23 places, from £47 to £224 a night.
About fifteen kilometres from Marrakech, on the Fès road, Bakkal Farm is an organic farm you inhabit rather than a hotel. Seven waxed-concrete rooms with large picture windows onto the olive grove, a long mirror pool, a table drawn from the kitchen garden: you come here for the country and the calm, not for the medina, left a half-hour drive away.
The Swiss Continental Hôtel ranks among the highest-rated addresses in Marrakech, and it owes it to almost none of what you expect of a holiday hotel: no pool, no spa, no garden. Twenty-five clean rooms in a Guéliz building, five minutes from the station, run by a team travellers rave about. An efficient urban base, not a leisure place.
The Longue Vie has a consistency rare in Marrakech: no score of its drops off, from one line to the next. A contemporary 4-star on avenue Hassan II, two minutes from the station, with a rooftop pool open to the Atlas, a spa and free parking. The kind of address with no bad surprise, at a still reasonable rate.
In the Ouirgane valley, an hour by road south of Marrakech, Ouirgane Ecolodge is a pisé guesthouse set at the foot of the Toubkal national park. Twelve rooms, an olive garden, a pool facing the mountains and a table drawn from the kitchen garden: you come here for walking, calm and altitude, not for the city.
In Guéliz, fifteen minutes on foot from the Majorelle garden, the Residence Eden is not a classic hotel but an aparthotel: flats with a fitted kitchen and sitting room, and on the roof a pool facing the quarter's antennas and the Koutoubia minaret. A format for anyone wanting to cook, spread out with the family and keep the centre within walking reach.
The 2Ciels plays the pleasure boutique on several levels: a pool in the patio, another on the roof with a bar-lounge that livens up in the evening, a spa, two tables including a seafood one. Eighty-five rooms in Art Deco decor, on the edge of Guéliz and Hivernage, facing the tennis club and near the galleries. An address to stay in as much as to head out from.
In the Palmeraie, fifteen minutes from the medina, Les Cinq Djellabas lines up ten lodges under conical thatched roofs among an olive grove. A human-scale guesthouse, designed by its owners around a heated pool and a Moroccan table. You come here for the calm and the orchard, not for the souks at the door.
In the Palmeraie, Dar Sabra is less a hotel than an open-air art gallery you sleep in. Two hectares of olive trees planted with sculptures and pop frescoes, around twenty all-different rooms, three pools: you come here for the decor as much as for the rest, ten minutes from the medina but off its buzz.
The Ari Boutique Hôtel made calm a rule: the house is adults-only. Thirty-one contemporary rooms in Guéliz, a pool sheltered between two facades, a breakfast travellers cite often, five minutes on foot from the station and walking distance from the Majorelle garden and the Yves Saint Laurent museum. A quiet urban address, no children, for a settled stay.
On the Amizmiz road, ten minutes south of Marrakech, Oasis Lodges lays out low pisé houses opening onto large gardens. Its real argument is the neighbouring Oasiria water park, free and unlimited access for guests. You come here for children and slides more than for the medina.
In Ghmat, former Almoravid capital at the foot of the Atlas, Aghmat Lodge is a guesthouse set in the countryside, 25 km from Marrakech. Pisé and stone walls, solar power, well water, pool open onto the summits: you come here for the silence and the big landscape, not for the medina at hand.
The Grand Plaza is a large 4-star of Hivernage, one hundred and fourteen rooms built around a broad courtyard pool, facing the station and the Royal Theatre. A spa with two hammams, a gym, a games room, spacious and soundproofed family rooms: this is the address of space and classic comfort, for anyone preferring room over the picturesque.
In the Palmeraie, a fifteen-minute shuttle from the medina, the Iberostar Waves Club Palmeraie is a large all-inclusive resort of 318 rooms set on 10 hectares of gardens: three pools, a water park with slides, kids' clubs and an all-inclusive package. You book it for a family holiday without logistics, not for the character of a riad.
An hour from Marrakech, hanging above the Azzaden valley, Kasbah Africa is an ecolodge turned to the mountain and the sky. Eight suites facing the summits, telescopes in the rooms, glass domes for sleeping under the stars: you come here for the High Atlas silence and the dark night, not to range out on the medina.
South of Marrakech, on the Ourika road, the Pickalbatros Aqua Fun Club is a 4-star all-inclusive resort built around its water park: 58 slides, about fifteen basins, a kids' club. You book it for a family holiday, not for the medina.
Opened in 2022 in the Palmeraie, the Palais Mirage d'Atlas holds a handful of suites laid out around a long pool and a palm grove. You come for the spa, the calm and the space, 9 km from the medina. Comfort convinces, but location and value for money are up for debate. Here is who it fits, and who it does not.
The Pestana CR7 is the lifestyle hotel co-signed by Cristiano Ronaldo and the Pestana group, set on M Avenue, the new commercial artery. One hundred and seventy-four rooms in contemporary design, a rooftop pool facing the Atlas, a spa: this is the register of the large modern and lively hotel, opposite the riad, for anyone after urban comfort rather than old character.
The Dellarosa is a contemporary boutique hotel planted right in Guéliz, Marrakech's modern quarter: eighty rooms and suites around a pool tucked between walls, a spa with hammam, two tables. You sleep among the cafés, boutiques and galleries of the new town, at a soft rate, a few minutes by taxi from the medina.
A half-hour south of Marrakech, towards Sidi Abdellah Ghiat, the Ecolodge Quaryati lines up two pisé villages among olive trees and fields, the Atlas for a horizon. Single-storey family rooms, two pools, a table drawn from the kitchen garden: you come here for the country calm and the view of the snows, not for the medina, left far behind.
The Blue Sea Le Printemps plays a different tune than the Guéliz boutiques: that of the large chain hotel, one hundred and fourteen rooms around a patio with murals and a pool, three restaurants, free parking rare in the centre. On thousands of reviews, this is a safe pick, central and practical, more classic than sharp, right in the middle of the new town.
In the Targa quarter, north-west of Marrakech, the Targa Aqua Parc (ex Labranda Targa Club Aqua Parc) is a family all-inclusive resort built around its water park: five pools, four slides, a kids' club. You come here for the package and the water, not for the medina, which a free shuttle puts ten minutes away.
On avenue Mohammed VI, at the southern edge of Hivernage, the Rose Aqua Park is a large family resort built around its water park: seven slides, two winter-heated pools, a spa with hammam and the all-inclusive package. An address for a children's holiday rather than a medina-centred stay, at a contained entry price.
In the Palmeraie, about twenty minutes from the medina, the Valeria Madina Club is a large 4-star family resort in the all-inclusive format: 432 rooms, broad pools, a water park and daytime entertainment. Volume and a contained budget rather than character, with a low traveller score you need to know before booking.
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