In the medina, the patio house behind a low door is the norm and the hotel the exception: you sleep here most often in a riad. You stay inside the walls, quiet ten metres from a souk, and you accept that access ends on foot - cars do not enter the derbs, and bags travel the last stretch by hand. This is the quarter of character and the old ways, not the one where you park at the door. Hotels and riads are gathered below, to compare by budget and by style.
Six rooms run by Mauro behind a medina door, at Rahba Lakdima, a seven-minute walk from Jemaa el-Fna. Numa Marrakech is a former house redrawn in a contemporary vein: white lime and tadelakt, a cool patio basin, rooftop terrace, basement hammam. You come here for the calm and the table, not for large-hotel facilities.
Five rooms around a patio basin, in a derb of Bab Doukkala, a quarter of an hour on foot from Jemaa el-Fna. The Riad El Youssoufi is a small-scale medina house: hand-set green zellige, a cool basin in the court, rooftop terrace for breakfast. You come for the calm and the welcome, not for the equipment of a large hotel.
Six rooms around a fountain patio, in an Azbeth derb ten minutes on foot from Jemaa el-Fna. The Riad Hizad is a medina house whose asset sits on the roof: a real heated pool, set in a terrace garden, with dinner tables and Berber tent. You come here for that rooftop and for the house you can rent whole, not for the services of a large hotel.
Six rooms behind a studded door of a Dabachi derb, two steps from Jemaa el-Fna. The Riad Dar Al Assad is an old medina house whose patio still holds, rare enough, a real lap pool covered by a glass roof, between two arcaded galleries. Rooftop terrace, quiet hammam, evening table. You come here for the central position and the patio water.
The Riad El Hara holds in six rooms, a cream tadelakt patio and a welcome - Karima and the owner - that travellers cite ahead of the rest. You are at Bab Doukkala, off the bustle, with a heated pool and a hammam on the roof. A small house that receives you like at home, and it comes through in every comment.
Ten suites in a set of houses joined together, at the end of a derb in the northern medina, two minutes from the Ben Youssef Medersa. Le Farnatchi is a luxury riad run by about twenty staff: a heated 7-metre pool in a patio, a white marble hammam, a spa and a table, Le Trou au Mur. You come here for the service and the calm, at a palace rate.
Commissioned by King Mohammed VI and opened in 2010, the Royal Mansour does not rent rooms but 53 private riads, linked by a maze of lanes inside the medina, a few steps from the Koutoubia. A medina within the medina, where staff move through underground galleries and never cross paths with guests. It is the most expensive address in Marrakech, and one of the most discreet.
Eight rooms around a patio covered by a glass roof, in the Riad Laarous quarter, north of the medina. The Riad Adika & Spa blends Moroccan decor and modern comfort: a cool basin at the middle of the court, traditional hammam, massage room and terrace for candlelit dinners. You come here for the calm of a small-scale house, on foot from Jemaa el-Fna.
Nine rooms around two patios, in a derb of Riad Zitoune Jdid, a five-minute walk from Jemaa el-Fna. The Riad le Clos des Arts is a medina house brought up to date: green zellige in the court, chiselled plaster ceilings, solar-heated hammam and a cool basin on the roof. You come here for the decor and the location, two steps from the Bahia palace.
A former home at the end of a derb behind the Bahia palace, a three-minute walk from its gardens. Nine rooms around a large planted patio, a fountain at the middle, a fireplace sitting room covered in zellige, and on the roof a pavilion terrace with a basin for the hot hours. You come here for the age of the place and the calm of the quarter.
A ten-minute walk from Jemaa el-Fna, the Riad l'Oiseau du Paradis takes an old medina house behind a studded door of the derb Cherrata. Fourteen rooms around a patio planted with an orange tree, a basin to dip the feet, a hammam, and a terrace that reveals the Koutoubia. You come here for the calm two steps from the tumult, not for palace volumes.
Five rooms around a patio pool, in a derb of Diour Saboune, north of the medina, an eight-minute walk from Jemaa el-Fna. The Riad du Ciel is an old dwelling, painted cedar ceilings and zellige walls, with a real swim basin in the court and one of the highest terraces of the quarter. You come here for the calm and the position, near the Ben Youssef Medersa.
Eight rooms around a columned patio, in a Kaa El Houma derb behind the Bahia palace, a ten-minute walk from Jemaa el-Fna. The Riad Houma is a medina house with contemporary decor: tadelakt and dark wood, sitting room open onto the court, and on the roof a basin terrace facing the palm trees. You come here for the calm and the table, not for the equipment of a large hotel.
Eight rooms in an 18th-century dwelling, behind a medina door at Bab Doukkala, run by a Swiss owner on site. The Riad Clementine keeps its orange-tree patio and has set its pool a floor up, on the terrace: a real heated pool where you swim, rare for an old-town riad. You come here for that swim and the calm, not for a spa.
The Palais Tara & Spa is one of the rare medina riads classified 5-star, and it shows from the entrance: painted cedar ceilings, stained-glass sitting rooms, marble and zellige. A heated pool on the roof, an indoor pool, a real spa with hammam and sauna, a five-minute walk from Le Jardin Secret.
Seven rooms around a patio basin, in a derb of Bab Doukkala, a quarter of an hour on foot from Jemaa el-Fna. The Riad la Parenthese by Sashema is a medina house closely run by its host: pink zellige on the headboards, black tadelakt in the bathrooms, planted terrace on the rooftops. You come here for the calm and the welcome, not for the services of a large hotel.
Nine rooms in a medina dwelling, at the end of the derb El Cadi, a ten-minute walk from Jemaa el-Fna. The riad has kept its large fountain patio and its cedar galleries, and has set on the roof a real pool, wide enough to swim, ringed with sun loungers and parasols. You come here for that open-sky swim and the calm of the quarter, not for palace luxury.
