Morocco Travel Guide

(Ben Green) #1
HOTEL

HOTEL

FARM,   RESORT

RESORT

kitchen, a library and wi-fi, but you’ll need your own sleeping bag. They can arrange group pick-
ups from Marrakesh (Dh400 for one to four by grand taxi or Dh700 to Dh900 for nine to 12 by
minibus or 4WD), and they sell French trekking guidebooks. Bathrooms are on the 1st floor, but
the nicest bunk beds are in pine-ceilinged rooms upstairs. Kids under age 16 are eligible for
discounts on meals and stays.


Hôtel Chez Juju €€€

( 0524 31 90 05; www.hotelchezjuju.com; d incl half-board Dh1330-1580) Reliable
restaurant with a bar (whiskey and wine Dh60 to Dh120), plus simple alpine-style rooms with
en-suite bathrooms. Nicer renovated doubles have mountain views, pine panelling, cotton quilts
and flowered drapes; grimmer rooms in back have frayed carpet and bathrooms curtained off
in the corner.


Hotel Club Louka €€€

( 0524 31 90 41; www.clublouka.com; s/d Dh850/1100, chalet Dh3900; ) Sticking out
amid snowcapped mountains like a fake tan in winter is this apricot-tinted high-rise, with 101
bland rooms and generic international restaurant-lounge (breakfast/dinner Dh110/240). On the
plus side, there’s a big indoor swimming pool and hammam on the premises, and new wooden
alpine chalets to house four friends or a family in style – picture windows and fireplaces
downstairs, sleeping lofts and Finnish saunas upstairs. Call ahead; off-season, the hotel often
closes for maintenance.


Getting There & Away
If you’re not travelling by rental car, your best bet is transport through CAF. Otherwise, you can
charter a grand taxi from Marrakesh’s Bab er-Rob (Dh400 to Dh600).


GREAT ESCAPES FROM MARRAKESH: LALLA TAKERKOUST

COUNTRY RETREATS

Involving   as  Marrakesh   is, it’s    surprisingly    easy    to  put it  behind  you an  hour    down    the Rte d’Amizmiz,  near    the reservoir   of  Lalla
Takerkoust. The artificial lake is a sight for dry eyes, but better still are new country retreats in nearby farmsteads, olive groves
and Berber villages.

Jnane   Tihihit $$
( 0668 46 55 45; Douar Makhfamane; www.riad-t.com/jnane-tihihit; d Dh500-720; ) Relax the way nature intended, on an
organic farmstead with solar-heated, whitewashed pisé (rammed-earth) bungalows amid pomegranate trees. Foodies can
tend saffron gardens and learn to make couscous, while kids help feed donkeys and chickens in the barnyard. Lounge by the
chemical-free basin pool, head to the lakefront beach, get steam-cleaned in the hammam or hole up by the library fireplace. It’s
to the right 500m off km40 on the Rte d’Amizmiz, in Douar Makhfamane.

Tigmi   $$$
( 0524 48 40 20; km24 Route d’Amizmiz, Douar Tagadert; www.tigmi.com; s/d incl half-board Dh1750/2250, ste Dh2100;
) Poolside deck chairs overlook a palm oasis, unrolled like a green carpet at the foot of this Berber village. Tunisian
architect Charles Boccara designed this village resort from local materials without sacrificing modern comfort: guest rooms
have mudbrick fireplaces, sabra coverlets over thick duvets, high palm-beam ceilings overhead and thick red Chichaoua
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