It List: The Best New Hotels 2012

Rustic: Fellah Hotel, Marrakesh, Morocco

This new entry to the Marrakesh scene successfully steers clear of the overdone Arabian Nights fantasy. The property, the project of a local art patron and his wife, is located in the lush Ourika Valley oasis, just a 20-minute drive outside the city. Fellah is both hotel and artists’ colony: one building holds a library partly funded by Libraries Without Borders that welcomes scholars-in-residence (during our stay, we met a Spanish expert on Arabic poetry), while another houses visiting international artists who collaborate with local craftspeople. The same spirit of creativity reigns in all 69 guest rooms: vintage photographs sourced from nearby souks hang on bedroom walls, hammered-metal desks were made by local artisans, and 1970’s radios were scavenged from flea markets in Casablanca. fellah-hotel.com. $