Morocco's glittering bohemian city is brighter than ever – with a flash-pack of fabulous places to stay. The city is known for its riads – a traditional property set around a central courtyard – as well as its grand-dame hotels made from marble. There is a cluster of big-name players scattered across Marrakech – The Oberoi, Four Seasons and Mandarin Oriental among them – as well as smaller, independently owned hangouts offering a fresh take on this frenetic metropolis. From palaces owned by the royal family to pretty riads that host local creatives for months at a time, these are our favourite hotels in Marrakech – in no particular order.
Nobu Hotel Marrakech
With a name as reputable as Nobu on the door, good service and an even better restaurant offering are practically scribed into the brickwork. Marrakech is the brand's first foray into Africa, and its interiors remain respectful of the location, capturing a different kind of aesthetic that sets it apart from its Mediterranean cousins. The location is one to celebrate. From here, you can walk to the medina and the souks, or arrange drivers to take you further afield via the concierge, who suggests tours to the Atlas mountains, desert picnics and cultural experiences like camel rides. The rooftop is as beautiful as the 360-degree views it offers, and watching the sun cast ombre shades of pink and orange across the sky before it sinks behind the horizon is best accompanied by a signature cocktail or a serving of mint tea – poured from an elaborate silver-tone pot, of course. Every bedroom is a suite bedecked in mahogany wood and rich furnishings. Sarah Leigh Bannerman
Read our full review of Nobu Hotel Marrakech.
Address: Nobu Hotel Marrakech, Av. Echouhada et, Rue du Temple, Marrakesh 40000, Morocco
La Mamounia
Featured on our 2022 Gold List of the best hotels in the world
La Mamounia is where Charlie Chaplin and Churchill chose to hole up, and Hitchcock filmed The Man Who Knew Too Much. Reinvigorated by designer Jacques Garcia, it had a spectacular reopening in 2009. Retreat from the hubbub to the huge gardens, with their beekeepers, lemon trees, secret ice-cream parlour and the loveliest pool with a palm tree in the middle. The Sunday poolside brunch – tagines, grilled fish, pizza flatbreads – is excellent for hungry children, as is eating in Le Marocain to the sounds of a traditional oud (a bit like a lute). For a riad-style stay, there are three houses on the grounds, but the rooms with views out to the Koutoubia Mosque and over the rooftops of the Red City are the ones that give you the best sense of place. Pick up neon earthenware jugs, Berber-style rugs and baskets at New York designer Martin Raffone’s MaisonLAB in Guéliz.
Address: La Mamounia, Avenue Bab Jdid, Marrakesh 40040, Morocco
El Fenn
Featured on our 2021 Gold List of the best hotels in the world
Anyone with an enduring crush on the city will recall the Great Riad Gold Rush of 20 or so years ago. Dot-com boomers and designer downshifters began buying up Marrakech’s crumbling townhouses to rework as boho hotels, chasing the freewheeling Sixties Morocco of Jimi Hendrix and Talitha Getty, although results were mixed. Today the standouts can be counted on one hand – or in one digit. El Fenn, co-owned by Vanessa Branson, sister of Richard, is an enfilade of acid-bright spaces that launched with six bedrooms in 2004 on the edge of the Medina. Now it sprawls across 12 riads in its latest expanded incarnation, set to open in January 2021, revealing a spectacular new rooftop pool. Mingling with scents of jasmine in summer and olive-wood hearth embers in winter, a whiff of insouciance fills the pulse-slowing spa, courtyards of bougainvillaea and orange trees, and the 31 head-turning rooms – mid-century modern goes to Morocco – finessed by local craftspeople. Fifties-futuristic sofas cohabit with beds sprouting barley-twist poles. Maison Jansen palm-tree lamps, favoured by Jackie Kennedy in the White House, illuminate sheeny tadelakt walls. It feels like the home of a philanthropic collector, which Branson is (her privately owned art is hung up for all to see), thrown open for rock stars in retreat. On the vast roof at the violet hour, the bartender stirs preserved-lemon gin Martinis as the darkening sky exposes a cityscape spiked with minarets. While Marrakech gathers more big-brand hotels, reassuringly, El Fenn pursues its rebel-chic streak. It’s only Maroc’n’roll – but we like it. By Nick Redman
Address: El Fenn, Derb Moulay Abdullah Ben Hezzian, 2, Marrakesh 40000, Morocco
Royal Mansour
The Royal Mansour is not so much a hotel as an imperial palace. Owned by Morocco’s King Mohammed VI – which may explain why such a vast and elaborate masterpiece took just three years to build, albeit with a team of 1,200 artisans on the job – it is set within five pink-walled hectares beside the Red City. It's made up of 53 guest riads, each three storeys high, with up to four bedrooms, indoor-outdoor living spaces and private rooftops with plunge pools and views of the Atlas Mountains.
