Taza and Tazekka are east along the road.