Garcia has kept La Mamounia's palatial feel while reducing the room count to 209 from 242. Each room includes patios or terraces, ample tiles and marble and hidden minibars packed with champagne. Three über-discreet and homey riads are now La Mamounia's sweetest suites, with private pools and classic Moroccan-style courtyards. They are secreted beyond the hotel's endless colonnaded walkways, intricately inlaid reflection pools, designer-boutique arcade and a peek-a-boo glass cube of a gym.
Further on, a sprawling 2,500-sq-m spa complex houses an underground series of pools, hammams and treatment rooms as regal as the hotel itself. And a quartet of haute eateries offer a dose of Europe in the Maghreb, thanks to kitchens helmed by a pair of imported Michelin masters: Italy's Alfonso Iaccarino and Jean-Pierre Vigato from France. Both offer memorable dining, though La Mamounia's real culinary must-try is actually its Moroccan restaurant, Le Marocain, with its splendid and secluded arched dining nooks.
Beyond its marble this and gilded that, La Mamounia's best asset is truly its location — just moments from the city's historic medina and the Djemaa el Fna square, with its snake charmers and open-air restaurants. It's all towered over by the 70-m-high minaret atop the 12th century Koutoubia Mosque, Marrakech's holiest (and most historic) landmark, whose mournful muezzin serenades all of Marrakech, and La Mamounia itself, just a short stroll away. For details, see www.mamounia.com.
