Since 1962 the Bauchet-Bouhlal family have been adding to their opulent garden resort, which now includes a giddy array of facilities alongside the original Sixties hotel, a superior Palace Hotel, eight crenellated ksars and 10 luxury villas favoured by film stars during the December film festival.
Midway between the old city and the New Town in Hivernage. It’s a 10-minute taxi ride to the Jamaa el Fna or a 20-minute walk.
More-is-more is the maxim of the Bauchet-Bouhlal’s, whose patriarch, Jean Bauchet, owned the Moulin Rouge and opened Marrakech’s first casino in 1952. Little wonder then that Es Saadi’s opulent Palace interiors stood in as the luxury hotel in the BBC adaptation of John Le Carre’s The Night Manager. Wander through Assyrian lounges with crushed velvet sofas past rose-filled fountains down long, arched corridors to exit into the lush 20-acre garden. It rivals the Mamounia’s in size and harbours one of the largest lagoon pools in Marrakech, complete with an island bar ringed by faux Roman columns. By contrast, the boxy Sixties L’Hotel is rather ordinary and backs on to a road.
The resort includes two hotels (L’Hotel and Le Palace), eight restaurants, four bars, three outdoor pools (two heated) and a huge indoor hydrotherapy pool, hammam and sauna in an extensive spa, which hosts the only Dior Institute outside Paris. In addition, there’s a casino, nightclub, tennis courts, children’s play area, fitness studio, library and several boutiques. Service is greaty; staff are attentive, polite and unobtrusive.
The 84 Palace suites offer top-notch accommodation in balconied rooms with restrained Moroccan décor. All have huge king-sized beds, a dressing room, a shimmering marble bathroom with separate bath and shower, and views over the gardens and pool. Families are accommodated in the ksars – mini, two-bedroom castles with direct pool access – while love-birds and celebrities hide away in the 10 individually styled secluded villas, which each have their own garden, heated pool, electric cart and butler.
The bedrooms in the 148-room hotel are more straightforward and very good value, but don’t live up to the five-star standard and guests here do not have access to the spa or the lagoon pool.
Breakfast and lunch are served poolside. The former offers a buffet of pastries, ham, cheeses, fruit, Moroccan delicacies and some superbly cooked omelettes. Modern Mediterranean food follows for lunch, or you can snack beside the pool. In the evening, La Cour des Lions offers gastronomic Moroccan cooking at its best, serving unusual dishes such as mourouzia, a 12th-century lamb recipe, while Le Saadi, the restaurant at L’Hotel, offers a French-influenced nice-dining menu.
Next door in the casino, there’s a further restaurant, Epicurien, which offers an easy-going international menu and cocktails.
A contemporary building with all facilities and restaurants located either on the ground floor or accessible by lift. Also, plenty of helpful and attentive staff to lend a hand.
Extremely. Children will love the beautiful gardens, indoor and outdoor play areas, swimming pools and Kids’ Club (ages four to 12), which is open every day during the school holidays. Children’s dishes are also available in all the restaurants on request. Extra beds and cots cost £36 per night.
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