Wide avenues, palaces and spas on the edge of the medina: Hivernage is the hotel quarter, ten minutes on foot from Jemaa el-Fna along the ramparts. You sleep at a hotel, rarely in a riad, for the comfort and the easy car access. The trade-off: avenues without the character of the old walls, and rates that climb fast in high season. The quarter's hotels compare below, by standing and by budget.
The Dar Rhizlane is a palace guesthouse of Hivernage, set in a large garden planted with palms where the pool lights up at nightfall. Around twenty rooms, a spa with hammam, a house kitchen served at the water's edge: this is 5-star comfort on a human scale, a few minutes from the centre without the medina's clamour.
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 Hivernage, along the Menara gardens, the Four Seasons lays out 141 rooms and suites across sixteen hectares of planted palm grove. A single-storey address, built around its pools and its ochre pavilions, ten minutes by car from the medina without its bustle at the door.
Carved stucco, zellige columns, chiselled wood ceilings: The Red House pushes the decor of the great early 20th-century Moroccan houses into an eight-room home. A garden with a pool, a house table, right in Hivernage. A dense and intimate decor at once, for anyone who likes owned excess rather than bare elegance.
The Es Saadi Palace is the flagship of an Hivernage institution: an eight-hectare park where suites, villas and ksars sit around the largest pool in the neighbourhood. There is a Dior spa, three restaurants, a casino and the Théâtro, one of the best-known clubs in town. An old-school resort-palace, a stone's throw from the medina without its clamour.
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.
The Hotel Jadali & Spa is a small 5-star in Hivernage with a green facade, halfway between the boutique hotel and the family address. Fifty-two rooms, a spa with hammam, a pool and a roof where you can spot the Koutoubia. Care for children, a warm welcome, a more intimate scale than the great hotels of the quarter, walking distance from the medina.
In Hivernage, a hundred metres from the Congress Palace and ten minutes on foot from the medina, the Mövenpick Mansour Eddahbi is a 503-room hotel built for families and practical stays: several pools, a spa with hammams, five restaurants. Comfort and location over character.
The Hivernage Hotel & Spa is a classic 5-star set in the middle of its quarter, a fifteen-minute walk from Jemaa el-Fna. Eighty-five rooms, a pool lined with green walls, a spa with hammam and three restaurants: a comfortable and well-placed base, without the tailored decor of a boutique hotel, but with the facilities and the easy walk to the medina.
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.
In Hivernage, behind an ochre pink facade and a large palm garden, the Sofitel Palais Impérial is one of the largest 5-star hotels in Marrakech: 328 rooms, several pools, a spa with hammam, and the medina a fifteen-minute walk away. A large hotel machine, not to be confused with the neighbouring Sofitel Lounge.
The Amani plays the aparthotel format: suites in Moroccan decor, sitting corner and kitchenette for some, on avenue Mohammed VI, in Hivernage. On the roof, a small pool, a solarium and a panoramic restaurant facing the Koutoubia and the Atlas. Downstairs, a spa with hammam. Three-star at a small price, for anyone wanting space and a central address without breaking the bank.
The Savoy Le Grand plays a different tune than the riads: that of the large hotel, with what that means for pools, restaurants and spa. Four pools including one covered, a two-thousand-square-metre spa, five restaurants, right in Hivernage. For a 5-star, the entry rate stays contained. In return, you accept the scale and the atmosphere of a several-hundred-room hotel.
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.
