Morocco

Fez is Morocco’s Old City at its most intact — Fes el Bali, the medina, was founded around 800 AD and still runs on foot traffic, negotiation, and shops that have occupied the same doorway for generations. Palais Amani sits inside the medina walls in a restored riad; Palais Faraj is a former palace just outside it, converted into a hotel without erasing the original tile work the renovation uncovered.

Marrakech works differently — narrower, denser, built around the souks. Riad Farnatchi is a privately owned guesthouse inside the medina, the kind of place locals will tell you is the real way to understand Moroccan design. Maison MK sits down a pedestrian-only alley behind heavy doors, six rooms total, more like staying in someone’s home than a hotel. And La Sultana runs one of the city’s more serious hammam experiences — the traditional full-body scrub-and-bathe treatment — inside a hotel known for some of the most detailed Moroccan interior work in the city.