Relatively ‘last minute’ we decided we needed a short break at the end of October, close-ish to the UK, but with better weather.  Because we had been so impressed by the Aman properties in Shanghai and in Beijing this year, we checked the Aman website to see what properties they had in, or close to, Europe, and found Amanjena in Marrakech, Morocco.  It looked fantastic on the website and had great reviews on TripAdvisor, so I booked a “Pavilion” room, through American Express. Although Amex offered the same room rates as booking directly with the hotel, they had a ‘4 for 3’ offer, which lowered the price by 25%, to €3100 for 4 nights B&B.

 

The hotel is roughly 25 minutes from Marrakech airport and about 20 minutes from the city’s famous Medina.  One can see that the locale was flat dessert scrub, but it’s now “greened” by olive groves, palms and grasses. The Mandarin Oriental is just down the road, as are 3 golf courses.

We were greeted upon arrival by the Executive Assistant Manager, Petar, who gave us a gentle walk around the stunning grounds, explaining all the facilities available to us.  I couldn’t believe how spacious the resort is, how beautiful its grounds are, and how delightful all of the buildings looked, in their salmon pink mud-rendering, so reminiscent of and appropriate to the “Rose city” of Marrakech.  Aman hotels are always very much “of their location”, Petar told us.

Passing through the reception area one is immediately struck by the huge (100mx100m) ornamental pond, which they call the “basin”.  The water’s cloudy, but if you throw in some pieces of bread the water soon bubbles with a ‘feeding frenzy’ of several large silver carp.  But mostly the basin simply adds another layer of tranquility to the resort; we often sat at the tables outside the bar area, sipping our drinks or enjoying complimentary afternoon tea, just gazing across the basin to the palm trees and villas beyond and beside it. Stunningly beautiful!

As we walked past the Japanese restaurant, Nama, we came to the swimming pool area, which is large and tranquil and bordered on 3 sides by pink arched pathways. At its far end is the area where breakfast is served, and beyond that the Amelkis golf course.  The Spa, with treatment rooms and a hammam is just off here too.

Breakfast included an extensive and attractively presented buffet, plus there’s an a la carte menu of hot freshly prepared dishes: I found the Eggs Benedict to be faultless, with real bacon (often turkey or beef bacon is used in countries with a muslim population).  During our stay in October, the mornings were quite cool, so tables close to the gas heaters were popular, but anyone could ask the staff for a cosy woollen blanket.  After a good barista-made coffee the North African sunshine started warming things up, but I did wonder what happens in the middle of winter.

 

And so to our ‘Pavilion’ room, which was actually a stand-alone villa with an outside courtyard, stone gazebo with comfortable lounging sofas and a little fountain, all enclosed by stone walls.

Our bedroom was very spacious, and airy, with a large domed ceiling above the bed. There were tiled floors, sofas, a table and chairs, a work desk, and a fireplace. The staff lit the fire when we were at dinner on our first night, and it was wonderful returning to a cosy and snug Pavilion, as the evening air chilled outside.  The bathroom area was big enough to get lost in. Twin sink areas and a large sunken bathtub were decorated with green marble from Ouarzazate, a town on the edge of the Sahara. There was a spacious shower room and wardrobes, shelves and drawers on each side.  Overall this was an immensely beautiful and comfortable space (and a large space at that!). They say the Pavilion rooms average 175 sq. metres, though I think this includes the outside space.  Some Pavilions have a private pool, and for your info, the rooms they market as ‘Maisons’ are even larger still and generally have 2 bedrooms.

The hotel has two restaurants: a Japanese one called Nama, where chef Tatsuya-san created us an ‘Omakase’ multi-course off-menu dinner; and a grand Moroccan restaurant with living olive trees growing beneath a retractable glass roof, where we had great food and enjoyed Moroccan music and dancing. One can also take lunch by the pool.  

We found all of the food at Amanjena to be of the highest quality and very delicious. However we discovered at check-out that we had been charged ten times the menu-shown price of a bottle of Champagne we had in Nama.  The hotel had made a mistake, and I wish I’d photographed the wine list, because they had changed it to the correct (higher) price by the time I came to pay, which caused a very uncomfortable and distressing time for us.  After several emails, a month later, a Director from Aman Group agreed to only charge me what I saw on the menu, so all’s well that ends well.

The hotel arranged a private tour of the Medina for us, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Notwithstanding the bill issue, I’m pleased to report that Amanjena is a fantastic hotel! The architecture, the beautiful grounds and gardens, and the great sense of spaciousness, were all truly wonderful.  The staff we came across were very pleasant and were always eager to please.  (We loved it when one of the breakfast waiters took us and a bowl of fresh vegetables over to their stable to see the ‘house’ donkey, appropriately called “Aman”)  9.5/10

Finally, just a few more pictures…