From US$315, inclusive of breakfast
– The double doors (glass and wood) meant I (finally!) slept through the 4:30 a.m. call to prayer
– Difficult to decide where to lounge : in which garden courtyard or by which pool, or under the pergola, in the solarium, the library ….
It is easy to find La Sultana — one of the only medina area hotels that not only has a sign but a formal entranceway befitting a hotel of its stature. A car can take you within a few meters of the front door, another rarity in the medina.
But once you’re inside this sumptuous hotel, it can be a little tricky not to get lost! However, this is one of La Sultana’s delights.
You wander from courtyard to sitting room to pool to staircase to another pool. It is only when you’re on the giant (1500 square meters) terrace — it covers each of the five buildings that make up this 28-room hotel — that you can start to piece together how everything connects. If you want to get from A to B, rather than just explore the beautiful decor, there are helpful staff everywhere who will happily point you in the right direction or even take you where you’d like to go.
The hotel has abundant facilities and services, including several pools, a gym, even a cooking class. Meals are served by the main pool (heated) or on the terrace with its panoramic views (weather dependent). La Sultana’s chefs serve a menu with Moroccan, Asian and western influences. The spa is very popular with hotel guests and other visitors to Marrakech. It has three hammam rooms, three massage rooms, a pool, sauna, balneotherapy room, and several areas for making you feel relaxed and beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed my Moroccan scrub.
Decor at La Sultana is opulent. In the public areas, the marble, zellige (mosaic) tiles, stained glass, carved plaster and wood, arches and chandeliers all come together to make you feel like you’re in a palace. Your eyes won’t know where to stop.
Suites and rooms are also full of colour and pattern. Mine, the tiger suite, even had paintings and carvings of the striped cat. Amenities included a fireplace, television with DVD/CD player, iPod station (30-pin), minibar (inclusive of soft drinks), safe and wifi. My bathroom, with heated marble floors, had several different areas, two copper sinks and an immense sculpted tub.
La Sultana is a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World and of Great Hotels of the World, so you can expect everything to be done right. There’s a sister hotel with 11 rooms in Oualidia on Morocco’s Atlantic coast.
