City Hotel
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
9.5
Rosewood Hong Kong
A vertical estate on the Kowloon waterfront whose art-filled interiors, harbour-view rooms and formidable dining set Hong Kong's current standard.
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City Hotel · £££££
La Mamounia
Marrakech, Morocco — Africa
9.1Editorial score
Editorial research. Profiled through in-depth editorial research; Browntravels has not yet stayed at this property. How we review
Marrakech's legendary 1923 palace hotel, wrapped in centuries-old royal gardens, Art Deco-Moorish interiors and Churchill-era glamour.
La Mamounia opened in 1923 inside royal gardens gifted centuries earlier to a Saadian prince, and its blend of Art Deco lines and Moorish ornament has seduced travellers ever since—Churchill famously wintered here to paint the Atlas light. Recent renovations by Parisian designers refreshed the patina without disturbing the essential theatre: lantern-lit corridors, scented courtyards, and that first framed view down the garden axis to the Koutoubia.
Rooms and suites layer marquetry, leather and zellige in chocolate-and-red warmth; garden-facing balconies are the ones to request, with the snow-capped Atlas rising beyond the olive groves in winter. The gardens themselves—eight hectares of citrus, cacti and 700-year-old olives—remain the property's soul, circled by a jogging path and dotted with pavilions.
Dining brings name-chef Italian and pan-Asian rooms alongside grand Moroccan tradition, while the tea ritual on the garden terrace is a Marrakech institution. The spa's mosaic-domed pools and hammams are showpieces. Busier and more social than its younger rival across town, La Mamounia trades on history, scent and spectacle—and still delivers all three.
Why stay here
- A century of Marrakech legend within royal gardens
- Eight hectares of ancient olives and citrus
- Showpiece spa with mosaic-domed indoor pool
- Name-chef dining plus grand Moroccan tradition
Things to consider
- A social, buzzing atmosphere rather than hushed seclusion
- Standard rooms feel compact beside the garden suites
Rooms & Suites
209 rooms, suites and garden riads in warm Moorish-Deco style; garden-view balconies with Atlas panoramas are the essential request.
Dining
Celebrated Italian and Asian rooms from a star French chef, a grand Moroccan restaurant and the famous garden-terrace tea pavilion.
Spa & Wellness
An opulent spa with traditional hammams, a mosaic-domed indoor pool, and a large heated garden pool amid the olive trees.
The Browntravels Verdict
The grande dame of North Africa: choose it for gardens, glamour and a living sense of Marrakech's golden-age mystique.
Last updated 5 August 2026
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