La Maison Arabe review: our verdict
Long before it had rooms, the house served meals: a restaurant since the 1940s, it became a riad-hotel in the 1990s, at the end of Derb Assehbi, a quiet corner of the medina. This culinary past explains its signature, the cooking school, where you can learn, for example, how to make chicken tajine in a relaxed atmosphere with clear explanations.
The 37 rooms combine mosaics, carved woodwork, and modern comfort, between Morocco and Europe, without pretension. In the evening, the piano-bar welcomes jazz musicians. Two pools, a spa with hammam, a shuttle that goes all the way to the Country Club in the Palmeraie, and a team that organizes transfers from the airport and provides reliable recommendations. Families with young children are pampered, as are couples. On the other hand, this is not the place for a massage cure: the spa is superb, but the treatments and communication with the practitioners are disappointing.
Our tip: the cooking class, to leave with a recipe you'll make at home. The best time slot: breakfast near the pool, often served with live music.



