Volume IV

North Africa and Arabia

A riad inside the Kasbah, a canyon in AlUla, and the sand between them.

Written up

Four stays, with the five notes on each.

Marrakech, Morocco

LA MAMOUNIA

Behind the walls of the medina, a hotel from 1923 and the gardens it was built around. I stayed in a Garden Deluxe, and that is where I would begin.

Doha, Qatar

The Ned Doha

The old Ministry of Interior on the Corniche, kept and reopened as ninety rooms, seven restaurants and a members' club. Doha has no shortage of glass towers. This one was already standing.

Ashar Valley, AlUla, Saudi Arabia

Habitas AlUla

A camp of tented villas on the floor of a sandstone canyon in the north west of Saudi Arabia, where the rock does most of the work and the house has the sense to let it.

Kasbah, Marrakech, Morocco

La Sultana Marrakech

Four riads joined into one house inside the walls of the Kasbah, two minutes from the Saadian Tombs, where the day outside is loud and the day inside is not.

Outside the groups

Houses here that belong to no chain.

They are a mix. A hotel run by the family that owns it, a villa, a house of a few rooms on an island, and here and there a larger place that sits outside the programmes anyway. No group stands behind any of them, and several appear on no booking portal at all. I have stayed in all of them, several over a number of years. Tell me what the trip has to do and I will say which one fits, and where there is nothing to book online I write to the owner myself.

A palm garden and long dark pools below a ridge of bare Hajar mountains running down to the sea at dusk — Muscat, Oman

A small round table and two leather armchairs in a deep window, looking out over a ribbed roof to the skyline — Doha, Qatar

White peaked tents behind a date palm at a desert camp, with a long ridge of dunes rising behind them — Wahiba Sands, Oman

A low seating area with dark armchairs on a roof terrace at dusk, looking across the flat roofs of the medina to the Koutoubia minaret — Kasbah, Marrakech, Morocco

A laid table and a low sofa under a canvas parasol on a terrace, the glass towers of the city behind — Tel Aviv, Israel

Low chairs set on the sand of a desert camp under the rock formations — AlUla, Saudi Arabia

Loungers and parasols on white sand along a bay, towers on the far shore — Dubai, United Arab Emirates

A lobby seen between glass panels printed with red damask, under tiers of clear bubble glass chandeliers — Muscat, Oman

The shaded porch of a tent with a cushioned bench, two dark bean bags, a terracotta jar beside the door and dunes beyond — Wahiba Sands, Oman

A corner table and leather chairs beside a tall rosewood screen, under a chandelier of striped orange glass globes — Doha, Qatar

A narrow passage framed by heavy curtains, with a row of pierced metal lanterns hanging down it above a carved timber door — Kasbah, Marrakech, Morocco

A fenced camp of white tents seen from the top of a dune at dusk, the sand running down towards it — Wahiba Sands, Oman

An arcaded wing of arched balconies beside angular pools set with palms, the mountains and the sea behind — Muscat, Oman

A terrace restaurant under a canopy of overlapping pale scallops, with deep slatted armchairs, potted trees and a terrazzo floor — Doha, Qatar

A small white ceramic tagine held in one hand with the lid lifted and a date inside it, against a wall of green, white and ochre star-patterned zellige — Marrakech, Morocco

Skeins of wool dyed deep blue hanging to dry on poles above a narrow lane of the medina, with pink rendered walls, red skeins at the right and a man riding a motorbike away down the cobbles — Medina, Marrakech, Morocco

A beach club dining room under white globe pendants, with timber floors and pale chairs open to the sand — Tel Aviv, Israel

A lit Airstream standing open onto the sand in the desert at night — AlUla, Saudi Arabia

A pale sideboard and two low armchairs against a burgundy wall, with a shaded lamp and an abstract painting above — Doha, Qatar

Two crystal chandeliers hanging at night over a courtyard planted thick with greenery, with arched galleries on two levels around it — Kasbah, Marrakech, Morocco

The crest of a sand dune curving away at sundown, ripples across the face and more dunes to the horizon — Wahiba Sands, Oman

A sand cove between two rock headlands seen from above, parasols in a line and the Hajar mountains behind the town — Muscat, Oman

A round timber table and chrome-framed chairs in a suite below a deep coffered concrete ceiling, the city beyond the curtains — Doha, Qatar

A green glazed lamp pierced with leaf shapes and lit from inside, on a dark table in front of striped cushioned chairs at night — Wahiba Sands, Oman

Three rendered towers with pointed caps standing above a line of terracotta urns planted with palms, against a pale dusk sky — Kasbah, Marrakech, Morocco

A row of timber daybeds with lilac cushions under fringed parasols on a roof at sunset — Tel Aviv, Israel

A lounge under a tented ceiling, with kilims on the floor — AlUla, Saudi Arabia

A pool with white parasols and loungers above a bay, palms along the edge and the town across the water — Muscat, Oman

A long pool lit blue at dusk between colonnaded wings, under strings of festoon lights — Doha, Qatar

The names stay off this page. They come with the inspection, or by email. More of them here.

On foot

The ground, where I stood on it.

Suede walking shoes sinking into red desert sand

Desert Night CampWahiba Sands, Oman

Dark leather sneakers on a red kilim laid over the sand at Habitas AlUla

Habitas AlUlaAlUla, Saudi Arabia

Black slip-ons on terracotta tiles with a green and white border

La MamouniaMarrakech, Morocco

Ask about North Africa and Arabia

Tell me the month and who is travelling.

I come back with one or two properties, the room I would take in each, and the notes that stay off the site. In English, Italian or Spanish.

Write to me →

Or the other way

Book it yourself, with the benefits attached.

Register once through Classic Travel, and where the house sits inside one of the programmes the hotel's own rate comes with breakfast, a credit, and an upgrade when one is free.

Register with Wheresnik →