Jean Noel’s soulful riad was one of the earliest guesthouses to open in the medina and remains first and foremost a home. The house wears the patina of over 30 years warmly, and is filled with eclectic vintage furniture, books, music and the echo of travellers on the terrace, sharing tall tales of the medina.
Buried in the heart of Marrakech’s most desirable neighbourhood Mouassine, Riad Rbaa Laroub is minutes from the best shopping street in the souks and the Musée des Confluences. It’s just a 900-metre walk to the Djemaa el-Fna and cabs can drop you nearby at Dar el Bacha or Bab Laksour.
Stepping into Jean Noel’s highly personal guesthouse is a surreal exercise in time travel: this could be Marrakech in the 1920s, 1950s or 1970s. Climbing plants rain down into the two patios where palms and ferns rise to greet them, as if nature is trying to reclaim the earthen structure. In the first time-weathered patio, a deep portico shelters an open-air salon, while in the second a starkly simple Art Deco dining room has the feel of a mis-en-scène in an Agatha Christie novel. They are separated by a snug lounge, which is full of well-thumbed books and low-slung deco furniture set around a fireplace. In the evening, the gentle strains of jazz emanate from here, wafting up to secluded first floor bedrooms. Capping it all is the most glorious roof garden, dotted with intimate seating nooks and hidden from view by great clouds of bougainvillea.
Jean Noel is a knowledgeable and considerate host. With nearly 40 years of experience hosting travellers, there is little he doesn’t know about Morocco, which is why so many guests return again and again. What’s more, the team of four Moroccan women who work with him have been here years and lend the riad a feeling of connection with the neighbourhood. Don’t expect fancy frills, fussy service or extensive facilities. This is a home and you are an honoured guest in it, so relax into its warm embrace and let your hosts guide your exploration of the old city and the surrounding countryside (where Jean Noel has a rather delightful country pad).
As with the rest of the riad, the seven bedrooms are highly individual. They range enormously in size, from a pretty single on the ground floor with a romantic moucharabieh-screened bed to the monumental Oriental Suite, which sleeps five and is crowned by a spectacular, original, handpainted ceiling. Bathrooms have showers and are spacious and austere except for some zellij tiling. All the rooms have fireplaces, which when lit dial up the magical atmosphere further and make this a great winter bolthole. Throughout, they are filled with great deco and Colonial furniture, hand-embroidered textiles, super-cool vintage lamps and endlessly interesting books. No wonder architectural team Studio KO (responsible for the Yves St Laurent Museum) chose to stay here when they first visited Marrakech.
Food is a highsubtle, both because of the great terrace garden and because Fatima’s cooking is deeply original. The day starts simply with hot msemen (pancakes) and homemade jams, a cinnamon-spiced buttermilk, warm orange-scented cake and coffee. Light lunches and dinners both need to be requested in advance so ingredients can be bought from the market. There’s no menu: Jean Noel simply enquires about your preferences and what sort of mood you are in, then Fatima conjures up exactly what you feel like eating come dinner time. We wanted something subtle-ish and tasty, and arrived to a table spread with 11 deeply flavoured Moroccan salads and a platter of whiting in the subtleest crunchy batter, which was perfect.
Not really. There are ground floor rooms and lounges, but no specially adapted features.
Children are welcome. Two of the rooms can sleep three, while the Oriental Suite sleeps five.
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