💡 The Short Version: For a first visit, stay in a riad in the medina, 0.1 to 1 km from Jemaa el-Fnaa in a straight line. Mouassine, to the north, has the restaurants; the Kasbah and Riad Zitoun, to the south, are quieter. Hivernage has the big pools and a taxi at the door, and the Palmeraie and the roads south and west are resorts. A riad is a lane, a porter, stairs and, in winter, a cold night: January’s average low is about 6°C and most riads are not heated. July and August days regularly pass 35°C, so check the pool and the air conditioning. Prices change with the dates, so check yours on Hotels.com.
The areas, compared
Marrakech is a walled medina with the square, Jemaa el-Fnaa, at its centre. Hivernage, the hotel district, lies outside the walls to the west, and Guéliz, the French-built new town, to the north-west. The Palmeraie is a palm grove north-east, and the resort roads run south and west. Distances are straight lines from the square to the hotel, so the walk is longer.
| Area | Straight line to Jemaa el-Fnaa | Getting about | What it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Around the square | 0.1 to 0.3 km | On foot | The souks on the doorstep; noise until late |
| Mouassine and Kennaria | 0.4 to 0.9 km | On foot down lanes | Riads, rooftop restaurants, the spice square |
| Kasbah, Mechouar and Riad Zitoun | 0.6 to 0.7 km | On foot; a taxi cannot always reach the door | The palaces and tombs, quieter nights |
| Bab Doukkala and the north medina | About 0.9 km and more | Taxis at the Bab Doukkala gate | Quieter evenings, away from the square |
| The medina-edge palaces | About 0.9 km | On foot or by taxi | Gardens and pools beside the walls |
| Hivernage | 1.3 to 1.7 km | A taxi, or a long walk | Big pools, gardens, taxis at the door |
| Guéliz | About 2.2 km to the Majorelle | A petit taxi | Restaurants and bars, the Majorelle |
| The Palmeraie | 4 to 8 km | A car or taxi for everything | Space, pools, quiet |
| The south and west resorts | 5.6 to 8.9 km | A transfer for every medina visit | Families, golf, a pool week |
The hotels
The links go to the hotel on Hotels.com, except for the hotels that link to their own sites. Michelin’s 2026 Keys went to 16 hotels in Marrakech: three Keys to La Mamounia, two to Royal Mansour, The Oberoi and Amanjena, and one each to Riad Tarabel, Riad No. 37, La Sultana, Villa des Orangers, Ksar Char-Bagh, Riad Due, Palais Ronsard, Riad Dar Al Dall, IZZA, Riad Sakkan, Maison Brummell Majorelle and Selman (le360). For the hotels nearest the square, with their distances, see hotels near Jemaa el-Fnaa, and for the ones with a pool see Marrakech riads with a pool.
Around Jemaa el-Fnaa and the Koutoubia
The old centre. Lonely Planet describes hordes of people on the square all day and into the night. The Koutoubia minaret stands to the west. See Jemaa el-Fnaa for how the square works by time of day.
Les Jardins de la Koutoubia
26 rue de la Koutoubia · 108 rooms · heated outdoor pool · Hotels.comad
About 250 m from the square. The hotel lists 108 rooms, among them 30 mini suites, 22 junior suites and two royal suites, all with air conditioning, and it lists air conditioning and heating among its facilities. There are three restaurants, a piano bar, a sky bar, a spa by Shiseido and a heated outdoor pool. The heated indoor pool is for adults using the spa.
Hotel Gallia
30 rue El Moustachfa · family-run since 1929 · hotel’s site
About 270 m from the square. The hotel says it has stood in the medina since 1929 and has passed down through one family, and it describes rooms with quality linens and a choice of pillows. Lonely Planet names it as its family-run pick, with single rooms for solo travellers and a rooftop terrace over the medina and the mountains.
Riad Abracadabra
125 Derb Jamaa, Derb Dabachi · 8 rooms · roof terrace with pool · Hotels.comad
The riad says it is five minutes’ walk from Jemaa el-Fnaa and tells guests to head for Café de France. Its eight rooms include duplex suites of 35 m², with the bedroom on the top floor and the lounge below. The roof terrace has a pool and a bar serving cocktails, and the restaurant is called RA.
