Mandarin Oriental Marrakech: Is This Marrakech’s Ultimate Luxury Oasis?

Mandarin Oriental Marrakech is a desert oasis that is designed for a seamless, unforgettable guest experience, with sustainability woven into its very fabric. Tessa Dunthorne reviews a hotel that impresses on every front. 

Review: Mandarin Oriental Marrakech

At A Glance:

• Where: 15 minutes from Marrakech Menara Airport
• Style: Modern Moroccan luxury with nods to Berber tradition
• Best for: couples and families seeking a resort experience 
• Standout feature: Private villas with pools and jacuzzis
• Spa rating: Best hotel spa in Africa, 2024

Who Is This Hotel For?

Travellers wanting a resort escape with easy access into the bustle of Marrakech – and the support from a slicker-than-slick team to make it all happen (with all the bells, whistles and tours). Plus, families who want a dose of nature during their trip. 

First Impressions

Only a 15 minutes drive from the airport, our little taxi takes us up to Mandarin Oriental Marrakech’s large black gate where we are first met with security. Security checks the car, and confirms we’re guests. The gates welcome us in. And then it’s up a palm tree-lined avenue that leads to its glossy main building – all sand-coloured walls and colonnades – replete with a serene water feature at its feet. It’s quite the first impression: the building is like a summer palace. Behind this, you can just spy the cloudy silhouette of the Atlas Mountains.

But getting out of the car, greeted by the team, despite being in backpacks and sweat slicked from the sweltering heat, there’s no feeling of being out of place. While the frontage of the building – and indeed, its glossy chromatic interiors – are elegant to an extreme, there’s something still laid-back and inviting about the atmosphere of the resort at first meeting. 

Our giant backpacks are taken with care by the concierge and by the time we’ve checked in and found our room, the bags are sitting neatly waiting for us in the dressing room. 

Rooms & Suites

It’s suites and villas only here, a ridiculously luxurious proposition. Of the former, there’s only seven, while the latter comprises the majority of the resort, numbering at 54. I stay in a villa, and each of these offer a private idyll that frankly rivals the square-footage of the average flat in London. The centrepiece is the pool – not small either – but there’s also a jacuzzi, garden, outdoor shower and al fresco dining area. 

Inside the interiors are laid-back but supremely elegant. French architects Patrick Gilles and Dorothée Boissier have designed a glossy space that throws in traditional Berber nods, like woven rugs and decorated walls. And there are so many rooms. The living room has a large flat screen TV and mini-bar full of Torres crisps and other goodies. And then it’s into the bedroom, where the bed stretches for, it feels, miles, gazing out towards a set of glass double-doors leading straight into the jacuzzi. The bathroom is possibly the most impressive part of the design: there’s the shower with double heads, that has function which turns it into a steamroom, a vast circular bath, and a walk-in wardrobe-cum-dressing room. Diptyque products are housed in refillable bottles adding a further indulgence carefully intended to reduce waste. 

The suites are no compromise. These are better for guests with access needs, situated in the main building, and all enjoy terrace plunge pools as well as a clear view of the mountains. 

Dining & Bars

It’s a bit of a party palace here. Every review of Mandarin Oriental Marrakech will mention the Elba wedding had its reception here, and this is probably because the hospitality – where it concerns food – is exceptional.

There are three restaurants to choose from: the poolside restaurant, Shirvan, and Ling Ling by Hakkasan. Of these, the poolside restaurant is the casual lunch spot (think elevated club sandwiches and Neapolitan pizzas), whereas the other two are grown-up dinner spots. I did not eat at Shirvan, excepting breakfast (all breakfast takes place here), but it is buzzy by 7pm, drawing a crowd for its traditional Moroccan dining. 

Ling Ling by Hakkassan brings the Cantonese restaurant’s flair to North Africa, and in no less a sultry space. House music underplays a slick food service that relieves you of the need to pick – there is an a la carte, but when there are menus that pair your food to your cocktail of choice, or bottomless dim sum on Mondays and Tuesdays, or a number of set menus, you should relinquish control. Although perhaps do order as an extra the tiger wasabi prawns, which are a whack in the mouth of meaty and spicy crustacean. 

The resort is not dry – many of the restaurants in Marrakech do not serve alcohol – but it is notable that alcohol is much more expensive than a British punter might expect. The cocktails, however, are very good. The raspberry lychee martini, in particular, is the ideal tonic for a warm evening.

The Spa & Things To Do

The spa is exceptional. Not hugely shocking – in 2024, the hotel group won an award for having the best hotel spa brand in the world. The Marrakech outpost has been named the best in Africa, too. 

It has a hammam – for treatments rooted in its location and Moroccan tradition – but signature therapies are expansive. A digital wellness escape seeks to treat work-weary travellers by focusing on the problem zones of an office worker (head, eyes, neck, shoulders, hands and feet) with expert massages using marocMaroc products and plenty of the region’s specialty argan oil. 

The hotel offers a number of experiences – it can arrange anything from locally-guided tours of Marrakech to hot air balloon rides in the Afghay desert – bolstered by its fleet of in-house taxis. It’s not far from town if you’re curious to wander into Marrakech’s charming souks or across the kaleidoscopic Jemaa el-Fna square, where you’ll spot acrobats and snake charmers within shoulder rubs distance. 

In the resort, kids are catered for with a dedicated children’s building, wherewith in there are activities led by qualified childminders. Just moments from here is housed the resort’s own goatherd – you can (and should) go into play. The goatkeeper will provide you with food to give them.  

Sustainability

The hotel group has in recent years been pioneers of environmentally-conscious hospitality. And in a desert-country like Morocco, where climate change is felt keenly, it feels extra important to bake nature into the foundations of any stay. 

After my arrival, particularly memorable was being sat in the hotel lobby of Mandarin Oriental Marrakech, as a bird tumbled overhead through an open window. These house buntings are not a rare sight in the city – they’re near enough tame – but that they’re taking refuge in this grand hotel feels like a sign. Here, these birds take shelter. They hop from table to table. And then, curiosity sated and sufficiently cooled down, they tumble right back out. 

Their new honey masterclass is another venture in engaging guests with sustainability. But it’s also deliriously fun. Khalid, the honey expert, is the restauranteur behind Hive in Selfridges and as a Moroccan native, he travels between London and Africa to talk to people about bees. He guides us through donning the beekeeping suits – water close to hand as these layered outfits are no lightwork in the African sun – and explains how he’s set up a bee garden for the hotel here. This is good for those with small ones, but adults alone will have as much fun; it’s a singular experience being swarmed by bees and examining the delicate structures they’ve built within their hives. It’s followed by a multicourse lunch in the kitchen-garden under a wooden pergola. The chef prepares dishes in an open outdoor oven that is paired, dish-by-dish with different honeys, flavoured by its surrounding monocrop. 

Value For Money

A luxury hotel can be a funny thing, because the high price tag does not always justify the experience. However, in the case of Mandarin Oriental Marrakech, this is a hotel that absolutely earns the cost of a stay. If you’re in a villa, it’s tantamount to hiring a private holiday home for the night, with all the boons of hotel amenity and service.

BOOK NOW

Suites at Mandarin Oriental Marrakech start from €1,300 per night, and villas start from €1,400. Both include breakfast. mandarinoriental.com

Tessa flew from Stansted to Menara Marrakesh, generating 840kg of CO2e.