Rates from (inc tax)$214.37 If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 21 days. Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (21EUR), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.Price information
Style
Unpretentious colonial elegance
Setting
Serene Medina sidestreet
Slate-blue and gray stay Riad de Tarabel is moments from the bustling Marrakech Medina. Its effortlessly elegant interior is dotted with French heirlooms and found antiques, but it’s perfectly understandable if you want to spend your entire holiday on its inviting terraces; have a drink while you soak in the view.
Get this when you book through us:
A bottle of wine on arrival.
Six, including three suites.
12 noon, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 12 noon, also flexible.
Double rooms from $214.37 (€191), excluding tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional local city tax of €1.10 per person per night on check-out and an additional government tax of €1.50 per person per night on check-out.
If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 21 days. Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR210.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.Price information
Rates usually include free airport transfers and a generous Continental breakfast, with tasty extra options such as Moroccan crêpes and cooked-to-order eggs.
Ask really nicely and you may wrangle a private cooking lesson with Riad de Tarabel’s first-class chef.
A local mobile phone to use throughout your stay, swimming pool, free WiFi throughout and laundry services. In rooms: Ortigia bath products and free bottled water; some rooms have working fireplaces.
All Riad de Tarabel’s rooms are beautiful and individually finished, but the Large Suite has, in our opinion, the most impressive bathroom: it’s a split-level affair with an enormous bath tub that’s perfect for long soaks. The suite’s sitting room has an inviting day-bed, and owner Rose-Marie designed the grey patterned zellige tiles; the terrace looks out over the orange trees.
The grey and black tiled heated outdoor pool is in a separate courtyard and is for adults only. Children are welcome in the small rooftop plunge pool, which is also perfect for perching by and dangling your legs into, drink in hand.
A classic Panama hat to fit in with the decor, and a good read to make the most of your down time.
Arrange an in-room massage or mani-pedi.
Welcome, although the riad is better suited to older children who can entertain themselves. However, the restaurant has a children’s menu and is happy to heat up baby food and bottles.
La Table de Tarabel’s staff organise dinner à la carte with guests; it’s really more like enjoying a meal prepared by a personal chef who specialises in incredible Moroccan and international food than dining in a restaurant. For breakfast, Moroccan crêpes, cooked-to-order eggs, organic muesli, pâtissserie, cakes, home-made yoghurt, fresh fruits, fresh orange juice, marmalades, honey and hot drinks are on offer.
There’s no bar, but you can order drinks to enjoy at any time of day or night.
The restaurant is open from 12 noon until 10pm.
No room service as such, but ask nicely and your meals, snacks, and drinks can be delivered to almost anywhere in the riad.
Marrakech’s Menara Airport is 15 minutes away by car, and free airport transfers can be arranged with the hotel. Fly there from the UK and elsewhere in Europe with British Airways, Royal Air Maroc, EasyJet and Ryanair.
The Moroccan state railway, ONCF, runs inexpensive (but limited) services to the Marrakech Railway Station from Casablanca, Fez and Tangier. The station is 10 minutes away by car, and free transfers can be arranged with the hotel.
Driving in Marrakech can be horn-filled and hectic, so we don’t recommend hiring a car unless you’re heading elsewhere in Morocco, too. If you decide to hire a car from the airport, follow Al Mhamid Avenue to Avenue Guemassa, continue on Avenue Guemassa to Avenue Ahmed Ouaqala, then take Rue Dar el Glaoui to Route Sidi Abdelaziz. Look for signs to Dar el Bacha Palace, which is next to the hotel. Parking is available approximately five minutes’ walk from the hotel for about €5 a night.
Riad de Tarabel is in the Medina, so in a few steps you can barter for treasures in the kaleidoscopic souk, then snack on pigeon pie from a stall in the Djemaa el Fnaa, amid snake charmers and belly-dancers. For a bit of calming green space, pop on over to Jardin Majorelle, a wonderland of greens, blues, and yellows bequeathed to Marrakech by Yves Saint Laurent – head in as early as you can to avoid the daily crowds. Over the road, 33 Rue Majorelle (+212 5243-14195) sells a stylist-curated collection of local art, and designer accessories, and is connected to the Kaowa (+212 (0)524330072) juice bar.