Courtyards are spectacular: richly detailed and Zellig-tiled, with colossal scalloped archways and intricately carved doors, decorated with fountains and cane furniture, with traditional lights strung overhead. Elsewhere, the classic Moorish architecture has been updated: in the serene and stylish pool with its contemporary pavilions; in the spa, surely the prettiest on the planet, enclosed in a filigreed metal structure as ethereal as lace; in the food, in three restaurants headed up by French Chef Yannick Alléno.
Two-and-a-half hectare gardens lush with palms, olive and orange trees, and fragrant with the scent of jasmine, rosemary and mint, harbour more delights beyond the horticultural: an artist’s studio in a greenhouse where guests paint, pot and draw; and Le Jardin, the most delightful al fresco restaurant amid the greenery. Laura Fowler
Address: Royal Mansour, Rue Abou Abbas El Sebti، 40000, Morocco
The Oberoi Marrakech
The Oberoi Marrakech, carved from marble, was 10 years in the making – finally opening its doors in 2019 after a decade of painstaking construction. Crouched before the Atlas mountains on 28-acres of olive groves, it’s one of the most extraordinary stays in the city. The chef and concierge were pinched from Marrakech stalwart La Mamounia, a few staff were even poached from King Mohammed’s Royal Mansour. The spa manager comes from Es Saadi and oversees the wellness programme in a space set on a sparrow-skimmed, reeded lake and equipped with marble hammams and therapists from the acclaimed Oberoi Sukhvilas.
In the rooms, discernment is apparent in elephant-grey Chesterfields, Indian chandeliers and sugared dates as fat as juicy cigars. Meanwhile, the mix of Mughal and Berber paintings reminds me that I am firmly in Marrakech but never far from Rajasthan. Stephanie Rafanelli
Address: The Oberoi, Rte d'Ouarzazate, Marrakech 40000, Morocco
L’Hotel
English designer Jasper Conran made over this 19th-century palace, his first entry into the world of hotels. L'Hotel is an ethereal space, where king size beds are covered in sweeping linens like something out of a fairy-tale. Staff are engaged and attentive but never fussy, dishing up plates of solid, traditional Moroccan cooking in the summery dining room – beef and quince tagine, Moroccan salads such as Zaalouk, made with aubergine, and Taktouka, with tomatoes and peppers – all classic and classy.
This is an orange-blossom-scented, antique-filled retreat away from the hubbub – you’ll need to walk a little way to reach Marrakech’s finest restaurants and shops. But if you’re obsessed with small details, from the flowers on the table to the linens on your bed, adore scented gardens and favour intimate spaces that make you feel like you own the place, this Conran nest is for you. Tara Stevens
Address: L’Hotel, 41 Derb Lahcen ou Ali, Marrakesh 40000, Morocco
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Riad Secret Jardin
Photographer Cyrielle Astaing and art director Julien Phomveha met in Paris, but their move to Marrakech in 2015 brought with it the opportunity to open their own riad. In the central courtyard, the resident cat stares out chirping birds in the banana trees. Rooms at Riad Secret Jardin are set around this lush garden – interior details in the rooms have been sourced from local markets, so you can shop the look, and the dried pampas grass and flowers throughout the hotel can be bought and whisked away with you when you check out. This is, at its heart, a creative hub where artists take up months-long residencies to soak up inspiration from Marrakech’s fine creatives and work on artistic projects detached from the rest of the world. The couple’s dog, a dead-ringer for Toto from The Wizard of Oz, snoozes on the pink rooftop while you have breakfast overlooking the skyline – a unmissable delight of staying here. Sophie Knight
Address: Riad Secret Jardin, 43 Arset Aouzal, Marrakesh 40000, Morocco
Four Seasons Marrakech
There are quirkier, more boho places to stay in Marrakech with tiny travellers. Fawakay Villas has a Berber tent in the garden for sleepouts, for example, while the Beldi Country Club is a rustic-chic enclave with pottery classes and riding lessons. But for a gentle introduction to North Africa, Four Seasons Resort Marrakech is safe and reliable, yet has a thrillingly high excitement factor.
