Alrashid

The Alrashid settles from the door the question anyone booking a medina riad asks: is there room to swim? Here, yes. The patio does not sit around a decorative bowl but a long turquoise basin, tiled in zellige, large and deep enough to dip into after a day in the souks, and a second basin waits on the roof. In the Mellah, where most houses offer a stretch of water you admire without stepping in, that is a real point of difference, and it is likely what explains the place the pool holds in the reviews.

The rest is a riad by the rules, and recent. A single-patio house, on several levels, iron mashrabiya galleries, rooms in coloured tadelakt under sculpted plaster ceilings, marble mosaic floors. Aggregators hesitate between “riad” and “boutique hotel”. The bones leave no doubt: this is a riad. Eleven rooms only, run by a family on site, which comes through in the comments: the welcome tops the satisfaction, ahead of the pool.

On services, the house does more than its size suggests. A full spa, with traditional hammam, steam room, jacuzzi and massage room, prices unlisted. A dinner prepared on request, different each evening, Moroccan or Mediterranean cooking, special diets accepted, in the absence of a restaurant open to the public. And breakfast served on the terrace, under the pergola, next to the roof basin.

Two caveats, and they belong to what a riad is. The first, noise: the rooms open onto the patio, and several travellers report you hear the house, the other rooms and the court, early morning and late evening. It is the trade-off for an architecture turned inward, sharper here than elsewhere because the house is small and lively. The second, the water: neither the patio pool nor the roof one is said to be heated, and winter guests found them too cold to enjoy. In peak heat, it is exactly the asset most neighbours lack.

For two travellers, or a family, wanting a Mellah riad within a quarter of an hour of the square, with a real basin to cool off in and a spa, at a contained price, the Alrashid is a rare choice in the quarter. For anyone with a light sleep after the calm of a large hushed house, better ask for a room set back from the patio, or look elsewhere.