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Peek Inside the Most Stunning Homes in Marrakech

By Stefanie Waldek

Photography by Jean Cazals

Of the many museums in Marrakech, there’s one that designer Meryanne Loum-Martin always brings first-time visitors to help them get a sense of the city’s eclectic architectural legacy: Dar Si Said, housed in a 19th-century palace. “There’s a room that gathers absolutely all of the elements of design, from the mosaics, to the carved wood, to the painted wood, to the carved plaster, to the painted plaster—everything is in one room,” says Loum-Martin. “For me, it’s the essence of Marrakech.”

On her very first visit to the city nearly 35 years ago, the former lawyer turned interior designer felt at home. “I’m a mix of a lot of things, part French West Indian, part Senegalese,” says Loum-Martin, who was born in Côte d'Ivoire and lived in London, Moscow, and Paris before settling in Marrakech. “Diversity and mix is part of my DNA, and it is something that I have found here.” Historically, Marrakech has been a crossroads of cultures that have each contributed to the city’s unique aesthetic sense, and today, that global vibrancy continues to draw in creatives.

Those creatives now comprise Loum-Martin’s social circle, and she’s long been fascinated with the way they’ve devised their homes to combine their own tastes with traditional Moroccan decor. “There are a lot of places where there’s fantastic style, but it doesn’t mean that you’re going to be able to respect the local style and mingle it with your own,” she says. “In Morocco, and in Marrakech, in particular, foreign creatives can be themselves and yet have a Moroccan house.”

This juxtaposition of design sensibilities—where contemporary minimalism can meet ornate tilework, where opulent textiles can meet bare earthen walls—became the foundation of Loum-Martin’s upcoming book, Inside Marrakesh: Enchanting Homes and Gardens ( Rizzoli, $60 ). Here, take a peek at its pages.

“This room is like a European château in Marrakech,” says Loum-Martin of a Belgian couple’s living room. “The structural elements like the fireplace are Moroccan, and the furniture is European, like the animal-print sofas, which are a wink to Madeleine Castaing, the famous French interior designer.”

In 1999, Loum-Martin began incorporating bleached wood into her Moroccan-style interiors, which were more typically filled with darker woods. For her own riad in Marrakech, Princess Letizia Ruspoli of Italy, alongside designer Jérôme Vermelin, kept things light and bright, including wood elements like the window frames and the small side table in the corner.

Maïté and Paolo Bulgari tapped local architect Amine Kabbaj and Spanish design duo Gustavo and Pablo Paniagua for their home in the medina. “The ceiling is treated in a very modern approach,” says Loum-Martin. “It’s a classic Moroccan pattern but enlarged and in natural cedar wood. In another house they would’ve painted it in a darker varnish or in patterns.”

“This house is a totally different take on Moroccan inspiration,” says Loum-Martin. “You have the arches, plaster, ceramics, zellige, but it’s completely personal. It’s a house designed by an artist more than an interior designer.” Here, traditional Moroccan patterns are abstracted and reinterpreted with a contemporary Milanese bent.

By Sarah Archer

By David Nash

At the home of the Marquess Franco Santasilia Di Torpino and his wife, Rafaella, India-inspired decor blends with traditional Moroccan elements. “Marrakech allows you to live outdoors in a very sophisticated way,” says Loum-Martin. “There is this kind of outdoor refinement, which I love.”

Inside Marrakesh, by Meryanne Loum-Martin, Rizzoli New York, 2020.

By Jessica Ritz

By Bridget Moriarity

By Nicolas Milon

By Amir Capogrossi Badreddine

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Fully Guided Tours & Trips in Morocco

Find the right fully guided tour for you in Morocco. There are 1258 trips to choose from, that range from one day in length, up to 30 days. The month with the most departures is May, making it the most popular time to visit Morocco.

250+ Fully Guided tour packages in Morocco with 7,316 reviews

• Christmas & New Year

Morocco Kasbahs & Desert

An incredible tour with an incredible guide (Zouhair)! My first experience with G Adventures and I was not disappointed. I only wish I could have stayed longer!

Morocco Tours 9 Days Tour from Casablanca

Absolutely fantastic tour of Morocco that exceeded our expectations in every way. Thank you

7 Days Morocco Tours From Casablanca

The tour guide, Hassan, was awesome, I loved him, He was very knowledgeable and helpful, I would recommend this tour.