On arrival, there are silver trays of fresh mint tea and little bowls of almonds in the lobby, where kids are mesmerised by the chirping from the gigantic white birdcage. At night, the hotel is a sparkling, candlelit extravaganza, and bedrooms are scented with orange or rose. Children fall in love with the atmosphere and squeal over in-room surprises such as chocolate brownies, mini dressing gowns, mini djellabas (to sleep in) and toy camels. The kids' club can arrange everything from belly dancing to bread-making, and the staff seem to be permanently on an exaggerated cartoon high. There's a warm, shallow pool for toddlers, a basketball net, film screenings, picnics, and games on speed dial.
While all that's happening, parents can dash to the cooling calm of the spa for an authentic hammam – including scream-out-loud cold-water dousings – followed by the most delicious fresh rosemary and geranium tea. Or play tennis, have a yoga lesson or just loll in the sunshine. There are two swimming pools – one an adults-only dream of symmetry, the other a sprawling, free-form frenzy of floats, balls and water bombs. Cabanas provide much-needed shade, the wood-fired pizzas are bang-on, and the homemade ice creams are irresistible.
Address: Four Seasons Marrakech, Av. de la Ménara, Marrakech, Morocco
Mandarin Oriental, Marrakech
Mandarin Oriental has some serious digs: a total of 54 deeply private, one- and two-bedroom villas, all with creamy stone floors and carved tadelakt walls framed by stately columns (there are also nine first-floor rooms with fabulous Atlas views). The outdoor showers are enclosed with bamboo, while the courtyards have crackling wood fires and there are marble hammams in the bathrooms. A stroll through the 20 hectares of gardens, perfumed with the scent of 100,000 roses, leads to a spa and hammam of epic proportions, which unfurls in a series of graceful arches like those of the Mezquita in Córdoba. It's the attention to hand-crafted details like these that set the Mandarin apart from the city's more blingy five stars, and there's other carefully curated stuff too – from making dinner-party dishes with high-flying chefs to touring the organic fruit and vegetable garden. When the heat of the day gets too much just sneak back to the villa and spend the afternoon snoozing on a king-size daybed by the pool. This is somewhere to waft around indulging in all the extras, from yoga sessions to an in-room supper whipped up by a private chef. Tara Stevens
Address: Mandarin Oriental, Rte Golf Royal, Marrakech 40000, Morocco
Riad Goloboy
The designer of Riad Goloboy, Beatrice Faujas, spent some time in the Soviet Union and its name comes from the Russian word for blue. Fittingly, she has painted the courtyard an eye-popping Majorelle blue, using it as a flamboyant foil for her gallery-worthy art collection, which ranges from a hot-pink canine sculpture in the lobby to a graffitied splash-back in the rooftop shower. The eight bedrooms are altogether more sultry, with a palette of dark metallics. The Catherine, for example, has aubergine walls, python-skin armchairs and a fireplace trimmed with hand-beaten metal. Creamy, intricately carved plaster makes a statement headboard for the bed. The bar and sitting room is finished in charcoal tadelakt with floors embossed in Islamic motifs that contrast pleasingly with pastel-coloured armchairs and gold velvet banquettes. The furniture was bought mainly at auction or specially commissioned, and every last stick is for sale. Work will soon begin on converting the house next door, which will add a large pool, spa and eight more bedrooms by the end of the year. But for now, this is a peaceful little hideaway in the heart of Sidi Mimoun, the neighbourhood that's also home to La Mamounia. Cute and cosy with lovely staff, it's just the kind of place to combine a low-key weekend with a spot of sightseeing. Tara Stevens
Address: Riad Goloboy, 94 Derb Sidi M'barek, Marrakesh 40000, Morocco
Kasbah Beldi