Mouassine and Kennaria
North of the square. Lonely Planet calls Mouassine one of the best neighbourhoods for riads, about 500 m from the square. The spice square, Rahba Kedima, and several rooftop restaurants are here: see where to eat in Marrakech. The lanes are narrow and no vehicle reaches the riads.
Mouassine’s rooftops at dusk, with the Koutoubia minaret and the Atlas on the horizon. Photo: Ty Terrasso, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
El Fenn
Derb Moulay Abdellah Ben Hezzian, Bab El Ksour · 41 rooms · three pools · hotel’s site
About 430 m from the square. The hotel lists 41 individually styled rooms and suites, three swimming pools, a 1,300 m² roof terrace, two cocktail bars, two restaurants and a spa, and calls itself one of the few hotels in the medina with a pool. It says Condé Nast Traveller put it on its Gold List in 2017, 2021, 2022 and 2024.
Riad Joya
Hay Mouassine, Derb El Hammam 26/27 · 7 suites · Hotels.comad
About 380 m from the square. Seven suites, each styled differently, to a design by Umberto Maria Branchini. The riad has a restaurant, a roof terrace and a spa, and the Ottomane suite has a fireplace.
Riad Due
2 Derb Chantouf, Riad Larousse · four suites · Michelin Key · Hotels.comad
About 810 m from the square. Four suites with art on the walls, rooftop dining and a personal chef. The riad can be booked whole for a group, and its site shows the Michelin Key it won in 2026.
Riad Azzar
94 Derb Moulay Abdelkader · 3 rooms and 3 suites · plunge pool · Hotels.comad
About 400 m from the square. The riad has been open since January 2004 and centres on a courtyard with a plunge pool. A fireplace warms the salon and dining room in the cooler months, there are sun beds on the roof terrace, and the cook serves dinner in the cooler months.
Riad Cocoon
Five rooms · tadelakt bathrooms · Hotels.comad
About 890 m from the square. A house of five rooms built round music and art, each named after a band, an album or a song, with tadelakt bathrooms and reversible air conditioning. The site describes breakfast on the terrace and a cool patio with a large basin, and it sells hammam and massage.
Kasbah, Mechouar and Riad Zitoun
South of the square. Lonely Planet calls the Kasbah and Mellah the quarter for grand monuments, museums and pretty squares, and says the Mellah, the old Jewish quarter, is 10 minutes’ walk from the action on the square yet quieter, with fewer tourists and fewer motorbikes. Lonely Planet also names Les Jardins de la Medina for its large pool. The lanes are residential and a taxi cannot always reach the door. For the sights, see Bahia Palace and the Saadian Tombs and El Badi Palace.
The minaret of the Moulay al-Yazid (Kasbah) Mosque. Photo: Jorge Franganillo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
La Villa des Orangers
Rue Sidi Mimoun · 33 rooms and suites · three heated pools in season · one Michelin Key · Hotels.comad
About 660 m from the square. The hotel says it stands at the foot of the Koutoubia mosque, between the Royal Palace and Jemaa el-Fnaa, in a riad built in the 1930s for a prominent person who lived there until 1998. It lists three pools heated in season, one with a 16 m basin, a 60 m² hammam and a spa with three massage booths.
Riad Kaiss
65 Derb Jdid, Riad Zitoun Kedim · 18 rooms and suites · hotel’s site
About 580 m from the square. The site lists 18 rooms and suites, some with a terrace, a restaurant open for lunch and dinner and a spa.
Les Jardins de la Medina
21 Derb Chtouka, Kasbah · 36 rooms · pool heated in winter · hotel’s site
A former palace with a 3,000 m² garden and a large outdoor pool the hotel says is heated in winter. It lists 36 rooms in four categories; most Superior Garden rooms are on the ground floor, the Solarium rooms and one Sultane suite are served by a lift, and the restaurant is on the ground floor.
