Riad Alkantara is now open for reservations from the beginning of October. Lumen investigates:
This splendid complex of five traditional houses has been painstakingly restored over the last few years by Abdelfettah Seffar and Camille Lorenzetti. Luxurious in the extreme, the first house to open is Dar Feshadara. Here the suites are decorated in a refined Oriental theme with hand-crafted cedarwood furniture, antiques from across the Maghreb, Syria, Egypt and India, Italian fabrics and Egyptian cotton bedding, embroidered towels and dressing gowns. You'll have your own music system with a library of CDs, a DVD library, your own laptop computer with Wifi internet connection, tea-making facilities with a variety of infusions, a minibar, hairdryer and Occitane bath products.
Jardins des Roses Suite4000sq m of established gardens invite a stroll. There's a large swimming pool as well as fountains, water channels and lush planting. Shady terraces, panoramic views of the medina and a solarium complete the scene. Inside there's a dining room as well as a restaurant (open to the public), an exhibition space, a lecture room, bar lounge, smoking room and shop. No expense has been spared, and there's superb attention to detail.
Next year workshops in the creative arts such as cooking, art, crafts, art therapy, music, dance and yoga will be offered. Evenings of music, poetry and story-telling are also on the cards, as well as weddings and events organisation.
The spa will open in September next year. There's a hammam, jacuzzi, Finnish sauna, massage rooms, beauty therapy and solarium. At the same time, the second house, Riad Constellation, will open its doors, with the third, Riad Sahar, in October 2010.
Situated in Oued Souaffine in Douh, Riad Alkantara is reasonably close to parking and very convenient for exploring the medina. The suites start at Dh4000 per night, including breakfast.
Contact the riad at 035 740 292 (the website www.riadalkantara.com is still under construction), or book through Fez Riads.
Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news
8 comments:
4000 dhm per night, wow.
The room pictured on the Fez Riads website looks no different or better than other places charging one third this price, although maybe the garden/pool/service will compensate.
That said I'm sure Fez Riads and Lumen won't say no to the 400 dhm per night commission ;-)
I agree, it's expensive, but I hope it's value for money. By the way, Fez Riads charges 10% commission, but only takes 8%, the other 2% being donated to projects in the medina.
It's good for Fez to have a wide range of accommodation. In view of another post about Morocco being a top backpackers' destination, it would be very good to have more places to stay that are cheap but good. Anyone keen to convert a fonduk?
Lumen said
"...Anyone keen to convert a fonduk?
...2% being donated to projects in the medina"
Wonderful idea. Go for it. A perfect show piece for all the money collected. It would also show the people who think that Fez Riads only use restoration as a marketing ploy, that you are truely genuine about restoration.
I can't imagine many people thinking that Brummie... Fes Riads restoration fund has been about the only fund to actually start and complete restoration projects. Having inspected the projects before and after I can say I share the local people's admiration of her work.
The fact should also be remembered that Fes Riads does a great job in assisting people find places to stay and charges far less than other agencies.
Fez is lucky to have people like Lumen.
I have to agree. I also though brummiegirl's tone was a little snarky!
I too have admired the work of the Fes Riad Agency and have to say the restoration projects are a great thing
Lumen - you rock bizef! Great story (yet again) Shukran.
Thanks for the kind words, Samir and David. I have to say though that the guesthouses doing the most business (at least on the Fez Riads site) are those charging 50-80 Euros a night. So Riad Alkantara and similarly high-priced houses are very much a niche market, but nonetheless a valuable asset for Fez. We need guesthouses in all price brackets.
Brummiegirl
There's no way that the money collected for restoration projects would be enough to convert a fonduk into a backpacker's hostel. We do small projects like greening the medina and cleaning fountains and are "truely genuine" about it. All donations gratefully received.
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