Marrakech, Morocco

P'tit Habibi

Price per night from$137.69

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR127.27), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Riad retreat

Setting

Marrakech medina

This traditional riad in the Marrakech medina feels less like a boutique hotel and more like a peaceful private house. P'tit Habibi has a library with iPod docking station and Arabic music, as well as a Moroccan salon and DVD library. Films can be shown on an outdoor projector and the terrace with views over the rooftops is perfect for sunset drinks.

Smith Extra

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Free airport transfer on arrival

Facilities

Photos P'tit Habibi facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Five, including two suites.

Check–Out

You can check in at any time between noon and 7pm (please arrange with the manager if you're arriving outside these times – nb, check-in after 10pm costs an extra €20); check-out can be flexible, depending on availability.

Prices

Double rooms from £119.96 (€140), including tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional local city tax of €2.50 per person per night on check-out.

More details

Rates include breakfast and mint tea. The whole riad is available for €770 a night in low season (high season, €850), with a minimum stay of three nights.

Hotel closed

August.

At the hotel

Library with Moroccan salon, DVD library and iPod docking station with Arabic music. Films can be shown on an outdoor projector.

Our favourite rooms

The Wangarata Room is playfully decorated with an eclectic mix of Americana pinball mirrors, Sixties Moroccan photographs and even a Swedish moose. Peruche has a bird motif in warm shades of pink and aubergine; it also has the largest vaulted bathroom. The White Room is the largest in the riad and has a balcony overlooking the courtyard.

Poolside

There is a small pool on the roof terrace.

Packing tips

Bring your iPod for the docking station.

Also

The hotel can organise airport transfers for a small fee.

Children

Welcome. However, the hotel's traditional architecture and pool mean young children will need to be supervised. A cot is available. Babysitting can be arranged for €20 an evening.

Food and Drink

Photos P'tit Habibi food and drink

Top Table

On carpets in the courtyard.

Dress Code

As you like.

Hotel restaurant

There is no separate dining area. Breakfast is normally served in the library. Lunch and dinner can also be prepared and are served in the courtyard or on the terrace.

Hotel bar

The house has a selection of alcoholic drinks. Guests may be requested to carry the drinks themselves during Ramadan out of respect for local religious sensitivities.

Room service

Food and drinks can be served anywhere in the riad.

Location

Photos P'tit Habibi location
Address
P'tit Habibi
59 bis touala Sidi Ghanem, Zaouia sidi bellabes Bab Lakhmis
Marrakech
40030
Morocco

Planes

The nearest airport is Marrakech’s Menara Airport – fly there from the UK and elsewhere in Europe with British Airways (www.ba.com), Royal Air Maroc (www.royalairmaroc.com), EasyJet (www.easyjet.com) and Ryanair (www.ryanair.com).

Trains

The Moroccan state railway, ONCF (www.oncf.ma), runs inexpensive (but limited) services to Marrakech from Casablanca, Fez and Tangier. Look for TCR (Train Climatisé Rapide) trains to guarantee an air-conditioned journey in summer.

Automobiles

Driving in Marrakech can be horn-filled and hectic, but if you insist, hire a car from the Avis (www.avis.com) desk at the airport. To reach the hotel, follow Avenue de la Menara to the city centre.

Worth getting out of bed for

Decide how many dirhams you’re willing to part with, and wander through the Medina’s endless maze of markets, to haggle for everything from babouches to holistic potions to hand-forged chandeliers. Food stalls are fabulously cheap here, and in the main square Jemaa el-Fnaa there are often acrobats and musicians to stop and watch. When you’ve finished bustling and bargaining, hop in a taxi to Jardin Majorelle to chill out among sculptural water features, sky-high cacti and flower-swathed pergolas. The bold-hued yellow and Yves Klein-blue villa at the centre was once home to Yves Saint Laurent, and it now houses a fascinating museum of Berber costumery. End your day watching a film in the hotel’s courtyard, where there’s a private cinema; and ask staff to order a pizza or burger from renowned local takeaway Beb Tar Zout, to be delivered to your seat. Feeling adventurous? Take a day trip into the Atlas Mountains – a 90-minute drive from the hotel – to ride camels in the tawny-coloured valleys, hike up to paddle in the Ouzoud waterfalls or befriend Berbers in traditional villages such as Imlil.  It's possible to ski between November and April at the Oukaïmeden ski centre, and the hotel can arrange a driver to take guests on a day trip to Essaouira on the coast, with a detour to the sufer-beloved beach at Sidi Kaouki.

Local restaurants

A 10-minute drive away, Dar Zellij serves up tagines, pastillas and creatively concocted salads in a romantic colonnade-flanked courtyard. A vivid mosaic-tiled pool is the centrepiece of Dar Moha restaurant, 10 minutes from the hotel, but the fragrant tagines and delicately spiced desserts pull focus.

