Renting a Private Palace or Estate in Marrakech

Renting a private palace or estate in Marrakech means taking a whole property, with its staff, for your group alone: no other guests, no reception desk, your own pool, gardens and dining room. Around Marrakech the estates we rent sleep roughly 20 to 44 people in 11 to 22 bedrooms, and published starting prices run from €3,000 to €6,250 a night, which works out at about €75 to €165 per guest per night when every room is shared.

What exclusive use of an estate means

Exclusive use is the difference between booking twenty hotel rooms and owning the hotel for a week. You rent every bedroom, every lounge and the whole garden, and the staff work for your group only. Nobody else is at breakfast, the pool is yours at midnight, and the dining room seats your whole party at one table.

In practice, the estates around Marrakech are built like small private hotels: suites or garden villas, each with its own bathroom, gathered around a large pool, one or more lounges, a hammam or spa, and grounds of one to fifteen hectares. Most are outside the city, between 10 and 45 minutes from the centre, which is what buys the space and the quiet.

Exclusive use suits occasions where the group itself is the point: a 50th or 60th birthday, a family reunion across three generations, a wedding weekend, a company retreat or a board offsite. For groups of 10 to 20, a large villa is usually enough: see large villas for 10 to 20 people. Beyond 20, an estate is often the only way to keep everyone under one roof.

Seven estates for 20 to 44 guests

All facts below come from each estate’s page in our catalogue. Bedroom counts are as listed; guest numbers assume two people per bedroom, and some estates can add beds or extra units on request.

Palais Melody: 21 bedrooms, 6.5 hectares

A composite of buildings at the foot of the Atlas in Sidi Abdellah Ghiat: a kasbah, a hammam and caidal tents alongside a modern villa with stained glass and design furniture, in 65,000 m² of rose gardens, orchards, orange groves and bamboo. The walls carry African art and paintings by Moroccan artists, and the estate has a cinema room. It is about 45 minutes from the centre and 40 from the airport, the most secluded of the group.

• Bedrooms21
• From€5,900 a night
• To the centre45 min

Olive Palace: 20 suites in a 15-hectare olive grove

Twenty private suites of 70 to 100 m², each with a fireplace, terrace and garden, spread through an olive grove in Ouled Hassoune with views of the Atlas and the Jbilet hills. A 28-metre infinity pool (heated on request), a spa and chefs who cook with vegetables from the estate’s organic garden. Its page states that it organises weddings and birthday parties, with the coordination they require. 35 minutes from the centre.

• Bedrooms20
• From€6,250 a night
• To the centre35 min

Villa Savannah: 22 rooms, 10 minutes from the medina

The closest estate to town, in the Palmeraie on 18,000 m², with more than 60 works of art. Accommodation ranges from 35 m² deluxe rooms with terraces to an independent villa of over 110 m² with its own pool and garden. Spa with hammams, massage rooms and a 6-metre jacuzzi, a gym, a clay tennis court, and a chef who serves Moroccan or international cuisine by the pool, in the restaurants, in the Berber tent or in your suite.

• Bedrooms22
• From€4,800 a night
• To the medina10 min

Domaine Beldi: 20 bedrooms, the most sporting

On the Route de Ouarzazate, 30 minutes from the centre: twelve suites, an apartment with three double bedrooms and a separate five-bedroom villa with its own pool, which makes it easy to give a family branch or the hosts some independence. Two more outdoor pools, a clay tennis court, a pétanque court, billiards, ping-pong and table football. Car rental, chauffeurs, a babysitter and traditional Moroccan evenings can be arranged.

• Bedrooms20
• From€3,000 a night
• To the centre30 min

Villa Athena: 14 suites with a full staff

On the Route d’Amizmiz, 25 minutes from downtown and 10 from the nearest golf course: two executive suites, three junior suites with Atlas views, a presidential suite with a balcony over the pool, and deluxe rooms with private terraces. A full staff, and a spa with a heated hammam and individual and couples’ massage rooms. Best for 20 to 28 guests.

• Bedrooms14
• From€3,500 a night
• To the centre25 min

Palais Mauresque: 11 units for the smaller celebration

An Indo-Moorish palace of 1,700 m² with 4-metre ceilings in a two-hectare walled garden in Ouled Hassoune: a 180 m² pool, two 35-metre canals with fountains, a Grand Salon for 20, an 18-seat dining room, a meeting room, a bar, a rooftop sunset lounge and a marble hammam for up to eight. Two optional garden villas each take up to three adults. A permanent staff of five is led by a chef, with a guardian and a gardener.

• Units11 (+2 optional villas)
• From€3,600 a night
• To the centre30 min

Ezzahra Estate: four villas, one gate

A 20,000 m² estate in the Palmeraie with four villas, each with its own pool and garden: Ezzahra and its pavilion (14 guests), Azzaytouna (6), Alkhozama (4) and Azeer (3, adapted for reduced mobility). In all, 13 rooms for up to 26 guests, a staff of 24, a conference room, cinema, spa, gym and padel. Its rates include dishes from the menu, soft drinks, laundry, massages and beauty treatments, a guided tour of the medina and airport transfers. See Ezzahra Estate.

