La Mamounia

"In Marrakesh, this hotel provides a breakfast buffet with Moroccan flatbread, msemen, baghrir, and a variety of pastries and cakes. The experience is enhanced by the setting around the main pool, offering a prime people-watching spot."

"Fresh off its 100th anniversary in 2023, the 209-room La Mamounia is a Marrakech icon, a scene-y yet elegant spot for those who want to immerse themselves in a Moroccan fantasy while people-watching poolside behind oversize sunglasses. Towering palms, oleanders, and Aleppo pines fill the expansive gardens, rooms are decorated with ornate Moroccan detailing and rich textures, and there’s even a 20-seat cinema hidden behind the bar. Big-name chefs guide many of the hotel’s food and drink offerings, including Pierre Hermé, who brings his renowned pastries and desserts to La Mamounia’s two tea rooms, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten who oversees the menus of the Asian and Italian restaurants. Delicate Moroccan flavors can be found in Le Marocain, a riad-style restaurant in the heart of the gardens, and Le Bar Majorelle draws guests with cocktails on the terrace by day and soft jazz by night. The spa—all arches, zellij tiles, and water features—is the ideal antidote to a day’s shopping in the nearby Medina." - Nicola Chilton

"A century-old hotel in Marrakech with historic details and gorgeous grounds, hosting A-list guests for over 100 years." - Mary Holland

"There’s a very particular effect exerted by La Mamounia, which seems to take hold the moment you head up the green tiled steps to this most bohemian of grandes dames. Upon seeing La Mamounia’s faded pink walls, Churchill was wont to ditch the suit and pick up his watercolor brushes; Paul McCartney wrote “Mamunia” (meaning “safe haven” in Arabic) during a 1973 stay; and Hitchcock, who filmed The Man Who Knew Too Much here, got his inspiration for The Birds from some overzealous finches on a jardin-facing balcony. La Mamounia was always a curious mash-up of Art Deco, Berber, and opulent Moorish, and the old place has had numerous facelifts over almost 100 years—from Jacques Majorelle’s bright stylings in 1946 to a theatrical noughties revamp by Jacques Garcia (Hotel Costes) and most recently a series of sly additions by Parisian futurists Jouin Manku, including a new cinema and teahouse. There are all the columns, foliage-filled courtyards, and mosaics of the most photogenic medina riad—except that there’s also the smoky Churchill speakeasy, an Asian-focused Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant with its sultry blacks and reds, and that legendary, vast square pool, around which I find the people-watching irresistible (bring dark sunglasses). There’s a reason that the actors and rock stars have kept coming; the fashionistas with kaftans and cigarettes. For all that it is woven into Marrakech like the knots in a Berber rug, La Mamounia has never, ever been boring." - CNT Editors

"Tell us about this place. Why is it such an icon?Here is a hotel so synonymous with Marrakech, that its myths and legends are intrinsic to the city's glamorous bohemian history. The grand dame of Morocco is as fabulous and seductive as ever. Every inch of this palatial-like property has been hyper-considered to make the guest feel as though they have arrived in some regal estate of an Arabian kingdom. Liveried guards greet you at the grand entrance and breeze through ‘hello’ in any number of languages. It feels as though you have entered a grand secret lounge bar hidden behind a souk door. Got it. So why is the hotel so integrated into the city's narrative?It is almost impossible to separate Marrakech’s modern history from La Mamounia. Turned into a hotel in the early 1900s and owned in part by the royal family, everyone from FDR to Churchill stayed here. Jacques Garcia, the man behind Hotel Costes, who gave La Mamounia an extensive facelift in 2009, is a design sensation. How are the rooms? What can we expect from our lodgings?As ornate as the lobby. Moorish influences extend from the bathroom doorways to the terrace, painted soft greens and pinks in contrast to the darker woods and fabrics. Exposed wood-beam ceilings in many, and intricate tiles. No NASA-style control panels to dim the overheads. Several TVs, though the modern technology feels out of place amongst this fantasy world. Are there any good dining options on site?You can feast on tagines, pastillas, and pigeon soup in the theatrically designed main restaurant. You can also get a delicious chicken club sandwich with chips late into the night on room service. Sunday brunch has become a local institution; and there are French and Italian restaurants on-site, too. How is the service?Warm, attentive and personalized with plenty of eye contact. Though a hot minute was spent waiting for a poolside Margarita. Who are you likely to see staying here?American vacationers, Emirati princes, French fashion designers, British socialites and new-money Chinese. Kaftans and cigarettes. But also authors, artists and anyone with taste. Are there any fun attractions in the surrounding neighborhood?This is right inside the medina walls, so easy to walk to major sights and shopping—most other retreats tend to be a car ride from town, out in the desert. What else should we be sure to check out while staying here?There is a huge all-night casino on site. Fun if you want to keep the party going. But the most dazzling detail has to be the pool: Olympic-sized, a stream of waiters ferrying Champagne and cocktails and hummus. So would you recommend La Mamounia, and if so, why? It sounds as though it would all be a little too ornate and too much, and then you get there, and the tiled walls, silk-draped ceilings, marble fountains and extensive gardens all make sense." - Erin Florio