Need to know
Rooms
18, including nine suites.
Check–Out
Noon, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 2pm (9am if the room’s free).
More details
Rates include traditional Moroccan breakfast. You can rent the entire riad for €3,000–€4,000 a night.
Also
Palais Amani’s spa provides facials, massages, gommage and, of course, hammam treatments. In summer and autumn, treatments take place in a rooftop pergola, looking out over the city. The assorted unguents employed are made using unique-to-Morocco argan oil from the gardens of Ourika.
At the hotel
Spa with hammam, gardens, library of books and DVDs, and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: sound system with preloaded iPod, air-con, and all-natural aromatic bath products. Most have flatscreen TVs.
Our favourite rooms
Room 12 is the Grand Suite, a sprawling swathe of hotel eye candy, occupying an entire wing of the first floor. Stained-glass windows look out onto the garden, and the bedroom (with – count them – two walk-in wardrobes) has grab-your-easel views over the desert to the hills. For opulence at a smaller price tag, the Mezzanine Suites are adorned with original artworks and have an intimate apartment feel.
Poolside
There’s no pool at Palais Amani, but staff will happily direct you to one nearby, and the rooftop showers (not to mention the fountain in the courtyard) can provide emergency relief in high summer.
Packing tips
Trainers for tramping the mountains. Even though there’s no pool, bring swimwear, so you can sunbathe on the roof and nip into the outdoor shower when it gets too hot.
Also
Smoking is allowed on the roof terrace and in the gardens.
Children
Welcome. Free cots, extra beds (€65 a night for over-3s) and highchairs are available, and the kitchen can rustle up child-friendly meals on request. Babysitters are available, though they don't speak English (€20 for three hours, book a day ahead).
Sustainability efforts
Solar panels have been installed, the spa exclusively uses organic products, and wherever possible, kitchen ingredients come straight from the garden or the local area.