La Mamounia, Marrakech: Few hotels have inspired more glamorous and romantic stories than the grande dame of Marrakech, La Mamounia. The hotel has hosted politicians and celebrities since it opened in the 1920s. In 1943, Winston Churchill asked Franklin D Roosevelt to join him on one of his many visits, describing the hotel as 'the loveliest place on earth'. Alfred Hitchcock used it as the backdrop for his 1956 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much; Hollywood stars including Marlene Dietrich and Charlie Chaplin soon followed.
A disastrous 1980s revamp left La Mamounia looking like an over-iced, salmon-pink wedding cake. Perhaps coincidentally, the glitterati began looking elsewhere for their kicks and the hotel was cast adrift in a sea of memories. Then the French architect and designer Jacques Garcia (the man behind the Hôtel Costes in Paris) was asked to mastermind its reinvention. There followed a three-year, €100-million renovation project, and in October 2009 La Mamounia emerged looking familiar but rejuvenated. Garcia has succeeded in stripping away the 1980s tat and introducing contemporary design without destroying the trademark, Art Deco-meets-imperial-Morocco look.
La Mamounia now has 210 of the most spacious rooms and suites in town. There are also three new gourmet restaurants (French, Italian and Moroccan), and the five new bars include the hip Marjorelle Rooms for a pre-dinner Martini, and the sultry Churchill Bar with live jazz, cigars and whisky for a nightcap.
But if the swanky new 2,500-square-metre spa with its indigo pools and black-and-white zellij(traditional Moroccan tiling) reflects the mood of modern Marrakech, the gardens actually date back to the reign of Sultan Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah (1757-1790). To stroll along avenues flanked by 300-year-old olive trees to the soundtrack of tinkling fountains and birdsong is still one of the greatest pleasures of staying here.
La Mamounia: Avenue Bab Jdid s/n, Marrakech, Morocco (00 212 524 388682;www.mamounia.com). Doubles from 4,500 dirhams (about £360)
