Sheherazade herself would be hard pressed to conjure up the opulent luxury of Fès’s grandest riad(traditional townhouse). Once a palace and now a palatial maison d’hotes (guesthouse) it’s often graced by ministers, musicians, World Bank presidents and even the odd Head of State.

Everywhere you go, you’re dwarfed by Sheherezade’s grand – sometimes cavernous – proportions. You could play football in the patio, and the Royal and Sheherazade suites are larger than most European apartments. The architecture is monumental in scale and matched by exquisite soft furnishings: the finest French silk devore coverlets on every bed and the softest blankets to soothe the weary brows of the great and the good. The pièce de resistance is the patio with its 150-year-old palms towering over a turquoise pool. At night they’re backlit to romantic effect while diners are serenaded by a quartet of Andalucian musicians. To cap it all off, the riad is run by the eccentric Abdelhai Ben Ghazi, a passionate musician and one of the founders of the Festival of Sacred Music.

Paula Hardy 

Lonely Planet author