Dar Kandi

Dar Kandi stands on Derb Arset Aouzal, a lane in the Bab Doukkala quarter of the Medina, five minutes' walk inside the gate of the same name. The house dates from 1915, and its Italian owners finished renovating it in 2018, mixing Moroccan craft with Italian taste: tadelakt walls, Fes zellige, Venetian stucco, carved plaster and patterned cement tiles. Its suites open onto a patio planted with trees around a fountain, and above them are three roof terraces: one for the pool and the loungers, one for lounging among plants, and a smaller one laid for breakfast and dinner. From the roof the view runs south over the Medina to the minaret of the Koutoubia and, on clear winter days, the snow on the Atlas. The MICHELIN Guide includes it in its hotel selection.

All six rooms are suites, each decorated differently, with a king-size bed. The entry Cactus Suite is 28 m² on the mezzanine, lit by the large windows of a menzeh, with a double shower looking onto a winter garden of four large cactuses. Touch DéCo and Arch are on the patio level, both with a bath and a shower: the first with an art deco feel, the second behind Venetian wooden arches. Upstairs, Colonial is split over two levels, Balcony has a canopy bed and its own balcony over the patio and the fountain, and De Luxe, 41 m², adds a lounge, a dressing room and a pink marble bathroom with a bath and a double shower.

It is in the edit for what about €205 a night buys in mid-March: a suite of this standard with breakfast for two, a short walk from the souks, in a house with its own hammam and a pool on the roof. Breakfast runs from 08:30 to 11:00 on the patio. The chef cooks Moroccan dishes with international touches for lunch and dinner, for residents only, served in the dining room, on the patio or on the roof. The hammam runs traditional rituals, massages and beauty treatments from 11:00 to 18:00. Le Jardin Secret is 9 minutes on foot and Jemaa el-Fna 17, and the house stays quiet behind its door.

The trade is the pool and the extras. The pool is not heated, so in the cooler months it is for a dip in the sun rather than a swim, and with no lift the roof is reached by stairs. Meals beyond breakfast and the hammam are booked ahead and paid for separately. Book it for a Medina stay in a beautifully made house with a pool on the roof; skip it if you want a big pool, a gym or a hotel to spend the day in.