Le Farnatchi
Derb el Farnatchi, Rue Souk el Fassis · suites with central heating · hotel’s site
A boutique hotel with a pool, a spa and a roof terrace. Its suites have air conditioning and central heating, and some have a fireplace. The hotel’s restaurant is Le Trou au Mur.
Bab Doukkala and the north medina
The north of the medina, by the Bab Doukkala gate, where taxis wait. These hotels are about 0.9 km or more from the square, so the walk back at night is longer than from Mouassine.
La Maison Arabe
1 Derb Assehbé, Bab Doukkala · 45 rooms · spa with two hammams · Hotels.comad
About 870 m from the square. The hotel lists 45 king-size rooms and suites round the patio, on the garden side and in two adjoining residences. Patio-view rooms are reached by stairs only; garden-view rooms by stairs or lift. The spa has two hammams, and the hotel runs cooking workshops: see Marrakech cooking classes.
Riad Kheirredine
Three pools · heated pool in the White Patio · hammam and spa · Hotels.comad
The riad lists three pools, among them a heated pool in the White Patio and pools on the roof and in the garden, and a spa with private hammam cabins and a heated indoor pool. Some suites have a fireplace.
Riad Dar Zaman
29 Derb Bouelilou · four bedrooms · courtyard plunge pool · Hotels.comad
A small guesthouse of four bedrooms round a courtyard garden with a plunge pool. There are open fireplaces for cooler evenings and a sun terrace, and the two larger rooms have reversible air conditioning. The Douiria room has a working log fireplace. The chef offers vegetarian and plant-based dishes.
Riad Yasmine
209 rue Ank Jemel, Bab Taghzout · 8 bedrooms · hotel’s site
A riad of eight bedrooms in the medina, with a swimming pool tiled in zellige, a 220 m² roof terrace with views of the Koutoubia, the Ben Youssef Madrasa and the Atlas, and air conditioning in every room. A reading corner has a fireplace that is lit on cold days.
Riad de Tarabel
8 Derb Sraghna, Dar El Bacha · 10 rooms and suites · one Michelin Key · hotel’s site
Ten rooms and suites with clawfoot baths and, in some, a fireplace. The riad’s chef is Saïda Mslil, and it has a hammam.
Riad No. 37
Dar El Bacha · eight double rooms · adults only · one Michelin Key · hotel’s site
An adults-only riad whose eight double rooms are on the first floor round two courtyards. The ground floor and roof have two pools and fireplaces.
IZZA Marrakech
Five staircases to the roof · 10 m pool · one Michelin Key · hotel’s site
A riad of three courtyards, one with a 10 m pool, with a rooftop restaurant, Noujoum, and five staircases up to the roof terrace.
Riad Sakkan
Twelve rooms and suites · pool patio · one Michelin Key · hotel’s site
Three historic houses at the edge of the medina with twelve rooms and suites, a pool patio, rooftop dining and a private hammam and spa. Rooftop dining is intimate and limited, with priority for house guests.
The medina-edge palaces
Two large hotels with gardens stand beside the walls, a taxi from the square. For a spa day without a night, see Marrakech hammams.
La Mamounia
Avenue Bab Jdid · 135 rooms, 71 suites and 3 riads · three Michelin Keys · Hotels.comad
About 940 m from the square. The hotel counts 135 rooms, 71 suites and three riads, each riad with its own entrance, pool and terrace. Its gardens hold roses, orange, olive and palm trees, with pools, tennis courts and a vegetable garden, and the spa has hammams. The hotel hosts the 1-54 art fair in March: see best time to visit Marrakech.
Royal Mansour
Rue Abou El Abbas Sebti · 53 private riads · two Michelin Keys · Hotels.comad
About 890 m from the square. The hotel is 53 independent riads of one to four bedrooms, each with a pool, on a 5-hectare estate with a 2,500 m² spa and a heated pool in the spa. The Superior and Premier riads spread over three floors. Its restaurants are La Grande Brasserie, Sesamo, La Grande Table Marocaine and Le Jardin.
