Riad Dar Al Assad

The Riad Dar Al Assad holds in six rooms behind a studded door, in a derb of the Dabachi quarter, at the core of the medina. The quarter is one of the most central of the old town: Jemaa el-Fna is two hundred metres away, the souk starts at the corner, and the Bahia palace is a ten-minute walk. You are at the middle of everything, which makes the address’s point and its flip - the Dabachi lanes are busy, and the return by night takes knowing your way.

It is in its patio that the house sets itself apart. The court, two floors high with arcaded galleries, is covered by a glass roof and planted with ivy and bougainvillea that spill from the balconies. At the middle, rare in a medina riad, a real lap pool in turquoise zellige, large enough to dip into and swim a few strokes, not a plain patio water point. That is the strength of the address, and the reason it counts among the pool riads of the old town. The six rooms open onto this court or on the floors, each in a coloured register - deep green walls, four-poster bed, adjoining sitting corner, private bathroom.

The terrace, on the top level, unfolds fringed parasols, low benches and reed mashrabiya against the sun. Continental breakfast is taken in the morning, tea in the afternoon, and you go up at sundown when the city lights. The house has its Beldi hammam in the basement, with black-soap scrub and massages on booking, and a restaurant serves dinner on site in the evening, on order. Travellers give the address 9.6 on Booking on more than five hundred reviews, with a 9.8 mention for couples’ stays, which says the profile of the house. For anyone after the same register, the quarter has no shortage of houses with a water point in the court: see the other pool riads of the medina.

That leaves who it fits. The lap pool is a real strength, but you have to take it for what it is: a patio pool under a glass roof, in the shade a good part of the day, rather cool in shoulder seasons and without the direct sun of a garden basin. The location, right in Dabachi, is a strength by day and a constraint by night: busy lanes, taxi access stopping at a distance, last metres on foot with the bags, and no parking. You go up by stairs, and the house rents only six rooms: you share the court and the terrace with the other guests, which makes the address’s charm but little intimacy on a full night. For a couple or two friends wanting a real medina house, a water point to cool off, a terrace and an on-site hammam from around £94 a night, two steps from Jemaa el-Fna, the address lands right and is well placed. For anyone travelling with a large family or expecting an outdoor pool to swim lengths in the sun, better look at the large garden houses of the Palmeraie. Here, you pay first for a spot at the core of the old town and a basin few riads have.