Public Spaces

Dar Les Cigognes has been designed so as to make our guests feel at home. The public spaces are sufficiently numerous to allow guests a sense of privacy. When entering the house, one passes first through a chicane. This is a typical design feature of Arab houses to underline the separation of the outside from the inside. The chicane is made of three rooms with vaulted ceilings, each carved with a different motif. The manager's office and the public washroom are off of this chicane.

Spread across two riads, connected by a covered bridge, you will find many areas to lounge, relax and enjoy. The african living room is designed following the themes of the old trade routes into the Sahara. With a massive fireplace, and many couches and chairs, it is a comfortable place to reflect on the adventures of another day in magical Marrakesh.

For those with a deep and abiding passion for the book, you will find a well-stocked library with a great range of books on Morocco, its history and arts, North Africa, and beyond. We also have a wide selection of novels to choose from in many languages, including English, German, Swedish, and French.

Guests need go no further than the dining room for one of the finest dining experiences available in Marrakech. Let our chef seduce you with the flavours of Morocco. We serve a wide range of specialties, and can also prepare something special that you might like to try.

The traditional arab house, a Dar or a Riad, is an interior world. Built around central courtyards, windows typically face inwards onto a patio with fountains and fruit trees. Arab houses rarely have outside adornment, or even windows to the outside, instead they focus on the quiet and calm of the interior, the sound of splashing water from the fountain, the birds that dart in to sip from the fountain. Gathered all around these courtyards are open air living rooms, called bhous, which allow you to enjoy the comforts of a lounge, with the feeling of being outside. This is the essence of a riad.

The terraces of Dar Les Cigognes are some of the most spectacular in Marrakech. With unimpeded views to the Atlas mountains, whose snow-capped peaks stand sentinel on a clear day, the view is stunning. So close you can almost touch them, the crenelated parapets of the Royal Palace have delicately balanced storks' nests perched on top. An incredible site to watch as these huge birds fly in and land, and clack their beaks like castanets at dusk.

As the sun sets behind the palace, with the Koutoubia minaret glowing purple in the distance, and you sit, drink in hand, soaking up the blaze of glory the sky is putting on just for you, and feel the cares of the world drift away, you will know that this is what you came here for.