Mandarin Oriental, Marrakech

Olive trees older than the hotel line the drive, and beyond them, on a clear morning, the snow on the Atlas sits above a wall of roses. Mandarin Oriental, Marrakech opened in 2015 on the Route du Golf Royal, south-east of the medina of Marrakech, on a flat estate of 20 hectares that had been farmland, and it was planted before it was built so that the gardens would be mature on opening day.

History

Mandarin Oriental had been looking at Morocco for years before this project, the group's first in the country. The hotel opened in the autumn of 2015 after a long construction, at a time when the city's palm-grove belt was filling with resorts, and it took a different line: villas rather than rooms, gardens rather than a hotel block, and a site on the golf side of the city rather than in the Palmeraie. Ling Ling by Hakkasan, the Cantonese restaurant and bar, arrived in 2018 and gave the hotel a reason for the city's own residents to visit at night.

Architecture and design

The estate is a grid of walled gardens. Each villa is a compound of its own, low and rendered in the pink ochre of the city, with a private garden, a heated pool and an open-air lounge behind walls high enough to keep it private. The design draws on Berber and Andalusian sources: carved cedar, zellige tilework, brass lanterns and water channels, handled with restraint rather than the full riad decoration. The main building holds the restaurants, the spa and the suites, with a long pool in front and lawns leading off into the olive groves. A rose garden, cultivated for the hotel's own rose water, is planted with about 100,000 bushes.

Rooms and suites

There are 54 villas and nine suites. The villas start at one bedroom and rise to the two- and three-bedroom Royal and Presidential villas, with pools of up to 20 metres; every one has a private pool and outdoor dining. The nine suites are on the upper floor of the main building, each with a roof terrace, a plunge pool and the mountain view. A grand villa of several bedrooms at the far end of the gardens takes families and groups.

Dining

Ling Ling by Hakkasan serves dim sum and Cantonese dishes with a terrace and a bar that is one of the few late-night addresses outside the medina. Mes'Lalla is the Moroccan restaurant, with tagines and the slow-cooked dishes of the city in a dining room of carved cedar. The Pool Garden handles lunch by the main pool, and Salon Berbère and the lobby lounge serve tea and cocktails. Shisha and a pastry counter complete the picture.

Wellness

The spa occupies a building of about 1,800 square metres, with a traditional hammam, a Moroccan rhassoul treatment, a hair salon and a fitness centre with an indoor pool. Each villa also has its own pool, so most guests swim at home. Tennis courts and a yoga lawn are set in the gardens, and the Royal Golf and the Amelkis course are close by.

Weddings and events

The gardens are the venue: weddings use the lawns between the olive groves, the terrace of the main building and the pool, with dinners under the trees. The hotel has a ballroom and meeting rooms for conferences, and the grand villa and the villa compounds serve for private celebrations. Capacities are not given here.

Location

The hotel is about ten minutes by car from the medina and the Jemaa el-Fna square, and about 15 minutes from Marrakech Menara Airport. The Royal Golf course is next door. The Atlas foothills and the Ourika valley are an hour away. For a luxury hotel in Marrakech with a private pool in every room category, this is the one with the most garden per guest.