The ultimate hotel stay… in Morocco

Everyone has their own opinion on what makes the perfect hotel. Do you savour the smaller scale and intimate boutique style, or is five-star frills more your thing? Maybe it’s the location that matters most, or the superlative service.

For me, having stayed in hundreds of properties in more than 60 countries, La Mamounia, a Marrakech institution, comes as close to perfection as anything I’ve encountered, offering everything you’d expect of a legendary hotel.

Pulling up outside its history-steeped portals, you can’t help but feel a frisson of excitement as you are greeted by its welcoming doormen and ushered in. The best hotels should transport you to another world, and on this front La Mamounia certainly succeeds.

It helps to have heritage and La Mamounia has a compelling backstory. Its stunning gardens were gifted by the 18th-century Alaouite Sultan, Mohammed Ben Abdellah, to one of his sons as a wedding present. Two centuries later the Moroccan Railway Company decided to build a hotel fit for the great and the good, employing French architects Henri Prost and Antoine Marchisio, who married the art-deco style of the times with Arabo-Andalucian flourishes.

Evolution is key, of course, and numerous refurbishments – the most notable a three-year transformation at the hands of Jacques Garcia, completed in 2009; the most recent in 2020 when a cinema, wine cellar and new restaurants were added – have kept things fresh.

The best hotels should echo their surroundings, so you are never in any doubt as to where you are. There is a real sense of place at La Mamounia; you could not be anywhere other than Morocco. It leans into its heritage and art deco meets Arabo-Andalucian style to spectacular effect with Moorish arches, giant lanterns and delicately carved mashrabiya wood screens.

Beyond its walls, you can immerse yourself in Moroccan culture with guided tours of the medina and the souks or day trips to the Atlas Mountains – the concierge can open doors not normally available to everyone who visits the Rose City. (If you can bear to leave, that is; the shady pool, zellige-tiled spa, and gardens dotted with palms, orange and olive trees have a magnetic quality.)

Location is also critical. La Mamounia sits on the edge of Marrakech’s ancient medina, a short stroll to the city’s iconic Djemaa El Fna square. Throw open your windows first thing and the birdsong competes with the sound of the muezzin’s call to prayer. Ask for a room overlooking the gardens with views of the

Atlas Mountains in the distance.

Seamless service is also a given, and La Mamounia hits that sweet spot between attentiveness and that uncomfortable sensation of people hovering around you. Other guests are also an essential element of hotel life. Winston Churchill was a fan and used to paint in the hotel’s garden, and a red carpet’s worth of famous faces have slipped between its sheets. These days, there is ample opportunity for people-watching, whether poolside or in one of the bars. Truly great hotels move with the times but never lose their soul. And a stay at La Mamounia will linger in your memory long after you have checked out.