Dar Darma
- Style
- World of interiors
- Setting
- Funky old Medina
An Italian Orientalist's fantasy holiday home, this quirky private residence in the heart of the Marrakech Medina boldly partners 300-year-old painted ceilings and faded antique textiles with Versace-esque velvet settles and leopardskin rugs.
Need to know
- Rooms
- Five suites (one of which can be divided into two separate doubles).
- Rates
- Low season, €160–€280; high season, €220–€360, including breakfast and private return airport transfers. Whole riad, €735–€840 (excludes Xmas/New Year), including dinner on first night, breakfast and transfers. Rates exclude local tax at 10 per cent.
- Check-out
- By arrangement, depending on subsequent bookings.
- Facilities
- Courtyard, roof terrace with plunge pool, hammam, massages, library, chef; suites have showers and large baths, TVs and DVD players.
- Poolside
- There's is a little tadelakt plunge pool on the roof terrace, where there are recliners and daybeds for sunbathing, and distant mountain views.
- Children
- Welcome, but large internal windows, an unsupervised courtyard pool and lots of antiques mean it’s not ideal for little ones. Babysitting can be arranged with a few hours’ notice; cots can be provided.
- Also
- Minimum stays of five nights over Christmas/New Year and four over the Easter and May Bank Holiday weekends apply.
In the know
- Our favourite rooms
- The first-floor Red Suite is the largest and quietest suite, and the one the owner chooses to stay in when he’s visiting; it’s more like an antique-strewn private apartment. As well as 18th-century period details such as original doors, hand-painted ceilings and carved plasterwork, it has two generously sized double bedrooms and bathrooms, both with twin sinks, showers and big baths. The Blue Suite’s cupola-lit, fire-warmed dining and sitting room is flanked by two double rooms, one featuring a four-poster in a wood-panelled recess and a red-walled bathroom; the other (also with a four-poster) has a huge round bath. The smaller, split-level Orange Suite has a handsome black and white sitting room with stairs leading up to an orange and gold-themed bedroom with ensuite bathroom.
- Packing tips
- Sketchbook, camera or travel journal, depending on your creative bent. Some good books or DVDs. A long kaftan or djellabah for lounging around in.
- Also
- The riad has its own hammam; give staff a few hours’ warning if you’d like a treatment, so it can be brought to the correct temperature. Staff are very accommodating, so if you’d like to be serenaded at dinner or massaged on the terrace, just ask.
Food & drink
- Hotel restaurant
- Dar Darma’s housekeeper Maria is also a talented cook, creating French and Moroccan dishes for lunch or dinner, from tagines to tarte tatin. You may be joined by gnaoua musicians in the dining room.
- Dress code
- Entirely up to you, but interesting vintage pieces and chunky tribal jewellery will feel just right.
- Top table
- Choose your own adventure: if you don’t fancy the decadent dining room, staff can set up private tables in the courtyard, on the roof, in the mirrored ground-floor salon or in your rooms.
- Last orders
- You’ll have to give a few hours’ notice if you want dinner, but otherwise there are no rules, within reason.
- Room service
- 24 hours.
- Hotel bar
- Drinks can be brought to you anywhere in the riad.
Smith card offer A traditional steam treatment and massage for two in Dar Darma's hammam
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Book this hotel
To book this hotel please click here, or contact our travel team on 0845 034 0700.
