Hivernage
The district of the grand hotels and Marrakech's nights: palaces, spas and pools by day, cabaret dinners and clubs at night. Few monuments, but quiet, greenery and the medina ten minutes away.
History & context
Hivernage owes its name to an early 20th-century habit: Europeans came to spend the winter here. The Protectorate authorities laid out, between the medina and Guéliz, a district of wide palm-planted avenues and comfortable villas, built for rest and the mild climate.
A century on, Hivernage is the district of the grand hotels: 5-star palaces, spas, infinity pools and gardens. It is also, when night falls, the epicentre of Marrakech nightlife - cabaret dinners, clubs and casinos.
You come to stay in the quiet and go out at night, ten minutes from Jemaa el-Fna and minutes from the Menara Gardens. Few monuments, plenty of comfort: Hivernage is the rested other side of the medina.
At Hivernage, nightlife runs on a licence: cabaret dinners, palace bars, clubs where drinks are served, cocktails from about £7 to £13. It is the openly licensed counterpart of the dry riads of the medina close by.
The medina for the days, Hivernage for the nights.
Highlights
A neighbourhood is not visited in one go: here are the stops in the order of a walk.
The grand hotels and their spas
5-star palaces with gardens, infinity pools and spas: Hivernage is Marrakech's hotel district.
The Koutoubia and the walls, minutes away
To the east, the Almohad minaret and the medina's walls, reached on foot in about ten minutes.
The Menara Gardens
To the west of the district, the great pool and the Saadian pavilion among the olive trees, facing the Atlas.
Get your bearings
A spacious district of wide avenues: pleasant on foot, but take a taxi for the Menara or the medina.
In pictures
The best photo spots
A neighbourhood best photographed late in the day and at dusk.
Palms and palaces
The wide planted avenues and the façades of the grand hotels, in late afternoon.
The pavilion and the pool
The Saadian pavilion mirrored in the great pool, the Atlas as a backdrop.
The Koutoubia in the distance
From a terrace, the minaret and the roofs of the medina, at dusk.
On the ground
Where to take a break without leaving the neighbourhood.
Visitor tips
- Hivernage is a district to stay and go out in, more than one to visit: combine it with the medina close by.
- Nightlife starts late: cabaret dinners around 9pm, clubs after midnight.
- For the Menara, go in late afternoon for the light on the pool. Reckon on a taxi.
- Many hotels open their spa or their rooftop to non-residents on reservation.
