From US$155 to 300, inclusive of breakfast
– Choose the scent of your handmade soap — orange blossom, musk, or, my favourite, verbena.
– The marble floors are a bit chilly, I would have liked to have slippers.
With just four rooms you can expect excellent service at Riad Due. The owner is Italian, as is the charming manager, and the hotel provides a lovely mix of Moroccan and Italian hospitality.
The first thing you will notice at Riad Due is the extraordinary carved wood. The doors to the rooms are massive — over three meters tall and opening in four parts (you’ll only need to open one). In my suite, the door to the WC was also hand-carved and tall, with a curved mini door cut out (children will love going through it, adults might want to open the larger door so they don’t have to crouch).
Each of Riad Due’s rooms is sized and decorated differently, but all have had each piece of furniture and decoration chosen with care by the Italian owner. There’s a mix of Moroccon tradition and funky modern colour, with features everyone wants in their hotel room.
The ceilings in the two suites are original, hand-carved wood. Two rooms have fireplaces. My suite has a bathtub built for two, and a separate rain and handheld shower. The suite next door has double rain showers, and a single bathtub. One of the second floor rooms has a large balcony overlooking the plunge pool in the centre of the courtyard.
On the roof, where guests can enjoy a delicious breakfast (in the courtyard in cooler weather), are spectacular views of the medina and several places to relax.
Riad Due (meaning two in Italian, pronounced “doo-ay”, not “dew”) has a nearby sister hotel with seven rooms, Riad 72. Dining at Riad Due is simpler and more traditional, while Riad 72’s La Table du Riad restaurant is elegant Moroccan (also open to the public). Chefs Habiba and Mustapha do wonderful things with local ingredients and bake the tagines (and the biscotti) is the communal medina oven.
