Riad Awa

The Riad Awa holds in six rooms behind a medina door, in a derb of the kasbah quarter, south of the old town. The kasbah is the southern medina quarter, set around the royal palace and the Moulay El Yazid mosque, whose minaret dominates the rooftops. The Saadian Tombs are a two-minute walk away, the Bahia palace and El Badi palace a quarter of an hour, and Jemaa el-Fna is reached on foot in about ten minutes. You are in the middle of the old town, but off the pressure of the souks, in a sector more monumental than commercial.

The house plays a contemporary note here rather than the loaded decors you expect: a double-height white court, arched galleries on two levels, low benches and modern canvases, punctuated with a few coloured pieces. The six rooms and suites open onto this court and on the floors, in a plain register - grey-painted doors, sand-coloured tadelakt, brass lanterns, bathrooms with masonry washbasins. Wi-Fi comes through poorly in some rooms. Worth knowing: several travellers find the rooms small, and those on the ground floor, less bright, get the most mixed reviews. Better ask for a floor when booking.

The house set its pool up on the terrace, on two levels, between straw parasols, sun loungers and a daybed with yellow cushions. You cool off at hot hours, the kasbah minaret in the frame, and you take breakfast in the morning. That is the address’s asset, and the reason it counts among the houses that set their basin on the heights: see the other roof-pool riads. On the ground floor, a hammam and a massage room let you close the day on site, with scrub and treatments on request, at a supplement. The Moroccan table books ahead and is taken on the terrace or in the court. Travellers give the house 8.5 on Booking, with a 9.3 mention for the location and 9.2 for the welcome, which says where the address’s interest lies.

That leaves who it fits. The 8.5, more measured than the neighbouring riads, comes down to concrete points: the roof pool is a basin for cooling off, not for swimming lengths. The rooms are judged small, Wi-Fi weak, and a few travellers report daily housekeeping in retreat and insects in the lower rooms. The welcome, in return, comes back often in the reviews as a strong point, the location more so. Access goes on foot through the lanes, there is no parking, and you go up by stairs, no lift. For a couple or two friends wanting a real kasbah house, a terrace with pool and view over the minaret, an on-site hammam and a reasonable entry rate from around £84 a night, the address lands right and is well placed. For anyone expecting big rooms, a lap pool or hotel services, better look at the big garden houses of the Palmeraie. Here, you pay first for a spot at the foot of the Saadian Tombs and a swim on the rooftops.