Royal Mansour Marrakech

Commissioned by Morocco's royal family and opened in 2010, Royal Mansour is less a hotel than a miniature medina of its own. Guests do not stay in rooms but in self-contained riads arranged along tiled lanes and fountain courtyards, each one rising over three floors to a private roof terrace with a plunge pool and fireplace. Staff move between buildings through a network of underground service tunnels, so housekeeping and room service appear without ever crossing a guest's path.

The craftsmanship is the point. Hundreds of Moroccan artisans spent years on the zellige tilework, carved cedar ceilings and hand-chiselled plaster, and the effect is more museum than hotel decoration. The spa occupies a white filigree pavilion wrapped in wrought iron, with a traditional hammam, cold plunge and a long list of treatments built around Moroccan rose and argan.

Dining runs from Moroccan classics in a courtyard setting to French cooking that has drawn serious critical attention. The medina proper, with the Koutoubia minaret and the evening theatre of Jemaa el-Fnaa, is a short walk beyond the walls.