Where to stay in Marrakech: the best neighbourhoods and hotels

The walled Medina is Marrakech's beating heart, a maze of rose-pink lanes where handcarts squeeze past mopeds and every other doorway seems to hide a carpet shop. At its centre is Jemaa el-Fna, the great square that fills at nightfall with food stalls, musicians and storytellers. North of it lie the souks and the old quarter around the Ben Youssef Madrasa; to the south, the Kasbah, the Royal Palace and the Bahia Palace.

Staying here means a riad: a traditional house turned inward around a courtyard, often with a plunge pool, orange trees and a roof terrace for mint tea at sunset. Choose an 18th-century riad with a heated pool and a hammam, a small spa riad in one of the oldest corners of the Medina, a restored 19th-century residence in the Kasbah with Atlas views, or the palatial Royal Mansour, five minutes on foot from the square.

Know what you're signing up for: the lanes are a labyrinth, cars can't reach most front doors, and the call to prayer is your alarm clock. Most riads will send someone to meet you. Worth it? Absolutely.

Just outside the ramparts, Hivernage is Marrakech's garden district, laid out in the French era with broad avenues and hotels set behind palms and bougainvillea. It's calm by day, but after dark its lounges, clubs and restaurants make it the city's smartest night out, and the Medina is a short walk or taxi ride away.

Hotels here give you what riads can't: big pools, spas and space. Choose the Mövenpick on Avenue Mohammed VI, with direct access to the Palais des Congrès; the Savoy Le Grand with its views of the Atlas; Nobu's suites, which blend Moroccan craft with Japanese simplicity; or the stylish Kenzi Rose Garden. The airport is only about 4 km away.

Gueliz is the new town the French built beyond the walls, and it's where modern Marrakech lives, works and eats. Around Avenue Mohammed V and its side streets you'll find art galleries, concept stores, pavement cafés and some of the city's best restaurants, with the cobalt-blue Majorelle Garden a short walk away.

Choose it for a city break with your souks: Jemaa el-Fna is a short taxi ride off, but Gueliz is far calmer. Hotels are thinner on the ground than in Hivernage; the picks are a 12-room guesthouse in the thick of the action and a Radisson Blu at the Carré Eden shopping complex, with a spa and an outdoor pool.

South of Hivernage, the long Avenue Mohammed VI runs through Marrakech's newer tourist zone, opposite the royal Agdal Gardens and the old palace walls. It's a land of large resort hotels, landscaped pools and Atlas views, with shopping malls, nightspots and the famous Pacha club along the way.

This is the easiest part of town for families: rooms are bigger, pools are huge, and some hotels run kids' clubs and all-inclusive plans, which are rare in Marrakech. You lose the romance of the Medina, but Jemaa el-Fna is 10 to 15 minutes away and the airport is about 5 km.

On the city's northern fringe, the Palmeraie is a vast oasis of date palms threaded with dusty lanes, camel rides and walled estates. It feels a world away from the Medina, though it's only 15 to 25 minutes by car, and many hotels run shuttles into town.

Stay here for space and stillness: resorts with several pools and big spas, an adults-only all-inclusive with panoramic Atlas views, and intimate guesthouses on private estates with their own hammams. It's ideal for a second visit, or for anyone who likes Marrakech best in small doses.

On the outskirts of the city, beyond the olive groves, Marrakech has quietly become a golf destination. Estates such as Amelkis, Al Maaden and the Royal Palm wrap their fairways around date palms and reflecting pools, with the High Atlas lined up as a backdrop.

This is where Marrakech keeps its most exclusive hideaways: Amanjena's pavilions beside the Amelkis championship course, the Park Hyatt's contemporary pavilions on the Al Maaden estate, and the Fairmont Royal Palm with its own course and a free shuttle downtown. Even if you never pick up a club, the space, the spas and the silence are the point. Jemaa el-Fna is 10 to 20 minutes away.

When the Medina gets too much, head for the hills. The road south climbs through Asni towards Toubkal National Park, home to North Africa's highest peak, past terraced valleys and red-earth Berber villages. Stays range from family-run guesthouses with homemade tagine on the terrace to Kasbah Tamadot, a luxury retreat right on the edge of the park.

Closer to town, the stony Agafay Desert offers big skies and sunset silence about 20 minutes from Marrakech, with hotels such as Kasbah Agafay. Come for a night or two of mountain air at the end of a city break, and pack a jumper: evenings are cool.