Riad Al Rimal & Spa

The Riad Al Rimal & Spa does not hold in a single house, but in three, joined behind a door of the Ksour quarter, west of Jemaa el-Fna. Here, the scale changes: by joining three dwellings, the house lines up seventeen rooms and suites, a rare number for a medina riad, and gives itself the means for equipment you do not expect at this address. Ksour is one of the best-placed quarters of the old town: Jemaa el-Fna and the Koutoubia are reached in two to five minutes on foot, no taxi, and the souks start at the corner of the street.

The patio is where the difference plays. At the middle of the court, under the arcaded galleries and the potted palms, a real heated pool, big enough to swim a few strokes, where most riads make do with a cool basin. The walls are washed in white lime, the decor holds in the furniture - hide chairs, raffia lamps, old doors set against the walls: you are closer to the redrawn riad than to the aged house. The rooms and suites are spread over the floors of the three houses, terracotta tile floors, headboards in pale zellige, dark green painted doors, tadelakt bathrooms, some of which open by a window onto the terrace. Wi-Fi picks up the lowest score on the review card, around 7.7: the network weakens depending on the floor.

The stay then extends on the roof and at the spa. The terrace, sheltered by taut sails, holds breakfast in the morning and the Kach Kech restaurant in the evening, Moroccan cooking served facing the Koutoubia minaret. A jacuzzi and a sundeck take the top level, the minaret lighting at sundown. Below, a hammam with black soap and kessa glove, a massage room and body treatments let you close the day without going back out - the hammam and some treatments are charged, to settle on site. Travellers give the house 9.0 on Booking on nearly a thousand reviews, with a 9.5 mention for the location and couples’ stays, which says where it scores points. For anyone after the same register, the old town has no shortage of addresses with a water point: see the other medina riads with pool.

That leaves who it fits. The first caveat has to do with the scale: with seventeen rooms and three joined houses, you are closer to a hotel than to a family riad, and you do not always cross the same faces at breakfast. What makes the pool and the spa also loses the intimacy of a five-room house. Access goes on foot through lanes sometimes crowded with carts and mopeds, there is no private parking, and Wi-Fi is uneven depending on the floor. The 8.7 score for value for money stays the lowest of the criteria, worth keeping in mind once suites and high season are factored in. For a couple or a family wanting a central riad, a heated pool to swim, a hammam and a terrace with a view from around £55 a night, the address lands right and is well placed. For anyone looking for the calm of a small guesthouse and a family welcome, better aim more modest. Here, you pay first for the position in the middle of the medina and for equipment you rarely find at Jemaa el-Fna’s door.