La Mamounia

A prince's orchard turned palace

The story begins in the 18th century. The Alaouite sultan Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah gave his son, Prince Al Mamoun, a thirteen-hectare orchard as a wedding present. The prince made it a place for nzaha, the great open-air gatherings of Moroccan tradition. The hotel takes its name from him.

Two centuries later, the Moroccan railway company decided to build a hotel on the site. The French architects Henri Prost and Antoine Marchisio designed a building that blends Moroccan architecture with Art Deco. La Mamounia opened in 1923. The painter Jacques Majorelle, who came in 1922 to decorate a restaurant, later took part in a major renovation that brought the hotel to around a hundred rooms.

Famous guests built the legend. Winston Churchill spent his winters here with his wife Clementine and painted from the balconies; the bar and a suite bear his name. Alfred Hitchcock shot scenes of The Man Who Knew Too Much here. Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé stayed in 1966, when they first arrived in Marrakesh. The Rolling Stones came in 1968, and Paul McCartney wrote the song "Mamunia" in 1973.

Three recent projects gave the hotel its current look:

• 2006-2009: the decorator Jacques Garcia brought the hotel back to its Arab-Andalusian roots, working with Moroccan craftsmen, and opened new views over the palm and olive groves;
• 2020: the duo Patrick Jouin and Sanjit Manku redesigned the restaurants, bars and tea rooms;
• 2023, for the centenary: the same team reworked the lobby, the gallery, the Salon d'Honneur and the Majorelle bar. At the centre hangs the Centenary Chandelier, a light sculpture inspired by Berber jewellery.

Around 800 people work at the hotel. In 2026 La Mamounia received three Michelin Keys (the Michelin Guide's hotel award, at its highest level); in Morocco only Kasbah Tamadot, in the High Atlas, holds the same rank.

Eight hectares of gardens inside the walls

Of the prince's thirteen hectares, eight hectares of gardens remain, set against the medina's 12th-century ramparts. There are two-hundred-year-old olive trees, palms, Aleppo pines, orange trees, rare green lemon trees and figs; jacarandas, roses and bougainvillea flower in turn. The Koutoubia minaret rises opposite, with the snow-capped Atlas in the distance in winter.

The garden also feeds the house. At the far end, a 1,500 m² kitchen garden grows some thirty kinds of vegetables and herbs, including fifteen varieties of tomato, for the four restaurants. Le Menzeh, Pierre Hermé's tea room, occupies the very first building put up on the site.

The hotel recommends the garden early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Outside visitors may only enter with a table or bar booking, which keeps the paths quiet.

Five tables, four bars and a cinema

The 2020 renovation handed the menus to three chefs, and Pierre Hermé's desserts appear on all of them.

• L'Asiatique par Jean-Georges: Jean-Georges Vongerichten, the French-American chef known for fusion cooking, travels from Japan to India. Lunch 12.30 to 3 pm, dinner 7 to 11 pm.
• L'Italien par Simone Zanoni: a bright trattoria in a winter garden, with an open kitchen in the middle, wood-fired pizzas and oven dishes such as roast spiny lobster. Same hours.
• Le Marocain: a three-storey riad in the gardens, with alcoves around a courtyard, a trio playing violin and lute, and chef Rachid Agouray's cooking (lobster pastilla, spiny lobster tagine). Dinner only, 7 to 11 pm.
• Le Pavillon de la Piscine: built as a tribute to the Menara pavilion, it serves breakfast from 7 to 11 am, with the classics and Moroccan specialities (r'ghaif, baghrir, harira), then the lunch buffet, and brunch on Sundays.

In the evening the bars take over. Le Churchill, open 5 pm to 1 am, was redone as a Pullman carriage, a nod to the hotel's railway past. The Majorelle bar, open 10 am to 1 am, serves a menu by Pierre Hermé, with jazz in the evening. Behind a wooden panel in the Churchill hides a twenty-seat velvet cinema, for hotel guests only, with two screenings a day. Beneath one of the three Lanterns, tent-like lounges between the pool and L'Italien, a cellar of more than 2,000 bottles holds a twelve-seat private dining table.

The 2,500 m² spa

The spa has two traditional hammams and a private hammam, ten treatment rooms, a heated indoor pool, a jacuzzi, a sauna and a private spa for two. It is open from 9 am to 9 pm. The most traditional hammam ritual combines black soap with neroli, a scrub with the kessa glove and a wrap of ghassoul, a clay from the Atlas.

Treatments use Valmont, Augustinus Bader and marocMaroc; since 1 October 2026 they have been joined by the Austrian brand Susanne Kaufmann, exclusive in Morocco. The indoor and outdoor pools are heated to 28 °C all year. The indoor pool is for adults, or for those aged 16 and over with an adult.

Choosing a room by its view

The hotel has more than two hundred rooms and suites, with four views: the residential Hivernage district, the Koutoubia minaret, the gardens or the pool. Every bathroom has a bath and a separate shower, and most rooms have a balcony.

• For a couple, the garden or Koutoubia view is what makes the stay: it comes with the Deluxe rooms. Classic and Superior rooms look over the Hivernage.
• For a family, Deluxe rooms with the same view connect through the balcony or terrace; an Executive suite can also be linked to a Deluxe room from the inside. The Hivernage, Park and Prestige suites, and one of the Duplex suites, sleep three adults.
• For a special occasion, six Exceptional Suites each tell a story: Al Mamoun, Baldaquin, Churchill, Marqueterie, Majorelle and Koutoubia.
• For a group of friends or a large family, three 700 m² riads built in the park have a private entrance, three bedrooms, a heated pool, a roof terrace and a 24-hour butler. They sleep up to six.

Sabaro's view

For whom: honeymoons, anniversaries, lovers of history and grand hotels, and a first stay in Marrakesh for those who want the medina on foot and the calm of a park to come back to.

Strengths: eight hectares of gardens on the edge of the medina, with Jemaa el-Fna square 900 m away and the Koutoubia 600 m away; three Michelin Keys; a full evening without leaving the hotel (five tables, four bars, a cinema).

Good to know: breakfast is not included in the room rate; a tourist tax of 49.50 MAD (Moroccan dirhams) per person per night is added. A minimum stay applies at Easter, in late October and early November, and over Christmas and New Year. There is no kids' club, but there is a games room (pinball, table football, pool), open noon to 8 pm and closed in summer from 22 June to 6 September, and babysitting on request. The restaurants and bars are open to the public and lively in the evening.

Our tip: book dinner at Le Marocain as soon as your stay is confirmed, and keep at least one breakfast at the Pavillon de la Piscine, when the garden is at its best.