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 (MAD3,671.82), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
Behind intricately carved doors just outside Marrakech’s medina walls lies Villa des Orangers, a restful riad hotel that feels like a sultan’s secret palace. The scent of citrus blossom fills its serene, sculptural rooms and fountain-dotted courtyards. And there are several palm-flanked pool oases to dip in and out of, as silver cups of mint tea and fig-topped salads are delivered to your lounger. Meals can be arranged wherever you fancy, fitting around hammam treatments, henna workshops, or simply basking on the rooftop terrace.
Noon, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm.
Prices
Double rooms from £319.67 (MAD4,039), including tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional room tax of MAD28.60 per person per night on check-out.
More details
Rates include breakfast and, for flexible- and non-refundable rate bookings, also include lunch daily, transfers to and from Marrakech Airport, laundry service and soft drinks from your minibar.
Also
Access to the bedrooms and restaurant isn’t step-free, sadly making this stay unsuitable for guests with limited mobility.
Please note
For Smith members, room rates include return transfers from/to Marrakech Airport; lunch at the hotel, daily, soft drinks from your minibar, and the hotel's laundry service.
At the hotel
Courtyards, rooftop terrace, lounges, cinema room, laundry service and free WiFi. In rooms: TV, air-conditioning, minibar, Nespresso coffee machine and Gemology bath products.
Our favourite rooms
Opulent furnishings, creamy tadelakt walls, and dreamy bathrooms with clawfoot tubs come as standard at Villa des Orangers – and many of the larger bedrooms have their own balconies and terraces looking onto the hotel’s tranquil courtyards. If a private pool is on your wish-list, we’d plump for the Riad Millésime. Its two lavishly decorated suites have exclusive access to an outdoor pool shaded by banana palms, as well as indoor-outdoor living spaces with an open fireplace for chillier evenings.
Poolside
There are two glorious pools to pad between in your fluffy spa robes and slippers. The main outdoor pool is a 16-metre long showstopper (open daily from 8am to 7pm) lined with citrus trees, sleek loungers, and intimate dining tables; and an additional plunge pool up on the rooftop overlooking Koutoubia’s peachy façade. If you’re one of the lucky residents at Riad Millésime, you have exclusive access to a palm-shaded pool with sun-dappled seating beneath soaring archways.
Spa
The heady scent of orange blossom drifts up from the subterranean Echo Spa (open daily from 10am to 8pm), which houses a candlelit hammam, sauna, and treatment rooms within dusky pink stone and marble walls. The hotel’s signature two-hour treatment begins with a black-soap scrub using kessa exfoliating gloves, followed by a rhassoul clay wrap and softening pearl scrub – ending with a massage and facial which will leave you feeling silky smooth. Choose from an array of scented oils, including rose and citrus, as well as Gemology products enriched with precious stones to rebalance sensitive skin. Hair and nail appointments can be booked in advance, and there’s a stylish gym with a yoga instructor on call for private sessions.
Packing tips
A willingness to haggle in Marrakech’s souks will serve you well, and a lightweight shawl will come in handy to cover up when needed.
Also
The spa can put you in touch with local henna artists if you’d like to get hands on with traditional Berber designs.
Children
All ages are welcome, and babysitters can be arranged for £30 an hour.
Sustainability efforts
Villa des Orangers keeps its food miles to a minimum by sourcing ingredients from local suppliers, including artisan butter and cheese from a nearby farm, and fish from the Atlantic coast. The hotel also makes its own jam using seasonal fruits.
Beneath the orange trees for maximum shade (and natural fragrance).
Dress Code
Head-to-toe linens will keep you looking and feeling cool.
Hotel restaurant
There’s no dedicated restaurant space at Villa des Orangers – take your pick from palm-fringed tables on shaded terraces, by the pool or fireside in one of the desert-chic lounges. French and Moroccan flavours are expertly mingled on every market-sourced plate, like the slow-cooked lamb with saffron-infused mashed potatoes, and honey-drizzled roasted squash on a bed of medina-spiced salad, gently melted goats cheese, and dried figs. The cinnamon-laced orange blossom cheesecake makes the perfect ending to your candlelit dinner.
