It’s a fortunate coincidence that Marrakesh has opened its first Pacha nightclub just months before the UK travel industry descends on the city for its annual convention.
Marrakesh has long been a fashionable playground for everybody from hippies to high society types, but it’s moved up a gear this year having gained, among other things, the biggest sound system in Africa.
Nightclub brand Pacha chose Marrakesh for the February opening of its newest club, and the city recently opened its first private members club, Kssour Agafay, whose founding members include Jude Law.
The two venues couldn’t be more different. Kssour Agafay is true to the ‘riad’ concept – one minute you’re in one of the old town’s dusty alleyways, full of street sellers, stray kittens and the high-octane whirl of Marrakesh, and the next you step through a heavy wooden door into a tranquil, verdant courtyard clad in traditional tiles and exquisite 500-year-old hand-carved woodwork.
Pacha, on the other hand, sits like a giant solitary sandcastle fronted by ochre-red ramparts in a dusty, empty stretch of desert suburbia about 15 minutes’ cab ride from the bustling medina. Pacha’s trademark cherries hang above a metal detector and, after a quick bag search, it’s through to a disco world of padded white minimalism. No sultry courtyards or Morrocan furnishings here.
Morocco has no other club on anything like this scale and the complex also boasts a restaurant, chill-out bar and pool where, for the ultimate hedonistic experience, you could party all night and crash out poolside for around £17 per day; £10 if you lunch at the restaurant.
Riad conversions and traditional houses are staple accommodation options in Marrakesh, typically three or four storeys high and built around a central courtyard.
Paparazzi-frazzled celebs have long sought anonymity in these luxurious bolt-holes. Once inside the riad, the city’s souks, storytellers acrobats and snake-charmers seem a world away. Now the bar in the riad market has been raised, with the opening in June of Perle, the second property from the Riads Lotus Group. It will open its third, Eau Marine, in Essaouira, at the end of the year.
At Perle, the familiar interior courtyard set-up is turned on its head with a designer cocktail of mirrors, stark black and white décor, provocative artworks and a peculiar Art Deco-meets-Miami Vice fusion of styles. In place of the usual courtyard garden and fountain is a small mosaic-tiled pool for exhibitionists to frolic in, while one entire wall of the quadrangle functions as a seven-metre high floor-to-rooftop mirror. Bizarrely, it works.
Prices start at £130 per room per night, rising to £245 in high season and the property can be hired in its entirety from £672 per day.
In line with its shift upmarket, Club Med has also taken the riad concept on board. Since its opening in January, Le Riad – a 60-villa complex tucked away within the Club Med La Palmeraie resort – has been fully booked, with VIPs and guests happy to upgrade and pay for the added seclusion. The resort is the first in a series of ‘finest’ properties being rolled out over the next two years and is home to Club Med’s flagship spa village, featuring the Cinq Mondes spa brand.
Le Riad’s villas have plasma TV screens and their own garden or roof terrace and, in a first for Club Med, offer
room service.
With its own 60-strong team of staff, headed by a dedicated chef de village, spa, private pool and restaurant – there’s plenty to keep guests inside.
One week at Le Riad this winter costs £964 compared with £766 at La Palmeraie – not a terrific hike for the exclusivity the higher price tag affords.
“It’s not a difficult upsell for agents,” said UK managing director Chris Woodbridge-Cox. Aimed at a slightly older age bracket with older children, Woodbridge-Cox said the resort would hopefully capture new clients and reactivate repeat visitors who have moved away from the brand in search of luxury product.
“It offers an atmosphere typically associated with the riads in Marrakesh old town but with the benefits and services of a modern hotel,” he added. “Clients can get as much peace as they want but also step out and play tennis and use all the other resort facilities.”