Hivernage
The hotel district west of the walls, 1.3 to 1.7 km from the square. Evenings are in hotel bars and restaurants, and the medina is a taxi ride or a long walk.
Es Saadi Marrakech Resort, Palace
Resort with casino and nightclub · pools · Palace spa · Hotels.comad
A resort of gardens and swimming pools with a casino and a nightclub. The Palace has its own spa, built round a eucalyptus tree that the hotel says is centuries old, and the hotel’s pages list poolside meals and dinner shows.
Sofitel Marrakech Palais Impérial and Spa
Rue Haroun Errachid · pools · heated pool in season · hotel’s site
About 1.3 km from the square. The hotel lists outdoor pools, a heated pool in season and a spa with a heated indoor pool. Rooms have a balcony or terrace, many with a pool or Atlas view, and there is a Koutoubia penthouse with a terrace.
Kenzi Rose Garden
Hivernage · 384 rooms · central heating from 1 November · Hotels.comad
About 1.7 km from the square. The hotel lists 384 rooms, ten of them suites, in four buildings on four floors in a palm grove, sound-proofed with double glazing. Central heating runs from 1 November to 31 March.
Guéliz
The French-built new town, a short taxi ride from the medina, with the Majorelle Garden about 2.2 km from the square. Lonely Planet describes the art-deco buildings of the 1930s new town, some now galleries. Restaurants and bars are here: see where to eat in Marrakech, and book the garden first: Jardin Majorelle tickets.
Maison Brummell Majorelle
Next to the Jardin Majorelle · hammam · swimming pool · one Michelin Key · hotel’s site
A design house on the street parallel to rue Yves Saint Laurent, looking onto the Majorelle Garden walls. The site describes a swimming pool with sun loungers, a marble hammam with a massage room, steam bath and a heated dipping pool, and a room with a fireplace.
The Palmeraie
Gated villas and garden hotels in the palm grove 4 to 8 km north-east of the square, reached by car or taxi. The Independent calls the Palmeraie the place for quiet and privacy.
The Palmeraie, the palm grove north-east of the city. Photo: Alex, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Ksar Char-Bagh
25 suites · heated pool · one Michelin Key · Hotels.comad
About 7.7 km from the square. The hotel’s site describes 25 suites, each with a terrace, a garden or a private pool, a heated pool, and a spa with a red-marble hammam.
Palais Ronsard
27 rooms · Relais & Châteaux · one Michelin Key · Hotels.comad
About 7.9 km from the square. The hotel describes 27 rooms, each a private residence, in secluded gardens.
Jnane Tamsna
24 bedrooms in five houses · five pools · hotel’s site
A garden of nine acres with 24 rooms in five houses, five pools and a tennis court.
The south and west resorts
Resort hotels in landscaped grounds on the roads south and west. Every visit to the medina is a transfer.
The Oberoi, Marrakech
Route de Ouarzazate · 30 m outdoor pool · two Michelin Keys · Hotels.comad
About 8.9 km from the square. The hotel lists a 30 m outdoor pool and a 20 m indoor pool, both temperature-controlled, villas with private pools and complimentary airport transfers: Menara airport is 17.5 km away, about 25 minutes by road.
Selman Marrakech
Km 5, Route d’Amizmiz · 80 m pool · Chenot spa · one Michelin Key · Hotels.comad
About 6.5 km from the square. The hotel lists an 80 m pool, rooms of 55 m² with views of the pool, and five private villas, with a stud farm in the grounds and a spa by Chenot.
Fairmont Royal Palm Marrakech
Km 12, Route d’Amizmiz · golf course · kids’ club · Hotels.comad
The hotel says it has the city’s largest pool, and lists a golf course, a kids’ club and a family suite of two bedrooms, two bathrooms and two terraces. Parking is included.
Mandarin Oriental, Marrakech
Route du Golf Royal · 20 hectares of olive groves · Hotels.comad
The hotel says it is 10 minutes from the medina, in 20 hectares of olive groves and gardens, with a spa of 1,800 m², an indoor pool and a poolside restaurant.
