Riad Salman

The Riad Salman sits in a medina house, at the end of a derb of Bab Doukkala, at the north-west corner of the old town. The quarter, on the Dar el Bacha side, has stayed residential: you are off the commercial pressure of the souks, but within reach of everything. Reckon a quarter of an hour on foot to Jemaa el-Fna, about ten minutes to Le Jardin Secret, on the other side of the medina. One detail to know before leaving: several travellers report a GPS that gets lost in the derbs, better be met at an agreed pick-up point.

At the middle, a real pool in zellige, edged with steps and benches lined with cushions, under an arched gallery and a wrought-iron staircase that climbs to the floors. That is the asset that sets the house apart from many riads of the same calibre: here, the water point is not a plain cool basin, you actually bathe at hot hours - without illusions on its size, it stays short and you do not swim lengths. The rooms, about a dozen, open onto this court or on the floors, each in hand-rubbed tadelakt, with inlaid-wood furniture, stained-glass windows and private bathrooms with tinted lime walls. Air conditioning is standard, Wi-Fi included, and the house rents family rooms for anyone travelling with children.

The terrace, on the top level, unfolds a caidal tent, low benches and rugs. Continental breakfast is taken here in the morning, and you go back up at sundown, when a minaret stands out over the medina rooftops. The Moroccan cooking books at table in the evening, and you can get a massage or enjoy the jacuzzi and beauty treatments on site. Travellers give the house 9.1 on Booking on over sixteen hundred reviews, with a 9.7 mention for the team: that is where the stay first plays, in the welcome. For anyone after the same register, the quarter has no shortage of houses run in this spirit: see the other medina riads with pool. There is a caveat that comes back in the reviews: the venue answers poorly on cancellations or changes, and a few travellers complain about it - read the conditions before booking. For a couple or a family wanting a real medina house, a patio to bathe in and a terrace with a view from around £60 a night, the address lands right and is well placed. For anyone expecting a pool for swimming lengths or hotel services with parking, better look at the big garden houses of the Palmeraie. Here, you pay first for a cool court and a spot in the middle of the old town.