Stay The Night: Hotel & Spa Le Doge, Casablanca

Famed above all else for that celebrated film, Casablanca remains Morocco's commercial centre rather than a tourist hub. Yet, either as a gateway to longer-haul destinations or simply when journeying between the country's north and ever popular south, you're likely to pass through "Casa", and the city really is worth a day or two of your time.

At its heart lies a splendid, if somewhat frayed, neighbourhood of Art Deco buildings erected by the French. Hotel & Spa Le Doge is a part of that heritage and, one hopes, sets a benchmark for how this architecture might be revived.

It was built in the 1930s as a town house, which then became a modest apartment block. Time and neglect had taken their toll by the mid-2000s but, after three years of thorough restoration and clever adaptation, Le Doge opened last year and was promptly added to the Relais & Chateaux portfolio, a prestigious global collection of around 500 fine hotels and restaurants. Tucked away discretely on a quiet side street near the Sacred Heart Cathedral, it's unlikely you'd stumble across it even as part of an Art Deco tour.

A whitewashed exterior with faint but fine detailing gives little away. Yet the cosy lobby sparkles with Art Deco touches, from the upholstered burgundy sofa and round coffee tables to lamps and vases inlaid with a mosaic of mother-of-pearl. A framed spotlit print of Tamara de Lempicka's La Dormeuse neatly suggests a good night's sleep if not sultry old-world glamour.

There's a tiny lift but if you take it you'll miss the spiral stairwell edged by glass bricks and a decorative wrought-iron balustrade. It all looks and feels more like the stylish town house it once was than a hotel.

The rooms

There are just 16 rooms and suites, comprising three categories called Sensation, Passion and Charme, the latter with their own terraces. Each room is named after an eclectic selection of 1930s figures, such as Ernest Hemingway, F Scott Fitzgerald, Coco Chanel, Josephine Baker and, of course, De Lempicka. Each room is differently styled and decorated but period furnishings are common to all. Rooms are spacious and unfussy with high ceilings; those facing the street are brightest. Free Wi-Fi, iPod docks, and Nespresso machines help counter any time-warp feel. The bathrooms are roomy with good towels, though my razor shaved like a 1930s relic and, disappointingly, you wouldn't want to take home the toiletries.

The food and drink

Le Salon Bel is a pleasing wood-panelled library and bar with a fireplace (Casa gets distinctly chilly in winter), stained-glass windows and an old wireless. Adjoining it, through concertina doors, is the intimate Le Veyre restaurant – simple yet elegant and with a menu of French and Moroccan classics (there's a children's menu, too). Breakfast features a good mix of buffet and à la carte items. The pastries are delicious, but having à la carte cereal (a standard muesli, for instance) and staff on hand to pour milk for coffee both seem a little cumbersome.

The extras

There's a small spa and a rather more impressive-looking hammam, plus a meeting and conference room. The dinky rooftop garden makes a pleasantly open and quiet spot to read or snooze. Yet, one of Africa's largest cities stands on your doorstep, a generally easy-going and unthreatening place that ought to be explored. Its Art Deco heartland lies a few minutes' walk away, an area roughly contained by Avenues Lalla Yacout and Hassan II, and Boulevard Mohammed V. Up by the ocean front, the massive Hassan II Mosque, with the world's tallest minaret, is simply unmissable – although, beware, the interior is often shut.

The access

Children from the age of three months are welcome. There is access for people with disabilities.

The bill

Double rooms from £210 per night, including breakfast (four nights for the price of three until 15 July).

The address

Hotel & Spa Le Doge, 9 Rue du Doctor Veyre, 20 070 Casablanca, Morocco (hotelledoge.com; relais chateaux.com).