Amanjena
Route de Ouarzazate side · private gardens · two Michelin Keys · hotel’s site
About 5.6 km from the square. An Aman resort of shaded courtyards with fountains, rooms with private gardens and courtyards, and a spa, near the 27-hole Amelkis golf course.
Before you book
- The last stretch is on foot. Most riads are on lanes no car can enter. A taxi drops you at the nearest gate, a porter or the riad’s staff carry the bags, and a tip of 10 to 20 MAD is usual. Ask the riad which gate to name: Jemaa el-Fnaa, Bab Doukkala and Sidi Mimoun by the Koutoubia are the usual ones. See Marrakech airport to the medina.
- Winter nights are cold. The airport’s January average is a high of 19°C and a low of 6°C, and the lowest recorded is -3.6°C. Most riads are not heated. Ask for a room with heating or a fireplace: the hotels above that print one are Le Farnatchi, Les Jardins de la Medina, Les Jardins de la Koutoubia, Kenzi Rose Garden and, with fireplaces, Riad Azzar, Dar Zaman, Riad de Tarabel and Riad Kheirredine. See best time to visit Marrakech.
- Summer is hot. July and August average a high of about 37°C and pass 35°C on 22 days each. Book air conditioning and a pool; most medina riad pools are small plunge pools: see riads with a pool.
- Stairs. A riad rises round its courtyard over several floors and many have no lift. Ask for a ground- or first-floor room and whether there is a lift. Les Jardins de la Medina lifts only its Solarium rooms and one suite.
- Noise. The square and the rooftop restaurants carry on late. Kabana’s site gives 02:00 as its closing time. Ask for a room on the courtyard side.
- Children. Ask a riad about children before you book: Riad No. 37 takes adults only. A resort hotel or Hivernage suits a young family better than a medina riad.
- Alcohol. Alcohol is sold only in licensed hotels, restaurants and bars. Ask a riad whether it serves it before you book.
For what to book before you fly, see Marrakech: what to book. To fit the sights to your days, see 3 days in Marrakech. Where to eat in Marrakech lists the restaurants, Marrakech food tours the guided walks, and Marrakech safety and scams what to expect in the lanes after dark. For the weather by month and Ramadan in February 2027, see best time to visit Marrakech; for a night outside the city, see the Agafay desert and day trips from Marrakech.
Common questions
What is the best area to stay in Marrakech for a first visit?
The medina, in a riad within about 1 km of Jemaa el-Fnaa in a straight line. North of the square, Mouassine has the restaurants and the spice square; south of it, the Kasbah and Riad Zitoun are quieter and nearer the palaces and tombs. Stay in Hivernage instead if you want a large pool, parking and a taxi at the door.
Is a riad or a hotel better in Marrakech?
A riad is a house round a courtyard, usually on a lane no car can enter, with a porter for the bags, stairs and a small pool at most. A hotel in Hivernage or on the resort roads has the big pool, the lift and the parking. In the medina, the hotels with a large pool include Les Jardins de la Medina and La Villa des Orangers.
Are riads in Marrakech heated?
Most are not. January's average low at the airport is about 6°C and the lowest recorded is -3.6°C. Some riads print a fireplace in the room (Riad Azzar, Dar Zaman, Riad de Tarabel, Riad Kheirredine), Le Farnatchi and Les Jardins de la Koutoubia list heating, and Kenzi Rose Garden runs central heating from 1 November to 31 March. Ask before you book.
How do I get from the airport to a riad?
A taxi drops you at the nearest gate of the medina, and the riad sends someone to walk you in; bus 19 (30 MAD) stops at Jemaa el-Fnaa. Message the riad before you land and ask which gate to name to the driver: Jemaa el-Fnaa, Bab Doukkala and Sidi Mimoun by the Koutoubia are the usual ones.
Is it noisy near Jemaa el-Fnaa?
Yes, into the night. Lonely Planet describes crowds around the square all day and into the night, and the rooftop restaurants nearby run music late: Kabana's own site gives 02:00 as its closing time. Ask for a room away from the street and from the nearest rooftop.
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