Morocco in Three Hotels
From an olive grove outside Marrakech into the High Atlas and on to the lagoon at Oualidia: Berber Lodge, Olinto and La Sultana Oualidia.
Three stops take you from an olive grove outside Marrakech into the Ouirgane Valley, then west to the lagoon at Oualidia.
None of the three hotels is in Marrakech itself, so plan time in the medina as a separate stay or as a day trip from Berber Lodge, which is about half an hour from the city.
Berber Lodge: earth walls in an olive grove
Berber Lodge stands in an old olive grove at the edge of Oumnass, a village about half an hour from Marrakech. The interior designer Romain Michel-Ménière opened it in March 2017. The walls are adobe, made from the earth of the grounds, the ceilings are local timber such as eucalyptus and Atlas cedar, and every one of the old olive trees was kept. There are 12 rooms, and a 20-metre pool lies among the trees.
Every room has a terrace and a fireplace, or a stove in the Cabane Deluxe, and some look out to the Atlas. There is no menu to choose from: the kitchen cooks one set meal a day, mostly Moroccan, with some of the vegetables from the lodge’s organic garden.
Olinto: pavilions in the Ouirgane Valley
Olinto lies in the Ouirgane Valley in the High Atlas, about an hour’s drive south of Marrakech, on three hectares of olive grove. Each of its nine freestanding pavilions has a fireplace and a roof terrace; six come with a private garden, three with a heated private pool. There is a hammam, and the kitchen cooks Moroccan and Mediterranean food with herbs and vegetables from the garden. Guests must be 14 or over.
Walks start at the door. For the four-hour Moul Anraz hike, a guide collects you from the hotel and leads you to a viewpoint over the valley and on to the village of Anraz; a shorter walk of two and a half hours runs through Laazib to the old salt mines. In winter there is snow on the peaks.
La Sultana Oualidia: the lagoon
Oualidia is a small town on a lagoon sheltered from the Atlantic, with oyster farms in its calm water. La Sultana Oualidia is built of local stone and has twelve rooms and suites, each with a terrace and hot tub; some look over the lagoon, others over the garden and countryside. There is an outdoor pool, a heated indoor pool and a hammam.
The hotel can arrange kayaking, birdwatching and visits to the oyster farms, and La Table de La Plage serves fish and seafood at lunchtime. Three nights leave time for the lagoon at an easy pace.
Practical
Fly to Marrakech and hire a car or book a driver. Berber Lodge is hard to find, so its own transfer is the easier option; Olinto also arranges transfers on request, so ask both hotels about the drive between them. A suggested order: Berber Lodge (two nights), Olinto (two), La Sultana Oualidia (three). La Sultana allows around three hours by road from Marrakech airport; Olinto is about an hour south of Marrakech, so from there the drive to the coast takes longer: plan it as a travel day. The best time is November to April. In summer, temperatures around Marrakech can pass 40°C, and the coast is often foggy.