Reviews

Photos P'tit Habibi reviews
Hannah Lohan

Anonymous review

By Hannah Lohan, Designer and director

As we bumbled through the endless back streets of Marrakech in a taxi, we were doubtful that the driver was ever going to be able to find P’tit Habibi. I had certainly lost all sense of direction, but was reliably informed that we were in the northern part of the medina, near to the popular local flea market. (Even armed with a trail of breadcrumbs, I didn’t fancy my chances at retracing our steps to get there, though.) My first impression as we sped along the alleyways was one of total bewilderment: I had been expecting Marrakech to resemble a scene out of Hideous Kinky, and the dusty, down-to-earth blur of what I was seeing did little to suggest beautiful and fascinating sights still awaiting my discovery.

After a few near collisions with mopeds, donkeys and other equally disorientated tourists, the taxi came to a screeching halt. My French leaves a lot to be desired, but the driver assured me that this underwhelming spot was definitely our riad. A very smiley man came rushing out of a big wooden door and suddenly it started to feel right. Abdelouafi announced that he was delighted to make our acquaintance, and was eager to show us round our new home. Translated, P’tit Habibi means ‘little darling’; it’s a fitting moniker; the white-washed courtyard, streaming with bright light, made a fresh and surprising contrast with the less-than-pristine street outside. It may have been Moroccan, but we could instantly tell that this was a place with more than a little influence from the contemporary European world.

Our room, one of four, was called Wangarata, and was stylishly decorated in black and white with a large pair of deer antlers over the bed. It had a small window overlooking the courtyard, and a fireplace stocked with wood for chillier nights. Each room is uniquely decorated with stunning hand-painted furniture and eccentric touches; our bathroom mirror was created out of an old pinball machine. Rather a strange experience to be brushing your teeth face to face with a Space Invaders alien, but an imaginative quirk of décor that complemented the more traditional pieces. The design comes courtesy of the owner, an architect who lives in Norway but sees P’tit Habibi as his second home, and who has doused it with a touch of Scandinavian cool.

If I were to earmark my favourite corner, it would be the gorgeous little suite named the White Room; its private balcony and snug seating area would have you happy to stay in situ for the duration of your stay. A snoop around revealed another small double right on the courtyard and a fourth, equally stylish room upstairs. Clearly P’tit Habibi would be the perfect place to hire as a whole with a group of friends, especially as there is another room that can be turned into an extra double if need be. Sadly, you can’t have it all to yourselves – you do have to share the riad with Shukram the tortoise, who lives behind the pot on the stairs and only comes out when the housekeeper Fatima brings him his dinner of fine lettuce leaves.

The warm hospitability isn’t just reserved for members of the turtle family: P’tit Habibi couldn’t have made us feel more welcome. Whether we fancied a quiet day sunbathing on the rooftop terrace or a delicious home-cooked meal prepared by Fatima, nothing was too much trouble. We helped ourselves to drinks in the kitchen and played tunes from the iPod whenever we wanted. There was also an impressive movie collection. A highlight of our stay was having a film projected onto the large wall of the riad’s courtyard, and cosying up Moroccan-style amid giant floor cushions and flickering candles – the perfect wind-down after a busy afternoon negotiating the souk.

Hankering for adventure, we decided a day away from the hustle and bustle of the city was mandatory, and Abdelouafi was fantastically helpful in arranging a trip to the Atlas Mountains. For €80, we were driven in a swanky 4x4 for one hour up to Imlil, a tiny Berber village nestled below Morocco's highest peak, Jebel Toubkal.

On arrival, our guide saddled up two mules for us and we began our trek. To be honest I felt sorry for old Muffin, having to lug us up the rocky mountain paths, but apparently it’s all in a day’s work for these hardy animals. Our guide gave them a well-earned break and a bowl of water when we all stopped at his family’s mud-brick cottage for tea. We continued our trek up winding tracks to the Kasbah du Toubkal, and were rewarded with a magnificent pay-off: stunning 360? views of the valley. After devouring a delicious lunch of traditional lamb tagine, we opted to get a little exercise in, and descended the mountain by foot. I’m convinced I heard the mules breathe a sigh of relief.

Back at P’tit Habibi, following a quick de-muling scrub-up, we headed into the medina for our last night. Once again, Abdeloufi had played concierge, booking us a table at Le Marrakeshi, a lively, packed roof-top restaurant over-looking all the action. Perhaps our trip hadn’t been so dissimilar to the Kate Winslet film after all. The tagline for Hideous Kinky? ‘It's not just an adventure... It's a love affair.’ And this Moroccan escape had certainly been that.

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Price per night from $137.69