Marrakech meets Miami at this fun and fabulous Four Seasons resort, which offers a huge array of activities amid 40 acres of luxuriant gardens, set just at the edge of the historic Medina. It caters well to everyone (from families and honeymooners to urban escapees) and is justifiably popular.
Located on the edge of Hivernage beside the royal Menara Gardens, the Four Seasons is a 10-minute drive west of the Djemaa el-Fna. There are complimentary car services in the evening to ferry guests to restaurants in the old city and beyond.
Despite its rather boxy architecture, this resort is great fun thanks to a thoughtful layout, sophisticated service and some smart culinary concepts. Centred around a main hub (where you’ll find a large, well-curated boutique, lounges and two restaurants), the resort fans out in discreet two-storey pavilions and residences which are couched in beautifully tended gardens. Book a few nights and you’ll want to stay a week, at least. The only trouble will be finding a free room.
Four Seasons are justifiably famous for their service, but here they’ve really found a good balance between friendliness and professionalism. It helps that many of the 300-odd staff have been here for years and you can feel how well they’ve gelled. The contemporary, Miami-style uniforms of bright shirts, chinos and skirts also help to set a casual, contemporary tone. But don’t let that fool you, from the towel-toting pool attendants, to the tennis coaches, gym instructors, spa therapists and kids’ club carers, everyone here is laser focused on providing you with the very best service they can.
To one side of the main hub of the hotel is the family pool, designed like a jigsaw with multiple levels and lots of lounging areas and with direct access to the kid’s club; while, on the other side, is a discreet, adult-only pool with cocktail service and a gazebo-shaded restaurant serving up subtle lunches and live Sunday crooning. Sybarites can disappear for the day in the extensive spa (with men’s and women’s areas), while sports nuts have pro-tennis players and personal trainers on hand for bespoke sessions.
There are 139 rooms (including 27 suites), ranging from pool-view rooms in the main building to pavilion patio suites and a two-bedroom villa with a secluded pool. All of them have balconies or terraces, while the patio suites also have a miniature plunge pool on their sun deck.
Interiors are contemporary in style and impeccably finished. While the burnt umber and cream tones are informed by the desert palette, the overall feel is clean and contemporary, with high-shine marble tiling, dark wooden furniture, spacious king-sized divan beds with down pillows, and huge marble bathrooms with double sinks and double-ended tubs. Media hubs, DVD players, iPod docking stations and 42-inch televisions all come as standard.
From the contemporary Middle-Eastern restaurant Inara to Quattro, the Italian restaurant focused on southern Italian cuisine, the food concepts here are creative and executed with flair. Highsubtleing the Moorish influences on southern Italian cooking, Quattro serves up Sicilian couscous with scorpion fish alongside fresh orange and olive salads, tiger prawns with paccheri pasta, and child-friendly pizza. Likewise, on the Atlas-facing terrace of Inara, classics such as chicken tagine sit beside Lebanese mezze and seared seabass with Berkoukche rice flavoured with saffron and preserved lemon.
The bar, too, is top notch, serving serious cocktails and delightful conversation courtesy of bar master Simo while the poolside restaurant, Azzera, focuses on salads and flavour-forward dishes such as monkfish coconut curry. The only ssubtle misstep is the breakfast buffet, which despite offering a broad range of pastries, cooked eggs, cold cuts and savoury items, can feel overcrowded when the hotel is full.
Adapted rooms are available in the main building close to the reception and restaurants. Electric buggies are also available to get around the resort.
This is one of the best family-friendly options in Marrakech with a dedicated children’s pool, kids’ club, young adult centre (with a screening room and play station) and plenty of amenities. Children under the age of 18 stay free of charge in their parents’ room and cribs and connecting rooms are available. Babysitting services can also be booked.
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