• In-depth Cultural

6 Days Best of Morocco

I and my family thoroughly enjoyed the Morocco trip. Many, many thanks to Ali Moujan, who went above and beyond to ensure we have the best tour possible. He made the trip both fun and informative for us. A truly remarkable trip! Highly recommend this company.

• 10% deposit on some dates Some departure dates offer you the chance to book this tour with a lower deposit.

Highlights of Morocco

We had a wonderful time in Morocco with G Adventures. Everything was perfect. Our tour guide was wonderful. Hotels very comfortable and centrally located. Breakfast was very good and bus was very good. Would travel with them again.

9 days cultural Tour from Casablanca ( Private tour )

My friend and I just came back from amazing holidays in Morocco thanks to CULTURAL MOROCCO and its team ! From the beginning to the dropped us off at the airport, The TOUR was incredible, the landscapes on the way wonderful and every hotels we stayed in were so charming and very confortable. But the best of this travel was the kindness of all the team, Yassine, Mariem, Our amazing driver Abdel, the local guides, the hotels' staff and every Moroccan people made this tour so unforgottable. Thank you again CULTURAL MOROCCO team for su an incredible cultural morocco experience, and for sure we will come back to your beautiful country.

• 5% deposit on some dates Some departure dates offer you the chance to book this tour with a lower deposit.

Essential Morocco

Great trip full of joy

Private 5 days from Casablanca to Marrakech Visiting Chefchaouen, Fes & desert

What made our trip was our wonderful driver, Sabir. The 5-day tour ended up being a lot more driving than we thought and we didn’t get enough time in each place but Sabir’s knowledge and conversation made the trip! We had issues with the tour operator not booking enough rooms for our group and then having to place us in different places and then some of those places not honoring the bookings. Also, the Fes tour in the Medina ended up being a “exit through the gift shop” sort of tour, where we were brought to places to learn about different businesses and encouraged to buy. Knowing what we know now, we would have just hired a driver to get us from place to place and booked all the accommodations ourselves. (Hiring Sabir!) And we would have planned a 10-day tour to give us more time to get to know each stop. All said, the stops on this tour were wonderful! Such a display of the various landscape of the country… each place was so unique!

3 Days High Atlas Mountains and Sahara Adventure

We book a 3-day travel to the desert, based on positive reviews. And the experience was 100% worth it. Ali is a native, speaks 5 languages, drives his car with excellence, is very easy to communicate with, and generally very positive. He'll tell you tons of tales if you're in the mood to talk, or will play a very nice playlist of local music if you're not. P.S. If you come to the desert in winter, be ready to freeze!

Morocco 7 Days Tour From Casablanca

Very professional and amazing, The itinerary was perfectly arranged. Ms. Laila as the assistant and Mr. Samir as the driver, also the driver who picked us on the airport (I am sorry I forget the name) were very helpful. In my opinion, people in Morocco who handled my trip were so helpful and do their best. The guides were so nice and patient. I recommended this tour as the best choice if you want to go to Morocco.

Timeless Morocco

I wanted to take a moment to express my immense gratitude for the incredible experience you provided me with on the recent tour. Timeless Tours truly gave me the experience of a lifetime. The trip was nothing short of amazing, filled with authentic experiences, beautiful sites, and endless learning opportunities. It was evident that Yassin, our guide, takes immense pride in his country and in sharing his knowledge with others. His expertise on various topics such as Morocco's history, societal values, and science truly enriched our experience. Yassin was always prepared to answer any questions our group had, no matter how challenging. I also want to extend my appreciation to Jamil, our driver, who was not only professional and attentive but also made our all-female group feel exceptionally safe throughout the journey. The fluency and clarity of the guides' English made communication effortless, allowing for humor and laughter to fill our group dynamics even during the longer drives, making the experience comfortable and lighthearted. I have already shared my rave reviews about the tour with all my family and friends, and I will continue to do so. Thank you once again for creating such a memorable and enriching experience. -Nicole

Totally Morocco Tour from Casablanca

Excellent service and great tour guides Expected small groups however most days just us two The service provided by Tour Radars service provide in Morocco (Discover Morocco) was first class with excellent communication and service Really enjoy every day especially the desert stay Would recommend is tour

