Murano

The Murano delivers a very particular vision of Marrakesh conceived in Milan - Italian high design in an Arabian nights setting. The result is startling at times, but not altogether unpleasing.      

Rooms are spacious and attractive, the pool is cool in every sense, and the setting - in the tranquil oasis just outside the city centre known as the Palmeraie - a great base for Morocco's fascinating, but hot, dusty and noisy, shopping and entertainment capital.

Guests enter a reception building housing just a restaurant and bar. Breakfasts here are delicious, featuring local fresh fruit, eggs and pancakes, while dinners are generally western. You know something's up when you take your first step down an imposing outdoor staircase towards the rooms and encounter the vast scarlet pool, surrounded by red sofas and white lacquer loungers.

Rooms have fabulously comfy beds, though the startle factor persists in white lacquer furniture embellished with rose prints, and a chromatic lamp that switches to eye-popping ultra-violet mode. The black bathrooms, with deep tubs, towelling togas for in-room lounging and lovely toiletries, are, by contrast, sober and sumptuous.