Five rooms in a derb of Bab Doukkala, a quarter of an hour on foot from Jemaa el-Fna. Dar d'Art is a medina house that doubles as an exhibition space: contemporary canvases cover the sitting-room walls, refreshed as artists rotate through. An indoor pool at the foot of the stairs, a rooftop terrace with a basin, a hammam to close the day.
Seven rooms around a patio pool, in a derb of the Dabachi quarter, a five-minute walk from Jemaa el-Fna. The Riad 117 is a medina house brought up to date: pale lime and tadelakt, a small swim basin in the middle of the court, a rooftop terrace for breakfast. You come here for the location and the welcome, not for the services of a large hotel.
Six rooms behind a medina door, in the Derb Fhal Zefriti, a four-minute walk from Jemaa el-Fna. The Riad BB Marrakech keeps its fountain patio cool below and has set its pool a floor up, on the terrace, with pergola and rooftop view. You come here for that sundown swim and the central position, not for a spa: there is none.
About ten rooms in a quiet derb of Sidi Ben Slimane, north of the medina, off the pressure of the souks. Two joined houses around orange-tree patios, a zellige swim basin in each court, a hammam and a terrace for breakfast facing the Atlas. You come here for the calm of the quarter and the care of the decor.
The medina's first guesthouse, opened in 1946 at Bab Doukkala, La Maison Arabe is an institution two steps from Jemaa el-Fna. Twenty-six rooms and suites around patios, a cookery school known well beyond the city, a spa and a piano bar. The large pool sits elsewhere: at the country club in the Palmeraie.
Nine rooms around a columned patio, at Derb Dabachi, two minutes from Jemaa el-Fna. The Riad Itrane is a medina house of the old kind: zellige and ochre pink tadelakt, a real pool in the court with counter-current, terraces where you glimpse the Koutoubia and the Atlas. You come here for the location and the calm of the derb, not for the services of a large hotel.
An 18th-century dwelling behind a medina door, a five-minute walk from Jemaa el-Fna, with a pool set on the roof, facing the Koutoubia and the Atlas summits. The Riad Catalina keeps its fountain patio and its orange trees below, and reserves the swim and the view for the terraces. You come here for that roof pool and the position, not for a spa.
Fifteen rooms spread over two medina houses, at Bab Doukkala, a quarter of an hour on foot from Jemaa el-Fna. The Riad Olema et Spa has what most riads do not: a real patio pool where you swim a few strokes, doubled with a second basin and a basement spa. On the roof, a terrace facing the Koutoubia. You come here for that rare equipment in the middle of the old town.
Five rooms around a patio basin, at Arset El Houta, a ten-minute walk from Jemaa el-Fna. The Riad Smara is a small-scale medina house, repainted by its owners: burgundy zellige, painted ceilings, banana trees in the court, rooftop terrace from which you see the Atlas on clear days. You come here for the calm and the welcome, not for the comfort of a large hotel.
A Relais & Châteaux set in a former palace, at the foot of the Koutoubia, between the Royal Palace and Jemaa el-Fna. Thirty-two rooms and suites spread over two levels around three patios planted with orange trees, each with its water point, including a real 16-metre swim basin in the garden. Spa, hammam, restaurant and household service, at the rate of a medina palace.
About a dozen rooms around a patio pool, in a derb of Bab Doukkala, a quarter of an hour on foot from Jemaa el-Fna. The Riad Salman is a medina house over two levels, with a real zellige pool at the middle of the court and a rooftop terrace facing the minaret. You come here for the freshness of the patio and the calm of the quarter.
Eight rooms behind a medina door, at Riad Zitoun Jdid, a ten-minute walk from Jemaa el-Fna. The Riad Swaka has kept its patio basin and set a second pool on the roof, in the middle of a terrace planted with cacti and bougainvillea. You come here for that open-sky bath on the rooftops, the hammam and the calm of the quarter, not for lengths.
A handful of rooms behind a medina door, in a derb of the Dabachi quarter, three hundred metres from the Bahia palace. The Riad Lamzia is a small-scale house, in ochre pink tones, whose asset is on the roof: a basin terrace to cool off between two walks in the souks. You come here for the position and the welcome, not for the equipment of a large hotel.
The Riad Dihya is a small no-frills house of the Dabachi quarter, an eight-minute walk from Jemaa el-Fna: seven rooms around a zellige-medallion patio, a dipping basin on the roof and a careful breakfast. Good value for money, not a luxury address despite the label.
Three joined medina houses behind a door of the Ksour quarter, a two-minute walk from Jemaa el-Fna. The Riad Al Rimal & Spa plays the comfort card more than the period decor: a heated pool in the patio, a hammam and a spa, a terrace facing the Koutoubia with jacuzzi. You come here for the equipment as much as for the location.
Les Jardins de la Koutoubia is a medina institution: a large 5-star hotel planted at the foot of the minaret, three minutes from Jemaa el-Fna. Around a hundred rooms, a pool in a tree-lined patio, a spa, and roof terraces looking down on the Koutoubia. You get the comfort of a real hotel and the location of a riad, without the lanes.
Six rooms around a patio covered by a glass roof, in the north medina, near the Mouassine museum. The Riad Dreams stands out for its cool basin in the middle of the court, under the arcaded galleries, and for its rooftop terrace. A house run by its owner, chosen for the court and the calm more than for the services of a large hotel.
Ten rooms around a patio basin, in the Riad Laarous quarter, an eight-minute walk from Jemaa el-Fna. The Riad Lena plays the classic riad card: arcaded galleries, zellige cool basin in the middle of the court, terrace facing the Atlas, hammam in the basement. You come here for the welcome and the location in the old town, knowing the house has picked up a few wrinkles.
