Riad Fes

Marrakech has convenience and accessibility going for it, but if you want to see the ancient side of Morocco, you want to see Fez. And if you’re staying in Fez, you want to stay in a riad — and this one, Riad Fès, is among the best of them.

We’ve got nothing against riads owned by foreigners, many of them French first-time hoteliers, but it’s a mark in Riad Fès’s favor that its owner is Moroccan, and an architect, no less — the interiors are a good bit more confident than in the average riad hotel, and you can tell it was laid out with some care. With 26 rooms and suites it’s on the large size for a riad, but still very small by hotel standards, and the intimate atmosphere and personalized service riad hotels are famous for are there, in spades.

Also slightly unusual is the fact that it’s got a proper restaurant, with three distinct dining rooms — often the food service in a riad feels a little slapdash, but that’s certainly not the case here. Add a pool, a hammam and massage service, and shuttle service to the Fès Royal Golf Club, and it’s essentially a full-service hotel in the shape of a riad — you could stay somewhere bigger, but why?