• Rooms13 in 4 villas
• Guestsup to 26
• Pricedper stay or per day, by guest number

Cost per guest per night, worked out

Estate prices are quoted for the whole property, which makes them look large until you divide them. The table takes each estate’s published starting price and divides it by two guests per bedroom, then by 30 guests for the larger estates. These are floors, not quotes: rates rise in peak periods, and staff, meals and extras vary from one estate to another.

Ezzahra Estate is sold as all-inclusive stays rather than at a nightly rate, with treatments, menu meals and transfers included, and its prices are published in pounds sterling: Ezzahra and its pavilion from £14,550 for 8 guests or £23,065 for 14 guests for three nights (about £549 per guest per night at 14), and £42,675 for 14 guests for seven nights (about £435). Its three smaller villas are priced by the day, from £1,500 (Azeer, 2 or 3 guests) to £3,200 (Azzaytouna, 5 or 6 guests). Details on the Ezzahra Estate page. That inclusive model is worth remembering when you compare it with a nightly rate.

Staff, chefs and catering

Every estate in this guide is staffed, but the model differs. Palais Mauresque lists a permanent team of five plus a guardian and a gardener; Villa Athena a full staff; Olive Palace and Villa Savannah chefs; Ezzahra Estate a dedicated staff of 24. The pages for Palais Melody and Domaine Beldi list a concierge (and, at Beldi, a guardian), so ask us exactly who looks after the house and the kitchen there. What is included in the nightly price (breakfast, daily cleaning, meals, drinks) is set estate by estate, and we confirm it in writing with each quote.

For meals, the usual pattern is breakfast at the estate, lunches by the pool and a mix of dinners in and out. Chefs cook Moroccan dishes and international menus; for a large dinner, a gala or a wedding, the estate’s own kitchen or an outside caterer may be used, depending on the property. A good rule is to ask early which option the estate prefers and whether a corkage or kitchen fee applies. What a staffed rental generally covers: what a fully staffed villa includes.

Staff gratuities are customary in Morocco and are usually left at the end of the stay for the whole team.

Weddings, birthdays, reunions and retreats

Staying at an estate and holding an event there are two separate questions. Sleeping 40 people is one thing; adding 120 guests for an evening, a band and a dance floor is another, and each owner sets their own rules on guest numbers, music, finishing times and suppliers. We ask the owner before we quote, so tell us at the start what you plan.

• Milestone birthdays: a long dinner under the olive trees, music on the terrace, a hammam the next morning. Olive Palace’s page states that it hosts birthday parties; see also a birthday in a private villa.
• Family reunions: look for separate units so each branch has its own space, such as the five-bedroom villa at Domaine Beldi or the four villas of Ezzahra Estate, plus a pool shallow enough for children.
• Weddings: Olive Palace organises weddings; for other estates, ask us. Start with planning a villa wedding in Marrakech and, for a legal ceremony, the legal steps for foreign couples.
• Company retreats: Palais Mauresque has a meeting room and Ezzahra Estate a conference room; Villa Savannah is 10 minutes from town for dinners out. Our corporate retreat planning guide covers the rest.

The estates that accept events are grouped on our villas for events page.

How to compare estates

Once the shortlist is down to two or three, the decision usually turns on a handful of practical points rather than photographs.

• Bedroom mix: how many true doubles, twins and suites, and whether children can share or extra beds can be added.
• Distance: Villa Savannah is 10 minutes from the medina; Palais Melody 45. With 40 people, every outing needs minibuses, so an estate further out works best for groups that will mostly stay put.
• Shared spaces: one dining table for everyone, a lounge large enough for a speech, shade for lunch in summer, a heated pool in winter (Olive Palace heats on request).
• What the price includes: breakfast, meals, drinks, daily cleaning, transfers. Ezzahra Estate includes much of this; others charge meals separately.
• Event rules: outside guests, music, finishing times, caterers and any event fee, confirmed in writing before you pay a deposit.
• Contract terms: deposit, payment schedule and cancellation; see deposits, contracts and cancellation.

When to book, and a planning timeline

There are only a handful of estates of this size around Marrakech, and each can host one group at a time, so the best weeks go early, particularly in spring, autumn and over Christmas and New Year.

1. 9 to 12 months before

   Dates and shortlist

   Fix your dates and head count, and ask us for availability at two or three estates. For a wedding, start here.

2. 6 to 9 months before

   Confirm and sign

   Agree the price, inclusions and event rules in writing, pay the deposit and allocate rooms.

3. 2 to 3 months before

   Plan the days

   Menus, transfers, excursions, any entertainment and a rough schedule for the group.

4. 2 weeks before

   Final numbers

   Flight times for the transfers, dietary needs, and a final guest list for the staff.

A short break in the medina between estate days is easy to arrange: Ezzahra Estate includes a guided tour of the medina, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and we can book guides for any group.

21 bedrooms · Sidi Abdellah GhiatPalais MelodyFrom €5,900 a night20 bedrooms · Ouled HassouneOlive PalaceFrom €6,250 a night22 bedrooms · PalmeraieVilla SavannahFrom €4,800 a night20 bedrooms · Route de OuarzazateDomaine BeldiFrom €3,000 a night

Exclusive use

Take the whole estate for your group

Tell us your dates, how many you are and the occasion. We check availability and event rules with the owners and reply with the estates that fit.

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Frequently asked questions

An estate turns a group trip into a house party with a staff of its own. If you have a date and a rough head count, send us your details and we will tell you which estates are free and what they allow.