Marrakesh, the perfect balance between reality and imagination

For Yves Saint Laurent, Marrakech was a place where he could celebrate a perfect balance between reality and imagination. This city remains one of our favourite destinations for reviving, unwinding, and nurturing our senses.  

Marrakech is a city that delicately entwines the East and West in a dusty yet captivating package. It offers distinct experiences: bustling souks, serene shaded gardens, archaeological and architectural gems, and world-famous Hammans. This unique blend of cultures and experiences will intrigue and excite. 

Where to visit

We have all seen the images of the famous  Majorelle Garden, but to visit is unique. It was created by the French orientalist artist Jacques Majorelle over almost forty years, starting in 1923, and features a Cubist villa designed by French architect Paul Sinoir in the 1930s. Keen to capture the colour he'd seen in Marrakech, Jacques developed this plot of land, building a Moorish-style house for him and his wife to live in and a Berber-style building, which he named the Borj. He also painted the buildings in his very own rich blue colour that he trademarked as bleu Majorelle and carefully cultivated 135 plant species from five continents,  transforming the property into an enchanting landscape garden. In the 1980s, the fashion Yves Saint-Laurent acquired the property and restored it as it was under threat from development; he had always found himself seduced by this oasis where it seemed the colours used by Matisse were mixed with those of nature.

The Yves Saint Laurent museum is a building where everything cleverly turns in on itself, away from the searing desert heat and light. Walls of pinkish terrazzo form an aggregate of local stones that erupt with geological puissance to meet and meld with a more intricately contrived geometric armature of red terracotta brick, handmade and fired in the northern Moroccan town of Tétouan.

Within the museum's peaceful and tranquillised precincts, its marbled interiors are coolly luxurious, finely selected collections of haute couture clothing and accessories that span 40 years of creative work. There is a little intimation of the outside world's existential blare and clamour.

Where to eat

+61, Cassie Karinsky's hugely popular mid-century modern restaurant adheres to his guiding principles of quality, simplicity, seasonality, and togetherness and delights in seasonal sharing plates of pickled sardines, green beans, buttered almonds, grilled fish with celeriac remoulade, and beef short rib with pumpkin and green chilli salsa verde, often voted one of the best restaurants in the world, it is modern, simple and consistently refreshing.

The BLEU RIBBON is a cute little café and adjacent farm shop in a small Art Deco shopping mall in Gueliz. It's the love child of Aziz Nahas, the owner of organic farm Sanctuary Slimane, and one-time French restauranteur Benjamin Pastor. They serve the most delicious breakfast bagel with smoked salmon and goat's cheese, dill, onion pickles, and sweet and sour cucumber, all of which come from the farm.  

Where to stay

La Mamounia is a legendary luxury oasis, Winston Churchill loved it here (a plaque in front of a fifth-floor suite bears his name), and it was the place Yves Saint Laurent first set down his bags when he arrived in town as a visitor in 1966. The enormous spa, dramatically low-lit by gargantuan freestanding scarlet glass lanterns, comprises a maze of generously sized treatment rooms and two private hammam. With their gently sloping ceilings, the hammams feel like suites, as they feature several rooms: one for steaming, with air so thick with damp spa fog it's hard to see, and another with a stone massage table and shower.

Second up is La Sultana, a haven. Approached from the chaotic Medina, this poetic gem appears out of nowhere. As you enter the heavy antique wooden doors, the floors covered in zelligetiles, the walls crafted of elaborately carved white stucco and tadelkat polished plaster—beautiful, thoughtful, exotic, and timeless. The hotel is a collection of five riads set within a single complex that feels like a glorious, eccentric, secret old mansion. Make your way down the jade-coloured hall to the spa, and let the bustle melt away. The Hammam offers a range of traditional Moroccan treatments, providing a truly immersive experience.

Ksar Char-Bagh is a new favourite, and it appears like an oasis in the desert. Like many places in Marrakesh, the scale of its beauty is only evident once you pass through the hulking 20-foot-high engraved metal entrance door. The majestic Hammam, all in red marble, offers a unique experience of oriental rituals and true luxury. We enjoyed the phyto-aromatic treatment; this experience starts with an exfoliation with black soap and essential oils inside the Hammam to prepare your skin; the second step is a tailor-made full body massage combining classic Anne Sémonin techniques and a prescribed blend of essential oils and trace elements intensive complex. 

Enjoy Marrakech!