9 Days Morocco Tours From Marrakech

The 9 day tour covered almost everything we wanted to see in Morocco. It was a very comfortable way of getting around the country, and our driver, Ismail, was excellent. He was also really flexible with time. If we wanted to spend more time in one place, it was no problem to leave later. We could also stop for a bathroom break, lunch, or a photo opportunity at any time or place. This tour is great for travellers that don't want a strict tour with a rigid schedule, but also don't want the hassle of driving. There are many police checkpoints throughout Morocco, which we would have had to deal with ourselves if we rented a car instead. The accommodation was also great for the most part. Most of the accommodation in the cities is very central (usually within the Medina). The only accommodation that I would change would be the hotel in Tangier. The hotel is perfectly nice, however, it was very much on the edge of the city. It was surrounded by car showrooms, warehouses and the entrance to the commercial free-zone area, not really a place for tourists. There really wasn't anything to do there. It would have been much better to stay near to the port were the restaurants/shops etc. are since we were making a stop there in the morning anyway. Overall, I definitely recommend this tour to anyone who want's to explore Morocco with a mixture of ease and flexibility. It allowed us to to enjoy our time at each location without feeling exhausted from driving.

Imperial Cities & Sahara Discovery Tour from Marrakech

It was great to have a variety of guides during our time in Morocco. Overall it was great with two exceptions. One was a guide who was a bit rude and pushy. He clearly didn’t enjoy his job, and our entire group was put off by him. The other minor glitch was that our van broke down and we left 3 hours late. It wasn’t the driver’s fault, and he and our guide apologized many times. We didn’t arrive to the Sahara until after dark, but we had such a good time that evening and rode our camels during sunrise. It was magical! We definitely will look into more tours with tourradar in the future.

Exotic Morocco (4 Star Hotels)

Wonderful experience! We had so much fun. There where not a lot of food option and there should be more food options.

• €150 deposit on some dates Some departure dates offer you the chance to book this tour with a lower deposit.

What people love about Fully Guided Tours in Morocco

Our tour guide, Hamid, was wonderful! He gets 5 stars!! About the tour….. READ CAREFULLY! If you are a lover of history and historic sites, this trip is for you! If you enjoy long car rides through the country, this trip is for you! You will stay in a different riad (hotel) almost every night, so pack lightly. You will drive to each new city every day for 3-9 hours depending on where you are headed. The riads are beautiful- bring your own wash cloths and wipes. There are several tours throughout the day. Sometimes tours end with a visit to the showroom with the expectation that you will purchase goods. The food is delicious! The Sahara Desert was the most memorable! The camel ride was an experience of a lifetime. The vendors sell the most beautiful goods. Try to get shopping done with the tour guide to avoid pushy vendors. Learn how to bargain and understand their money. I enjoyed Marrakesh and definitely want to go back there! My recommendation to Morocco Tours is to communicate more up front. Provide names of hotels, tour guide, phone numbers and changes ahead of time. More communication!!! Again, we LOVE Hamid!!!

Regions in Morocco

• Sahara Desert (281)
• Central Morocco (193)
• Northern Morocco (124)
• Atlas Mountains (105)
• High Atlas (97)
• Mount Toubkal (52)
• Atlantic Coast Morocco (25)
• Jebel Toubkal Trek (22)
• Southern Morocco (5)

Travel Styles

• Fully Guided
• Morocco Travel Guide | All You Need to Know
• Best 10 Morocco Vacation Packages 2024/2025

House Tour: Moroccan Influence

We’ve always loved a little Moroccan flavor. But if you think Moroccan always has to mean bright colors and patterns, it’s time to take a second look. If you’d love a taste of Morocco but prefer a more subdued palette, take a peek at this beautiful home in Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles designed by  Shayelyn Woodbery  . You’ll never think of Moroccan style in the same way again!

We hope your Wednesday is wonderful!

Shayelyn Woodbery Interiors | Emily Followill Photography | Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles| Inman Park

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Filed Under: House Tour , Uncategorized

Tagged With: animal print , Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles , Moroccan style , Morocco , pendant lighting , Shayelyn Woodbery , soaking tub , statement lighting , tortoise mirror

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What a gorgeous home! I love the neutral colors and touches of metallic in each room.

Subdued Moroccan what a great design. Great details and use of textures.and lightings. xo Patty

Love the subtle moroccan influences in these spaces!

Really SPEAKS to me…luv “Atlanta Homes!!” franki

JUST BEAUTIFUL! Love the feel of this home. A lot of positive chi happening there!

