A Day at the Royal Mansour
"Is this the place you want to check out?" I had seen a picture of the spa lobby on Instagram and tagged my friend.
"Yes! That's the one!" I'm not sure, but there may have been a stream of happy-face emotions that followed.
And so, my friend Ivette and I went to Morocco to celebrate the new year. While we planned many activities, one of the most memorable experiences was spending a day at the Royal Mansour, a luxury hotel in Marrakech. The resort property is a 5 star luxury hotel and spa with private riads and fine dining. It was perfect timing because the hotel was still sporting it's festive holiday decoration.
We arrived at 10 a.m. at the grand entrance gate, where after taking several pictures on the cobblestone driveway, we passed through a small, side gate through security. Once in the courtyard, we again took pictures of a central, shrubbery landscape decked with colors of pink, white and gold.
The courtyard shrubbery of the Royal Mansour.
I loved the soft colors of their decorations - it's different from the usual holiday colors in New York (we tend to go for red and green colors with an accent of gold or silver). When I took a closer look at the decorations, I realized that this could easily be recreated at home and would be beautiful accents for that perfect party. A lot of these items can be bought a the local craft store. And these lanterns are readily available at any home furniture store.
The Spa lobby at Royal Mansour.
After checking in, we were brought to our Spa Suite. We wanted to have a place to relax in between treatments and this seemed like a more comfortable alternative to the locker room (even though the locker room was quite nice too). Our suite had a private hammam, two treatment beds, our very own indoor/outdoor plunge pool, lounge (with TV) and terrace. In addition, we still had access to other areas of the spa including the full length pool, the sauna and the tea room lounge. My friend and I did the hammam treatment, as well as a massage and facial using products from marocMaroc, the first luxury cosmetic brand from Morocco. During our treatments we played music from The Four Seasons by Vivialdi - so relaxing!
I recorded a tour of our Spa Suite but please forgive my appearance - I just came back from the desert and was in dire need of some rest and relaxation!
After our Spa day, we explored what we could of the Royal Mansour, from the orange groves to the winding pathways to the different riads. We learned that Royal Mansou only has riads (no hotel rooms) which are three floors: the first two floors are living quarters and the third level is a rooftop terrace. However, what impressed me the most was a stunning entrance hall, still decked in holiday glam. My friend and I decided we would love to come back to Royal Mansour, if only for one night!
The stunning entrance of the Royal Mansour, decorated for the holidays.
Happy New Year everyone! I wish you all good health, much wealth and many reasons to gather with friends and family throughout the year!
