25 Marrakech Riads and Palace Hotels
The 1923 palace hotel Churchill loved, a king’s medina of 53 private riads, an artist’s pop-art riad near the souk, and a desert-garden Aman on the city’s edge.
Marrakech turned its riads, the old courtyard houses of the medina, into hotels, alongside grand palace dames and garden estates out in the Palmeraie. This list has the 1923 Mamounia, the palace hotel Churchill painted from and called his favourite, the Royal Mansour that King Mohammed VI built as a private medina of 53 riads, the pop-art Riad Yima of the artist Hassan Hajjaj, and Amanjena, Aman’s first resort in Africa.
The list is grouped by character, not ranked. Most of the hotels link to their own site, where the rate is current and you book direct; a few are listed without a link.
The grandes dames
La Mamounia · Medina
La Mamounia opened in 1923 on 18th-century gardens tied to Prince Al Mamoun, and marked its centenary in 2023. Winston Churchill painted the Atlas from its gardens and called it his favourite hotel in the world.
Royal Mansour Marrakech · Medina
The Royal Mansour was commissioned by King Mohammed VI and opened in 2010, laid out as a walled medina of 53 private riads. Staff reach the riads through a network of underground service tunnels, out of guests’ sight.
Es Saadi Marrakech Resort · Hivernage
Es Saadi was founded by Jean Bauchet, a former director of the Moulin Rouge in Paris. Its casino dates to 1952 and the hotel opened in 1966; Josephine Baker and other Paris cabaret stars are said to have performed here.
La Sultana Marrakech · Kasbah
La Sultana stands in the Kasbah, beside the 16th-century Saadian Tombs, made from five connected riads around their courtyards.
Storied riads of the medina
Riad El Fenn · Medina
El Fenn was opened in 2004 by Vanessa Branson, the sister of Richard Branson, with Howell James. Branson went on to co-found the Marrakech Biennale, and the riad is hung with contemporary art. Its rooftop is often named among the best views over the medina.
La Maison Arabe · Medina
La Maison Arabe began in 1946 as a restaurant, by its own account the first in the medina to welcome foreign diners. It reopened as a hotel in 1998 under the Italian prince Fabrizio Ruspoli, and keeps a long-running Moroccan cooking school.
La Villa des Orangers · Medina
La Villa des Orangers was built in the 1930s as a judge’s residence, a grand riad-style house near the Koutoubia and the medina gates.
Dar Les Cigognes · Medina
Dar Les Cigognes was converted from a 17th-century merchant’s house facing the Royal Palace. It is named for the storks that nest on the palace ramparts across the lane.
Riyad El Cadi · Medina
Riyad El Cadi was created by Herwig Bartels, a German diplomat and collector of Islamic art and textiles. He joined several houses together and hung them with his antique carpets and art.
Riad Enija · Medina
Riad Enija is set in a former silk merchant’s house near the Rahba Kedima square, long known for its bohemian, design-led rooms.
Riad Kniza · Medina
Riad Kniza is an 18th-century riad restored by Mohamed Bouskri, an antiques dealer and veteran Marrakech guide. Bouskri has guided well-known visitors over a long career in the city.
Designer and artist houses
L’Hotel Marrakech · Medina
L’Hotel Marrakech was created by the British designer Jasper Conran and opened in 2016, his first hotel. It is an intimate medina house set around a large garden pool.
Le Farnatchi · Medina
Le Farnatchi was created by Jonathan Wix, who founded London’s Blakes and the Hempel. It was formerly Riad Farnatchi, named for the furnace that once heated the neighbourhood hammam.
Riad Yima · Medina
Riad Yima is owned by the artist Hassan Hajjaj, who filled it with his recycled pop-art design. Often called the Andy Warhol of Marrakech, Hajjaj runs it as a gallery and tearoom as well as a guesthouse.
Palmeraie palaces and garden estates
Amanjena · Outskirts
Amanjena opened in 2000 as Aman’s first resort in Africa, designed by the architect Ed Tuttle around a central reflecting basin. Its pavilions and domed minzah echo a Moorish palace.
Jnane Tamsna · Palmeraie
Jnane Tamsna was created by the designer Meryanne Loum-Martin and the ethnobotanist Gary Martin, set in some nine acres of organic and botanical gardens. Loum-Martin is often described as Morocco’s first Black woman hotelier.
Les Deux Tours · Palmeraie
Les Deux Tours was designed by the architect Charles Boccara in the Palmeraie, built as a showcase of earthen construction, domes and zellige tilework.
Ksar Char-Bagh · Palmeraie
Ksar Char-Bagh was built in the style of a 14th-century Hispano-Moorish palace in the Palmeraie. Its name comes from the Persian chahar bagh, the four-part paradise garden.
Palais Namaskar · Palmeraie
Palais Namaskar opened in 2012 in the Palmeraie, designed by the architect Imaad Rahmouni around water gardens and islands. Its layout is said to follow principles of balance and feng shui.
Beldi Country Club · Outskirts
The Beldi Country Club was built around rose gardens and an organic farm on the city’s southern edge. It includes a recreated artisans’ souk with working weavers and potters, and thousands of rose bushes bloom across the grounds each spring.
Modern landmarks
Mandarin Oriental Marrakech · Outskirts
The Mandarin Oriental opened in 2015 in some 20 hectares of gardens on the edge of the city, its villas set with private gardens and pools. The grounds were planted with around 100,000 roses.
The Oberoi Marrakech · Outskirts
The Oberoi opened in December 2019 after years of construction, built in a Moorish-Andalusian style with hand-carved cedar, marble and zellige. It sits among olive and citrus groves outside the city.
Selman Marrakech · Outskirts
Selman opened in 2012 with interiors by Jacques Garcia, and keeps a stable of purebred Arabian horses on the grounds. Guests can watch the horses from the restaurant and the long pool.
Four Seasons Resort Marrakech · Hivernage
The Four Seasons opened in 2011 as a garden resort near the Menara gardens, laid out as low pavilions among landscaped grounds and pools.
Fairmont Royal Palm Marrakech · Outskirts
The Fairmont Royal Palm opened in 2013 on a large estate at the foot of the Atlas, with an 18-hole golf course.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these hotels ranked?
No. The groups sort them by character, and the order within each group carries no meaning.
What made a hotel interesting enough for this list?
A story. Every entry was a grand palace dame, a storied medina riad, a designer’s house, or a Palmeraie garden estate. Comfort alone did not qualify.
Why are there no prices?
Rates change daily and a priced list goes stale in a month. Where a hotel runs its own site, its name links there, so you see the current rate and book direct.
Which hotel puts me closest to the day trips on this site?
Most day trips from Marrakech head up into the High Atlas and the Ourika Valley, out to the Agafay desert, or over the mountains to Essaouira on the coast. The medina riads sit closest to the old city and the Jemaa el-Fna.
Do the small riads book out faster than the grand hotels?
Usually. The small medina riads, Dar Les Cigognes, Riad Enija, Riyad El Cadi, hold only a handful of rooms and fill first. Book those well ahead.