Kasbah Tamadot

In 1998 Richard Branson was in Morocco for a balloon flight when his parents, Ted and Eve, drove up into the High Atlas and came back with news of a kasbah for sale above the village of Asni. He bought it. The house, then the home of an Italian antiques dealer, Luciano Tempo, had already been filled with carved doors, lanterns and furniture gathered across North Africa and India. After years of work it opened as Kasbah Tamadot in 2005, the first African property of what became Virgin Limited Edition.

History

The name means 'soft breeze' in the Berber language of the valley. Tempo had built up the kasbah as a private house, and much of his collection stayed with the sale, which is why the public rooms feel inherited rather than bought for a hotel. Eve Branson, who died in January 2021, founded the Eve Branson Foundation in the valley to train local women and young people in weaving, carpentry and embroidery; the foundation's workshops are a short drive away and their work furnishes parts of the hotel. The earthquake that struck the High Atlas on 8 September 2023 damaged the area around Asni; the hotel closed for repairs and reopened the following year.

Architecture and design

The kasbah stands on a spur above the Asni valley, with Mount Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa at 4,167 metres, visible from the terraces. The main building is pisé and stone in the traditional style, with towers, flat roofs and a central courtyard. Rooms were carved out of the original house and later wings; the Berber tents, added on the hillside below, are permanent tented suites with wooden decks and hot tubs. Interiors keep Tempo's lanterns, carpets and carved screens, with pieces from the foundation's workshops added over the years.

Rooms and suites

The hotel has 28 rooms and suites. Those in the kasbah itself vary in shape, some with fireplaces and terraces, some opening on to the courtyard. The Berber tents are the most asked-for category, each with a private deck looking down the valley and towards Toubkal; a handful of larger tents added in later years sleep families. Every room is different in plan, which is a feature of a converted house rather than a complaint.

Dining

Kanoun is the main restaurant, serving Moroccan and Mediterranean dishes with produce from the kitchen garden, and the Asmoun Lounge serves lighter meals and drinks through the day. Dinner can be taken on the terraces or by the pool in the warm months. Cooking classes use the kitchen's tagines and the garden's herbs.

Wellness

The Asounfou Spa has a hammam, treatment rooms and an indoor heated pool for the winter months, when snow lies on Toubkal. An outdoor infinity pool sits below the main terrace. There is a tennis court, and the hotel arranges guided walks into the Imlil valley and the Toubkal National Park, as well as mule treks to Berber villages and visits to the foundation's workshops.

Weddings and events

The kasbah can be taken over in full for weddings and private gatherings, with the courtyard, the terraces and the pool lawn as the settings. Groups of the size of the house, 28 rooms, fit without strain; larger numbers are not the house's trade. Smaller meetings use the lounges and the library.

Location

Kasbah Tamadot lies above Asni, about 45 kilometres south of Marrakech on the road to Imlil, a drive of an hour or so from Marrakech Menara Airport. The village market takes place on Saturdays. Imlil, the trailhead for Toubkal, is 17 kilometres further up the valley. For a luxury hotel in the Atlas Mountains within reach of Marrakech, the location gives both the city and the high peaks in one trip, and most guests pair it with a few nights in the medina.