• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

The Delano Marrakech pairs contemporary design with Moroccan influences.   (Photo: Courtesy of Delano Marrakech)

Retire from the medina’s hectic streets to the calm of year-old Dar Fakir (from $165), a traditional riad with seven rooms and suites decorated in elegant Berber style: dark wood furniture, traditional tiled floors, and embroidered white cotton linens. Enjoy a traditional breakfast of fried eggs with lamb served on a terrace surrounded by olive trees before walking three minutes to explore Marrakech’s bustling main square, Djemaa el Fna.

Hit the roof of the newly opened Delano Marrakech (from $325, including breakfast), where jet-setting expats go for bites of Japanese barbecue at Namazake and views of the Atlas Mountains and the Agdal Gardens from Sky Lounge. The best of the 71 rooms have terraces overlooking one of the hotel’s three pools, but all feature king-size beds, silk drapes, plum-colored velvet furnishings, and traditional, dim Moroccan lighting.

Sleep in a luxurious former private home at La Villa des Orangers (from $465, including transportation to and from the airport, breakfast, light lunches, and non-alcoholic drinks), where 27 rooms set around three internal courtyards have Moorish touches like carved stucco arches and cream-colored terra cotta walls. Treat yourself to a massage ($41 for 30 minutes) at the in-house spa, or spend a lazy afternoon at the rooftop’s pool, garden, and sunrooms.

Published on Nov 29, 2012 as a web exclusive.