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Riad JabadorMarrakech
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A table laid for breakfast on the terrace — silver teapot, pressed juices — under straw parasols and a deep blue sky.

Riad Jabador

Guest house · Medina of Marrakech

“Daylight does not pass through the house. It falls into it.”

850 m from Jemaa el-Fna

The threshold

A riad gives away nothing from the street.

Behind a door on the derb Jemaa, with no sign and no window, the house opens all at once onto its courtyard: the pool edged in green zellige, banana plants climbing towards the light, ceilings painted by hand. Outside, the medina carries on a few metres away.

That is the whole principle of a courtyard house, and it still works exactly as it did a thousand years ago: nothing opens onto the street, everything opens onto the sky.

The riad courtyard: a pool edged in green zellige, banana plants, a hand-painted arabesque ceiling and pierced brass lanterns.

The courtyard stays cool all day

When the roof turns hot, you come back down. The water in the pool, the shade of the banana plants and the thickness of the walls do what air conditioning would do, more quietly. This is where people read, where they wait out the afternoon, and where they end up not going out at all.

More about the house

The hours

The house changes four times a day

Morning on the terrace, midday in the shade of the courtyard, twenty minutes of blue before dark, then the tables under the pergola.

  • A table laid for breakfast on the terrace — silver teapot, pressed juices — under straw parasols and a deep blue sky.

    Morning

    Breakfast on the roof terrace

  • The terrace in full daylight: blue and white cement floor tiles, straw parasols and terracotta jars along the whitewashed walls.

    Midday

    The terrace and the courtyard

  • The terrace at the blue hour: the sky still dark above the whitewashed walls, the wall lights on, the courtyard open below.

    The blue hour

    The light well

  • The terrace at night: tables laid, a pergola thick with lit greenery, mint-green doors and warm wall lights.

    Evening

    Dinner under the pergola

Looking straight down from the roof into the light well: the arcades of both floors, Berber rugs, and the lit pool at the very bottom.

The light well

Everything depends on a hole in the roof

A house in the medina takes nothing from the street. It closes around a courtyard and waits for the day to fall on it, straight down, for a few hours.

From the house

Eight ways out

See all

The house, in the order of the day

The full gallery
  • A table laid for breakfast on the terrace — silver teapot, pressed juices — under straw parasols and a deep blue sky.
    01Breakfast on the terrace
  • The terrace in full daylight: blue and white cement floor tiles, straw parasols and terracotta jars along the whitewashed walls.
    02The terrace in the sun
  • Woven daybeds with green cushions and straw hats left on them, lined up in the shade of the parasols.
    03The daybeds
  • The shaded end of the terrace: a dining corner under hanging greenery and woven wicker pendants, along an olive-green banquette.
    04The shaded corner
  • The riad courtyard: a pool edged in green zellige, banana plants, a hand-painted arabesque ceiling and pierced brass lanterns.
    05The courtyard and its pool
  • Looking straight down from the roof into the light well: the arcades of both floors, Berber rugs, and the lit pool at the very bottom.
    06The light well, from the roof
  • The terrace at the blue hour: the sky still dark above the whitewashed walls, the wall lights on, the courtyard open below.
    07The terrace at the blue hour
  • The terrace at night: tables laid, a pergola thick with lit greenery, mint-green doors and warm wall lights.
    08The terrace after dark
  • The sitting room: low olive-green banquettes, white cotton curtains tied back with red tassels, and green arabesques painted by hand across the ceiling.
    09The sitting room

Where it is

Eight hundred and fifty metres from the square

Close enough to walk home after dinner on Jemaa el-Fna. Far enough that you hear none of it from the courtyard. The address is on the derb Jemaa, in the Bab Aylan quarter.

Bab Aylan Derb Jemaa 316
40000 Marrakech, Maroc
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31.6293° N · 7.9755° W

The shaded end of the terrace: a dining corner under hanging greenery and woven wicker pendants, along an olive-green banquette.
The shaded corner
The sitting room: low olive-green banquettes, white cotton curtains tied back with red tassels, and green arabesques painted by hand across the ceiling.

Come and stay

Open dates are kept up to date on the booking engine. For anything particular, write to us — we answer ourselves.