Hotel bar
Open from noon to 11pm, the hotel’s Casablanca-inspired bar is a snug spot for a warming pot of mint tea, freshly squeezed fruit juice, or zesty cocktail.
Last orders
Breakfast is from 6.30am to 11am, lunch from noon to 2.30pm, and dinner from 7.30pm to 9.30pm.
Room service
The full menu can be ordered to your bedroom door between 7am and 11pm.
Tucked between the towering Koutoubia Mosque, Royal Palace, and Djemaa el-Fna square, Villa des Orangers lies right at the heart of Marrakech’s medina.
Planes
Marrakech’s Menara airport is just 15 minutes from the hotel by car, with transfers starting from around £25 (one-way, for up to four passengers).
Trains
The city’s train station is a 20-minute drive from the hotel, and is well connected to other Moroccan hubs, including Fez, Tangier and Casablanca.
Automobiles
Ditch the wheels and explore on foot, camel or horseback. If you’re desperate to drive out into the dunes however, there’s valet parking at the hotel for £5 a night.
Worth getting out of bed for
In the blossoming gardens of Villa des Orangers, henna tattooing, calligraphy workshops, and Moroccan tea ceremonies are held on request. The minaret of Koutoubia Mosque can be seen from the hotel’s rooftop – but if you’d like a closer look, cross Djemaa el-Fna square to reach the mosque’s fountain-filled gardens. Another haven to seek out is Le Jardin Secret, a majestic palace complex framing beautifully restored Islamic gardens. Combine your tickets for Musée Yves Saint Laurent with access to Jardin Majorelle and Pierre Bergé Museum of Berber Arts to avoid the lengthy queues, and save time to admire the intricate plasterwork and mosaics adorning Bahia Palace. If camel rides are a must on your Marrakech itinerary, caravans depart from Palmeraie grove on the city’s northern outskirts into the Agafay Desert.
Local restaurants
A few steps from the medina’s spice corner, L’Mida serves home-cooked Moroccan dishes like butter beef tagine and orange blossom salad. The views towards the Atlas Mountains from the rooftop are spectacular, and the soothing green, white and rattan scheme is a welcome respite from the market chaos below. The vegetarian tasting menu at La Famille makes the most of Marrakech’s seasonal produce (many of the fruits and vegetables come straight from the market), enjoyed in a pretty courtyard among lemon trees. Australian-inspired Plus61 also wins points for its locally sourced ingredients from organic farmers, and all their bread, cheese, pasta and yoghurt is made in-house from scratch.
Local cafés
Stop for a tea break while perusing archival prints at Maison de la Photographie, which has a hidden café on its roof terrace.
Local bars
Sip argan sour cocktails over freshly-prepped sushi from Kabana’s Koutoubia-facing rooftop, or head over to Smith stablemate Nobu Hotel Marrakech for sundowners, mellow DJ sets, and lavish helpings of that legendary black miso cod.
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this resplendent riad complex in Marrakech and unpacked their souk trinkets and mint tea, a full account of their Red City break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Villa des Orangers in Morocco…
With its arabesque architecture, rose-petal-strewn pathways, and emerald-hued pools, Villa des Orangers is a delight for all the senses. So much so, that friendly flocks of African wading birds come to bathe in the gurgling fountains, or seek shade within the orange-laden branches of its fragrant courtyard gardens. The mirage-like main pool is fringed by dazzling pillars and elegant archways, which lead off into restful rooms brimming with traditional Moroccan details like hand-carved furniture, metallic accents, and textiles in geometric patterns. The Atlas Mountains can be spied from the panoramic rooftop pool, with rhassoul clay treatments – using minerals mined from those very slopes – on tap in the hotel’s hammam to soothe sun-kissed skin. Dining is a leisurely affair, and many of the ingredients are sourced straight from the souks that you’ll no doubt soon be bartering between (the only major trade-off though, is which of the three pools you’ll lie beside each day).
