Riad Lena & Spa

The Riad Lena holds in a patio house of the Derb El Hammam, at the core of Riad Laarous, a residential quarter north of the medina. The quarter is one of the liveliest of the old town: two steps away, the Dar el Bacha palace and its café, the famous Dyers’ street, ovens and local grocers. You are off the crush of the great souks, but within reach of everything: eight to ten minutes on foot is enough to reach Jemaa el-Fna.

Two levels of white arcaded galleries rise towards the open sky, and at the middle, a cool basin in blue zellige in the shape of a clover, ringed by potted palms and benches. Let’s be clear straightaway: this is a cool point, not a pool where you swim. You dip your feet at hot hours, you do not do lengths. The ten rooms open onto this court or on the terrace, in a classic Moroccan register: ochre or yellow walls, hand-rubbed tadelakt, painted headboards, Berber rugs, private bathrooms. In the basement, a small spa shelters a marble hammam and a treatment room. On the roof, a jacuzzi facing the terraces. The stay plays most of all up there and at table: breakfast and dinner are taken on the covered terrace, which looks over the medina rooftops.

That leaves who it fits, and being honest about the score. With 8.1 on Booking - the lowest of this selection - the Riad Lena is not a faultless address, and the reviews say where it hurts. The house has a few years on it, and it shows: travellers regularly flag rooms a little dark and small, uneven upkeep (tired paint, cracks, bathroom fittings to revisit), a fickle Wi-Fi in the rooms and a breakfast served late, from 8am, which complicates early departures on excursion. Most of all, several winter stays report rooms cool in the evening despite the heating - a classic of old medina houses, but to know before booking in the cold season. In return, the service is what saves the score: the welcome and the team’s availability come back in almost all comments. For a couple or two friends looking for a real old-town riad, well placed and gently priced - from around £60 a night - without demanding the impeccable comfort of a new hotel, the address stands up. For anyone travelling in deep winter, expecting a lap pool or a hitch-free standing, better compare with the other medina riads before choosing. Here, you pay first for a spot in the old town and a careful welcome, not for the new.