Accommodation
Traditional Moroccan riads
When exploring accommodations in Morocco, you will frequently encounter the word “riad,” which is used to describe a small hotel or guesthouse. A riad is a traditional Moroccan house, usually located within the old part of a walled city, which is called the medina. Riads usually having between four to eight bedrooms arranged around a central courtyard.
All rooms are different shapes and sizes and, once converted from the original family home to a guesthouse, will have been upgraded to have modern bathroom facilities and other creature comforts. Some riads have small splash-pools or fountains in the patio, and most will have a roof terrace for dining, relaxing, and sunbathing. Larger luxury riads may even have a full-size swimming pool.
The word ‘riad’ comes from the Arabic word for ‘garden’—the patio was traditionally arranged geometrically, with four small areas planted with fruit trees around a central fountain or pool that keeps the interior air cooler in summer.
Sahara luxury camp
For all of our Sahara Desert tours we have a dedicated local partner offering a fabulous luxury tented desert camp tucked away in the Sahara dunes at either Erg Chebbi or Erg Chigaga. For those who do not have time to travel south to the Sahara, we also have access to a luxury tented camp and oasis retreat close to Marrakech, in the Agafay Desert.
With a luxury Sahara desert camp you can expect to sleep in a sumptuously decorated and spacious private tent, with en-suite shower and toilet facility. Each bivouac is differently styled—some are woven from camel-hair in the style of Berber nomads, some are made from cool white canvas—but in general each luxury camp has just a small number of tents to allow guests to truly escape, feel the magical solitude of the desert, and enjoy exceptional personal service from a dedicated team of local Berber and Saharawi nomads.
Beds are huge and have fine Egyptian cotton sheets, while the interiors are bedecked with Moroccan carpets, tea tables, cushions, antique Tuareg furnishings, and local artefacts. Open the side of your tent to be surrounded for miles by magnificent rolling dunes. A communal salon area is ideal for relaxing with a drink, meeting other guests, and playing music and board games. Other activities available include camel riding, a romantic sunset aperitif in the dunes, desert excursions a in 4×4, private parties, folk music and entertainment, and even private air transfers from Marrakech.
Restaurant menus vary, but each camp serves delicious traditional Moroccan cuisine on fine tableware, usually in an atmospheric lantern-lit tent or under a canopy woven from camel-wool. Local nomads extend their legendary hospitality to our guests around a welcoming campfire in each of our chosen luxury desert camps.