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An Intimate Look Inside Yves Saint Laurent’s Private Marrakech Home

Marian McEvoy, who has visited YSL's famed Villa Oasis 45 times since the 1970s, takes us inside the couturier's iconic villa.

I have had gobs of good luck during my 70 (yikes!) years, but houseguesting within the confines of the Majorelle Garden rates right up there with stellar friendships, intense romance, a gratifying career, and the delights of owning a small, white house with a big, wet view

From 1975 until now, I’ve traveled 45 times to this florid, mysterious, impossibly exotic, and assiduously maintained North African compound, owned and made famous by the late French couturier Yves Saint Laurent.

Hidden within the hustle of urban Marrakech (Morocco’s fabled “pink city”), the Majorelle Garden—along with 
its colorful, multifaceted crown jewel, the Villa Oasis—is a world-class landmark. The backstory of the Majorelle compound is a Franco-American saga revolving around six gifted and visionary men: French Orientalist painter and plant collector Jacques Majorelle; legendary rebel fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent; YSL’s partner in life and business, the feisty French industrialist, collector, and philanthropist Pierre Bergé; cool, sophisticated French decorator Jacques Grange; salty, stylish bohemian American expat and architect Bill Willis; and publicity-shy powerhouse American garden designer Madison Cox.

In 1923, Majorelle bought the property that became the core of the six acres that comprise the compound today. Starting then, and throughout the 1930s, he constructed the home known as Villa Oasis. It was his choice to paint the house a vibrating shade of blue, and to plant the grounds with an eccentric array of shrubs, vines, and trees, which he both gathered locally and brought back from his frequent travels.The son of the acclaimed French furniture designer Louis Majorelle, Jacques is best known for his realist oil paintings depicting the native peoples and landscapes of North Africa. But he was also skilled in the colorful, curvy style of Art Nouveau decorative arts. Several of the hand-painted doors and a console he created have been successfully preserved in Villa Oasis’s entry hall and grand salon.

Majorelle opened a large section of the garden to the public in 1947. When Saint Laurent and Bergé bought the property in 1980, they continued this democratic policy. An estimated 850,000 people visited the Majorelle Garden last year. What they did not get to see is what’s pictured on these pages—the private side of Majorelle.

Discreetly connected through several locked wooden doors, Majorelle’s public and private domains are equally lush, shot with color, poetic, and amazingly well cared for. Both are tucked behind thickets of tall bamboo. One is less crowded.

While they were alive, Saint Laurent and Bergé, who died last year, worked with architect Bill Willis to transform the original painting studio into a Berber museum. They also constructed a café/restaurant, a bookshop, and a gift shop that is impossible to leave with just one handbag, shawl, or hand towel. Garden designer Madison Cox helped to restore all the existing pavilions, balustrades, rills, ponds, platforms, and paths, while also adding new ones. Grass was replaced with less thirsty crushed red gravel. Today, there are staff offices as well as a commissary and showers for the property’s gardening staff.

Meanwhile, back at the Oasis, the only beings one might run into are a flock of delicate gray doves or nesting sparrows, along with the many extended families of frogs and fish whose home is the pond surrounding the villa’s main pavilion. Cooing, chirping, croaking, and splashing does seem a perfect background soundtrack to the Muslim call to prayer.

Life at Villa Oasis was not always this tranquil. When Saint Laurent and Bergé were in residence, there was plenty of social action. Marella Agnelli, Betty and François Catroux, Bernard-Henri Lévy, and Loulou de la Falaise and her husband, Thadée Klossowski, were frequent guests at the lunches, teas, cocktail parties, and dinners hosted by the couple. So was Jacques Grange, who decorated the rooms inside the two-story villa, and Willis, who renovated and/or built from scratch many of its walls, windows, staircases, ceilings, fountains, terraces, and floors. The architect also designed the Majorelle’s much-photographed white stucco–and–glazed green tile pavilion, which became party central in the warmer months when the moon, moonflowers, and hundreds of blinking lanterns appeared.

In winter, the intricately tiled fireplaces blazed for drinks in the grand and blue salons; dinner in the Russian-themed dining room; coffee, tea, and nightcaps in the densely detailed Moorish library; and dancing in the large, square entry hall. Flagrant/fragrant yellow, red, pink, orange, and white roses picked from the villa’s gardens filled vases. Musicians, cooks, and wait- staff were dressed in tailored Moroccan garb designed by Saint Laurent.