A 50-minute drive from Marrakech in the village of Amizmiz, Kasbah Beldi is charming, but the real joy is its surroundings: a gigantic green lake fringed by pines, the honey-hued peaks of the Atlas so close you can almost touch them, and the conical shape of Toubkal dusted with snow. The Kasbah is the rural sibling to the well-established Beldi Country Club in town, and since it opened late in 2014 has become a popular base for long hikes or gaucho-style gallops across the plains. There are 30 bedrooms, a couple of dining rooms, a Berber tent, two swimming pools and a hammam lit by jewel-bright glass, all hidden hobbit-like among thickets of purple fountain grass. The best is the lodge rooms, each with a floor-to-ceiling window facing the mountains to soak up mesmerising sunrise views from your bed. After a wilderness escapade, recline on one of the Berber carpets laid out beneath an ancient holm oak and picnic on lemony chicken tagine and chocolate mousse. At sunset, sit poolside with a cool bottle of Casablanca to watch the water on the lake flicker from emerald green to midnight blue – when evening comes, the canopy of stars unfolds above, unspoiled by city lights. Tara Stevens
Address: Kasbah Beldi, Lac de Lalla Takerkoust، Village de Talet 42103, Morocco
The Source
This hip and friendly hotel is set on five hidden acres off the dusty road to Orika. Its rock-star theme was dreamt up by music-loving French owner Laurent Cohen, and his concept extends to a recording studio (with in-house technicians) and every conceivable instrument to play around with. The rooms (including two villas with private pools and an air-conditioned Berber tent) at The Source are imaginative and fun, with a stylish mix of handcrafted furniture. Each is different: the baroque, scarlet-walled Rolling Stones room; the Jimi Hendrix with a four-poster and a bath hidden behind a latticed wooden mashrabiya; the flashy silver Backstage artist's lodge, or even the powder-pink Pompadour. All of which may sound over the top, but is elegant and wonderfully laidback. The good vibes continue at the white-on-white spa with treatments that include the Sound of Silence (using resonating Tibetan bowls) and the Forever Young (an anti-ageing massage with argan oil and prickly-pear essences). The garden restaurant, surrounded by citrus trees, serves soups, Moroccan salads and chicken and lamb tagines, with skewers of fresh fruit and honey pastries for pudding. If you can tear yourself away from the pool (where local musicians jam at sunset) or the dramatic views over the snow-capped Atlas Mountains, the clamour of Marrakech is just a 20-minute drive away. Lanie Goodman
Address: The Source, Km 10 route de l'ourika, Marrakesh 40000, Morocco
Villa Azzaytouna
This is a celebratory kind of a place, a three-bedroom pleasure palace in the Palmeraie knitted together by majestic domed roofs and tiled waterways, which is fast becoming the star of an already pretty fabulous show (the main house, Villa Ezzahra, has hosted the likes of Daniel Craig). Azzaytouna is the most intimate of the three villas, set among a cluster of century-old olive trees with a private pool that's long enough for laps (and plunge pools in the walled gardens that lead off each bedroom). There are Indian charpoi beds for collapsing in the shade, a private hammam for olive-soap scrub downs, while massage and manicures can be taken wherever and whenever you want. The vast living room has a fireplace, lit every evening, and every wall is resplendent with original art, filigreed copper baubles glittering from the cupola. It feels like a grand home rather than a villa rental, and taking all three houses would make this the ultimate party pad. Everything except alcohol is included, which means, praise be, nobody need worry about a thing from the moment of arrival – unless it's whether or not to have another lovely cold glass of Pinot Gris. Tara Stevens
Address: *approximate location revealed upon booking
A version of this article originally appeared on Condé Nast Traveller UK.