Ryad Bahia, Riad Al Bartal, and Kasbah du Toubkal, Morocco

Here are three recommendations from our April ’07 trip to MOROCCO.

• Ryad Bahia (Tiberbarine, Ancienne Medina, Meknès, Morocco; phone 212 055 5545 41, e-mail bouchra_jamai@yahoo.com or contact@ryad-bahia.com or visit www.ryad-bahia.com), located behind the Dar Jamai museum.

This is a very comfortable, family-run B&B in a ryad (traditional Moroccan home with an inner courtyard) with its own restaurant. The ryad has antiques and traditional furnishings. The restaurant serves excellent food for lunch and dinner and specializes in tagines.

€60 ($88) for a double or €90 ($132) suite, including breakfast.

Jamai Bouchra and her husband speak many languages, including English. They arranged a shared taxi for us to the Roman ruins at Volubilis nearby.

• Riad Al Bartal (21 rue Sournas, quartier Ziat, Fes, Morocco; phone/fax 00 212 3 563 70 53, www.riadal bartal.com).

This is a B&B run by a French couple in a traditional Moroccan home in the medina. It is exquisitely furnished, and the inner courtyard is filled with plants. DHS800 ($103) double or DHS1,100 ($142) suite, with breakfast. Dinner is available for an extra charge.

We arrived in Fes by train and the owner arranged to have a staff member meet us at the station for no extra charge.

The staff can arrange a guide for the Fes medina, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which we highly recommend.

• Kasbah du Toubkal (Imlil, Morocco; phone 044 48 56 11, www. kasbahdutoubkal.com. . . or phone Discover Ltd. in the UK at 01 883 744392).

An amazing lodge at 5,000 feet in the High Atlas Mountains, this is a 5-star resort at a restored kasbah run by leaders in Morocco’s “responsible tourism” movement.

A double cost €61.50 ($90) plus 15% tariff and included breakfast and village projects.

We went on day hikes to nearby villages, both by ourselves and with a guide, with spectacular views of Mt. Toubkal, at 13,671 feet the highest peak in North Africa.

The dinners €20 ($29) at the lodge were outstanding.

A Turkish hamman was available for several hours a day.

AMY MacNAUGHTON

Edmonds, WA