Review of Le Riad Hotel de Charme, by Belinda Jackson

Finally, Cairo is blessed with a true boutique hotel that embraces the best of Egyptian style through the centuries. Le Riad is on Sharia El-Muizz, the glorious medieval thoroughfare lined with mosques, old bathhouses and restored merchants' houses that span 800 years from the Fatamid, Mamluk and Ottoman periods to today.

The renovation of the 1960s apartment block to become Le Riad is the brainchild of Syrian Youssef Takla and Frenchwoman Véronique Sedro, an Egyptologist who chose every piece of antique furniture, framed the nomadic jewellery, collected the local cinema posters, sourced photographs of famous Egyptian dancers and beauties.

Each suite in this lush-yet-quirky Cairo hideaway has its own rich colour theme, from jewel blues to sweet pinks and modern monochromes with thoughtful final touches - such as the ancient typewriter on the desk in the Nagib Mafouz suite, named for the Nobel prize for Literature winner, and the traditional weaves sourced from far oases in the Bedouin room.

The facilities

The hotel includes an elegant tea lounge, furnished with striking inlaid chairs and modern Egyptian art, and the rooftop garden, where arabesque meets Bel Air, all 1950s garden furniture lit by Arabian lamps and overlooking the city skyline of minarets. The all-Egyptian staff of Le Riad also speak French and English.

The rooms

Le Riad has just 17 spacious suites - 9 superior and 8 standard suites, each decorated in a different Egyptian period - be it Mamluk, Pharonic or modern Arabic - or after a personality such as singer Omm Khalthoum or Egypt's last king, Farouk. Acqua di Portofino Spa toiletries sit in large, creamy marble bathrooms and laptops with free internet lie in wait in each suite's sitting room.