La Villa Des Orangers Hotel by Relais & Chateaux

La Villa Des Orangers Hotel by Relais & Chateaux

Five minutes on foot from the crowds of Jemaa el-Fna, La Villa Des Orangers occupies a riad built in the 1930s for a prominent local figure who lived there until 1998, later reworked over nine months into a Relais & Châteaux address at the foot of the Koutoubia Mosque. Thirty rooms and suites wrap around three open-air patios where fountains run beneath galleries of hand-chiseled plaster, and the hotel keeps three separate pools: a rooftop pool facing the Koutoubia minaret and the Atlas Mountains, a heated sixteen-metre pool set in a walled garden, and a third pool reserved for the two suites of its private riad, complete with its own solarium. Meals move with the day, orange trees shading lunch, sitting rooms with fireplaces taking over for a Moroccan, French and Mediterranean menu once the sun drops. A hammam, three massage rooms and Gemology Paris treatments cover the spa side without needing to leave the property. Couples booking a double are asked for a marriage certificate at check-in, a local requirement that catches some travellers off guard and is worth knowing before you arrive. Families get an actual family suite rather than a cot wedged into a double, and the direct-booking transfer from the airport removes one more decision on arrival. Anyone chasing open sightlines and a big modern lobby, or travelling with a pet, should look elsewhere; the rooms stay traditional in scale and pets are not permitted. For a couple or a small family wanting the medina at close range without giving up quiet courtyards and their own water, this remains one of the few Marrakesh addresses with three separate pools and three separate places to eat. Five minutes from Jemaa el-Fna, this 1930s riad turned Relais & Châteaux hotel keeps three separate pools, including one reserved for just two suites. Couples need a marriage certificate at check-in, a detail worth knowing before you book, and the thirty rooms stay traditional in scale rather than expansive.