Villa des Orangers, Marrakech

A riad in Marrakech was the thing to have a few years back when the economic crisis hadn’t yet reached the Western world. It all started back in the late 90s when French and other Europeans discovered that they could buy a house in the old town of Marrakech for a bargain. Most of them had between four and eight rooms and were built around an open sky patio, with a garden and/ or a fountain in the middle. Although the restoration was a painstaking process, in the end it was worth it since the Riad was going to be turned into a small hotel and thus recover the initial investment. Whats more, Marrakech was a city that was safe, with guaranteed sunshine, cheap cost of living and close to home.