Fairmont Royal Palm Marrakech

Fairmont Royal Palm Marrakech is a resort of 135 rooms, suites and villas on a 231-hectare estate in an old olive grove 12 km south-west of the city, on the Route d'Amizmiz, with the High Atlas on the horizon to the south. It opened in December 2013 as the Royal Palm and has been run by Fairmont since 2017. The estate holds an 18-hole championship course by Cabell B. Robinson, a 3,500 m² spa built like a modern riad, four restaurants, two bars, tennis and padel courts and a 1,500 m² fitness centre.

The rooms are large from the first rung. The Deluxe Rooms are 72 m², with a lounge corner, a marble bathroom with beijmat floors and a terrace or balcony over the gardens or towards the Atlas. The Junior Suites add space to 86 m² and take up to four, with a lounge; the Garden View opens straight onto the gardens, the Atlas View onto a terrace facing the golf course and the mountains. The Family Suite has two bedrooms, two bathrooms and two terraces in 124 m², and the Prince Villas and the Penthouse Suite have private pools.

The family case is the water and the club. The main pool is 100 metres long and 2,000 m², heated to 28°C, with a shallow children's zone, in front of the main building and facing the Atlas; the hotel calls it the largest pool in Marrakech. The Kids' Club is free for ages 3 to 12, open from 9 am to 6 pm in 500 m² with a tree house, a playground, workshops in pottery, calligraphy and painting, walks to the hotel farm and its own restaurant for lunch and dinner. Under-3s have a free baby room with a parent or nanny, babysitters can be booked a day ahead, and there is a nurse on site. Resident children aged 5 and under eat free with their parents, and children aged 6 to 12 pay half price in most restaurants.

The trade is distance and price. Jemaa el-Fna is a 20-minute drive, so the Medina is an outing by the free shuttle, a taxi or a hotel car rather than a stroll, and dinner out means the same drive back. The spa and the fitness centre are for over-18s, and meals and drinks carry resort prices. Book it for a winter-sun week in which children have a club and a heated pool every day, parents have golf, tennis and a spa, and the souks are a morning trip; take a Junior Suite Atlas View for the terrace and the mountains.