Marrakech

Marrakech surrounds the visitor with texture, colour and craft. Courtyards, gardens, souks, riads, desert excursions and the Atlas Mountains beyond create a destination where heritage is experienced through the senses.

Marrakech was founded by the Almoravids around 1070, and its medina, ringed by ochre walls, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The twelfth-century minaret of the Koutoubia rises above Jemaa el-Fnaa, the square of storytellers, musicians and food stalls. Around it, the souks are organised by craft, and the Bahia Palace, the Saadian Tombs and the Ben Youssef Madrasa reveal the city’s refinement.

Beyond the walls lie Gueliz and Hivernage, laid out under the French, the palm groves of the Palmeraie and the Majorelle Garden, restored by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, with the museum devoted to the couturier beside it. The stony Agafay desert and the valleys of the High Atlas are within an hour or two by car.

Spring, from March to May, and autumn, from late September to November, are the finest seasons: warm days, cool nights and clear views of the snow-capped Atlas. The Marrakech International Film Festival brings a glamorous moment to the city in late autumn, and the gardens are at their best in April.

Summer is very hot, often above forty degrees, and suits early mornings, long afternoons by the pool and evenings on the rooftops. Winter days are sunny and mild but nights are cold, and snow on the mountains makes the views spectacular. During Ramadan the city slows by day and fills after sunset.

Marrakech’s grand hotels hide gardens behind high walls. La Mamounia, open since 1923, keeps its centuries-old gardens beside the medina ramparts; Royal Mansour Marrakech is a walled medina of private riads; Mandarin Oriental, Marrakech sets villas among olive groves towards the Atlas; Four Seasons Resort Marrakech lies near the Menara gardens; and Amanjena is set around a great reflecting pool outside the city.

LVXVRY books Four Seasons Resort Marrakech through Four Seasons Preferred Partner and Mandarin Oriental, Marrakech through Mandarin Oriental Fan Club — at the official hotel rate, with the privileges each programme attaches to the stay. For La Mamounia, Royal Mansour and Amanjena, LVXVRY advises on and arranges the stay directly, along with guides to the medina and excursions into the Atlas.