If you fancy getting out of town, plan a day-trip to the Atlas Mountains, Sahara Desert or coastal town of Essaouira, all but a drive away, or be whisked by 4x4 to Berber villages, the Plateau de Kik, the Ourika Valley or Lake Takerkoust. The staff at the riad will also be happy to help you arrange diversions further afield: camel- or horse-riding day treks to the desert or the mountains, or ballooning.
Try Le Tobsil (Derb Abdellah Ben Hessein, +212 5244-44052) for dinner; it’s a dark, candle-lit hideout tucked away down a maze of pink-walled alleys and is regularly hailed as one of the city’s best meals thanks to its table-filling Moroccan feasts. Handy guides can be dispatched to find lost guests and then escort them home afterwards. Le Foundouk (+212 5243-78190) also regularly tops where-to-eat-in-Marrakech wishlists. Al Fassia (+212 (0)524 434060) at 232 Ave Mohammed V serves traditional Moroccan cuisine in a highly untraditional manner – it's staffed and operated exclusively by women. Bô & Zin (+212 (0)524 388012) is an NY-style salon a little out of the way on the Ourika road, but worth the trek for contemporary cocktails and Southeast Asian dishes. Palais Soleiman (+212 (0)524 378962) on Dar Layardi and Palais Gharnata (+212 (0)544 389615) on Derb El Arsa both provide traditional Moroccan cuisine in beautiful surroundings. Le Grand Café de la Poste (+ 212 (0) 244 33038) has been around since the 1920s; it’s somewhat of an institution in Marrakech, with an art-deco setting of checkerboard floors, potted palms and pillow-piled sofas.
The roof terrace of Café des Epices (+212 (0)524 391770) in the spice souk is popular with the young, arty Marrakech crowd. The no-frills, souk-side eatery Chez Chegrouni (+212 (0) 246 54761) offers classic dishes of skewered meat, lamb and plum tagine, and fluffy aromatic couscous at fabulous prices in Unesco-listed square Jemaa el Fna. They don’t take reservations so join the queue to devour hearty portions of traditional Moroccan fare. There’s no better spot for a mid-souk stop-off than Café Arabe. Ask for a rooftop table and admire the mountain views.
For pre- or post-dinner drinks, you should find yourself in blingy but brilliant La Mamounia’s classic Churchill bar at least once.
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this French-style riad in Marrakech and unpacked their souk souvenirs and and rosewater sweets, a full account of their luxury medina-side break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a postcard from Riad de Tarabel in Marrakech…
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Stepping into Riad de Tarabel’s soothing slate blue and grey setting, you’d be forgiven for forgetting that it’s mere moments from the bustling Marrakech Medina. The is peppered with a healthy helping of French heirlooms snaffled from the owner’s family’s château for an effortlessly graceful look. The terraced rooms look out onto a beautifully green courtyard that’s home to picture-perfect orange trees, and the cool tones continue in the rooms, which are finished with natural tadelakt and Moroccan style tiles designed by the owner’s wife Rose-Marie.
There’s no dedicated restaurant, but Riad de Tarabel’s chef will cater to your every snacking need (pardon the pun), and help you land on a dish that suits your mood, which can be delivered – just like any of your drink requests – to anywhere you’d like in the riad. We suggest mixing up your meal venue choices: try a cushion-strewn corner of the terrace one night, dine by the orange trees another, and sip your drinks under the stars on the rooftop still another night. To accomplish this, you’ll need to stay longer, but we have a feeling you won’t mind at all…
Loved the decor, the peace and quiet within the Riad and the lovely staff. Majorelle gardens were stunning. Nomad restaurant and gift shop are a must.
Roudy neighbors. It has more of a home feel than a crowded resort.
Relaxed peace and quiet
Fitness centre
Everything about this place. The riad itself was impeccably designed and decorated. The staff were attentive and extremely helpful. Laurent, who manages the riad, sat down with us and helped us plan our days. His recommendations were exactly what we would have chosen. The whole experience was perfect.10/10
Noise from the medina. The riad was tranquil, despite being centrally located.
