Riad Dar One

Hotel description

Numbers are important in certain areas of life but they’re close to useless in selecting a riad hotel. Five rooms, ten rooms, what’s the difference? These places are so much more about personality than anything else — and in the case of Riad Dar One it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that that personality is stylish, welcoming, and more than a little bit French.

In that it has a lot in common with its proprietor, an impeccably dressed Frenchman named Jean Peres. The rooms are strikingly contemporary, each one a first-class piece of set design, clean-lined and yet full of rich color and classic Marrakchi character. And while some hotels find it difficult to look good and feel good at the same time, Dar One manages to be as comfortable and cozy as it is chic — a riad with a room named for Le Petit Prince is clearly not taking itself too seriously.

The atmosphere is always casual, with Jean’s two charismatic dogs given the run of the place. It may be light on services — a cocktail bar and a by-request kitchen are virtually the extent of them — but for an intimate little escape in the medina, you couldn’t ask for much more.