8 places, from £47 to £136 a night.
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 Fashion Boutique Hotel wears three stars on its plaque, but lines up a level above: a rooftop pool-bar with an Atlas view, a spa with hammam, a restaurant, all on avenue Hassan II. Thirty-five rooms in contemporary decor, a service travellers place at the top, five minutes from the station.
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.
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.
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.
The Radisson Blu takes the upper floors of the Carré Eden, the shopping centre on avenue Mohammed V, the axis linking Guéliz to the medina. An international-brand 5-star: one hundred and ninety-eight balcony rooms, a large courtyard pool, a spa, a kids' club. Its location picks up one of the best scores in town. The price is up for debate.
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.
