Targa Aqua Parc

The Targa Aqua Parc was called, until recently, the Labranda Targa Club Aqua Parc: same resort, under a shortened banner. It takes over a broad plot of the Targa quarter, north-west of Marrakech, where the city stretches out in housing tracts before giving way to the country. The architecture plays ochre pink and colonnades, gardens are planted with palms, and the whole establishment is built around water: a large central pool, several basins, and a water park with four slides that makes its main argument. You do not book here for the charm of a patio house, but to occupy children for a week.

The package follows the same logic. All-inclusive covers meals and drinks, with an international buffet, Moroccan specialties in the evening, a pool bar and daytime as well as evening entertainment. The mini-club, the play area and the family rooms round out a setup clearly turned to budget-tight families. Travellers back the whole without getting carried away: 7.6 on Booking on more than 700 reviews, an honest score that says well what the address is - fair, no more. Staff and cleanliness lift the average. Value for money picks up the lowest score, and recurrent reviews flag repetitive catering and a buffet service sometimes slow or disorganised at peak times. The pool, little heated, is also judged cool outside peak summer. You pick this address knowingly, for the water park and the package, not for the food.

That leaves the location question, which decides the rest. Targa is a residential quarter with nothing else within walking reach: no souk, no neighbourhood café, no walk out. The medina and Jemaa el-Fna are about ten minutes by car, twenty depending on traffic, and the hotel offers a free shuttle twice a day, on booking. Enough for anyone seeing Marrakech in two or three planned outings, a deal-breaker for anyone wanting to head out and back at will. From around £60 a night in a double depending on the season, this is an accessible doorway to a family stay with water and package included - a format shared by the other water-park hotels in town. For the setting and the calm, the address holds its promise. For the rest, keep expectations to the level of the score.