Everything here was always impeccably choreographed: sumptuous, sometimes simple, always colorful, but never glitzy.

Left: The headboard is hand-carved and hand-painted to match the space, and the floor is in green marble. Right: In Saint Lauren’s bedroom, the walls, ceiling, and shutters are hand-decorated in red, black and gold. The antique bench came from Château de Ferrières, Baron Guy and Marie-Hélène de Rothschild’s Henri Samuel-restored former home outside Paris. The armchairs, covered in Persian rugs, and the French crystal chandelier are from the 19th century, and the rug is a 17th-century Isfahan.

Bergé was, and will forever be, Villa Oasis’s last resident. Cox, who is president of the Fondation Pierre Bergé–Yves Saint Laurent in Paris and also president of the Fondation Jardin Majorelle, has now decided to unite the three acres of off-limits Majorelle with the three acres of currently accessible Majorelle next door. Cox, who is Bergé’s widower and was a close friend of the YSL clan for 40 years, plans to start to fuse the private with the public realms of the property next year. (He will also transform an adjacent Majorelle residential structure, Dar Es Saada, into a library and research center.)

The current roster of nearly 200 Majorelle employees will be expanded. There are plans to conduct small tours through Villa Oasis’s interior. The pristine, red-tinted concrete paths will now be used by hundreds of thousands of curious visitors as opposed to dozens of insider houseguests.

Yves Saint Laurent established his aesthetic mark via expensive, one-of-a-kind couture clothes, but his legacy is largely based on affordable, mass-produced, ready-to- wear fashions. So it is with the designer’s beloved Villa Oasis: Here amid the gardens and flowers, the future is inclusive.

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Moroccan House Hotel

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• Excellent 159
• Very Good 299
• Average 139
• Terrible 40
• All languages ( 699 )
• English ( 489 )
• French ( 67 )
• Dutch ( 46 )

" Reserve your spot at the lounge early and if possible, ahead of time. "

" Compare different internet sites, price different very much for the same trip "

" There are so many good and bad hotels in Marrakech. Choose carefully. Do your research. "

" There are quiet hours. "

" Rooms overlooking the pool are quieter as opposite side from the road "

Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.

MOROCCAN HOUSE HOTEL - Updated 2024 Reviews, Photos & Prices

Moroccan House Hotel

View prices for your travel dates

• Excellent 159
• Very Good 299
• Average 139
• Terrible 40
• All languages ( 699 )
• English ( 489 )
• French ( 67 )
• Dutch ( 46 )

" Reserve your spot at the lounge early and if possible, ahead of time. "

" Compare different internet sites, price different very much for the same trip "

" There are so many good and bad hotels in Marrakech. Choose carefully. Do your research. "

" There are quiet hours. "

" Rooms overlooking the pool are quieter as opposite side from the road "

Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.

MOROCCAN HOUSE HOTEL $35 ($̶4̶3̶) - Updated 2024

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A History of Moscow in 13 Dishes

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Memories of the Russian Empire Free Walking Tour

Overview of the tour in Moscow

This walking tour is for those who want insight to the vast legacy of the Russian Empire that brought to the world great artists and scientists, painters and architects whose masterpieces, unlike their creators, miraculously escaped the horrors and disasters of the October Revolution. During our walk, you will see beautiful buildings and mansions of various architectural styles that have become an embodiment of its owners' success and zest for life. In addition, you will get to know why there was an attempt to blow up a monument of Peter the Great and which historical building was saved in the last minute by passionate soviet people. While the Kremlin, Red Square, and even Stalin's Moscow are crowded with foreign visitors, the places of interest that are proposed on this tour are mainly unknown to the average tourist. So, let's change this order of things.

This activity includes:

• The House of Derozhinskaia
• The Isakov’s apartment building
• The white palace on Prechistenska street
• The Kekusheva’s mansion
• Peter the Great Statue
• Red October
• Cathedral of Christ the Saviour
• Other historical buildings

Things to note

- Please, take appropriate to the weather clothes. - I also insist, especially in winter time, on filling your stomach with something traditional and tasty before our walk, don't forget to take snacks ;-) - I will be holding or reading e book with blue cover.

Free Cancellation

You are free to cancel a booking anytime. We kindly remind you to cancel bookings you cannot arrive for. Being reported as absent decreases your customer level points and the benefits you can enjoy.

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