Palais Calipau

The Palais Calipau stands out first for its size. Where the quarter lines up small riads of five or six rooms, this one has a dozen, around a wide patio planted with orange and banana trees, arched galleries on two levels, tropical frescoes in the sitting rooms. At the middle, a real pool, not the usual ornamental basin: you can swim in it, which stays rare in the medina and comes top of what travellers appreciate. With over eighteen hundred reviews, the address is a settled staple, not a confidential find.

The location plays in the same court as the decor. You are in the middle of the Kasbah, a hundred and fifty metres from the Saadian Tombs, five minutes from the El Badi palace, ringed by the royal palaces, and about ten minutes on foot from Jemaa el-Fna. The house is set up for you to stay: two traditional restaurants, a terrace, afternoon tea, a spa with hammam and massage room. That is the profile of a riad where you can spend a whole day without crossing the door.

The size has its flip side, and it has to be known. On such a big house, with so much footfall, service can lack the warmth of a small address: several travellers describe a welcome or a complaint-handling in retreat, where the quarter’s family riads shine on this very point. Another concrete detail: the rooms opening directly onto the pool patio are the least intimate, with traffic under the windows. Better ask for one set back if you look for calm. The pool is not heated, Wi-Fi is the lowest score, and breakfast may be charged extra depending on the rate.

The Palais Calipau is the right choice when you want a big lively house, a real pool and full equipment at the foot of the Saadian Tombs, without paying palace rates. Much less so when you look for the personal welcome and calm of a small family riad: the scale that makes its strength also makes its limit.