Le Farnatchi

Le Farnatchi occupies a riad in one of the oldest quarters of the Marrakech Medina, two minutes' walk from the entrance to the souks and one minute from the Madersa Ben Youssef, placing it at the center of the old city's most significant concentration of Islamic architecture. Ten suites compose the building, each completely different in design from the others, the shared vocabulary a commitment to quality materials and handmade furniture rather than any consistent decorative style. Egyptian cotton linens, crafted beds, and individually selected objects give each room a character that resists comparison with the others. The organizing element of the building is its courtyard pool, seven metres long in a shade of emerald green that earns its effect from the tile quality beneath it rather than from any treatment of the water. The pool is framed by intricate mosaics on the courtyard walls, the geometry of the tilework providing a visual counterpoint to the still surface. A hammam and spa treatment spaces complete the building's offering below ground level, the treatments calibrated to the Medina context. Le Farnatchi is a property that rewards the guests who understand what it is: not a hotel with a riad aesthetic but a genuine riad operating at the quality level of a luxury hotel, the difference felt in the scale of every space and in the silence that the courtyard produces even at the hour when the souks outside are loudest.