Staying at Villa Dinari: a peaceful retreat just outside Marrakech

After three wonderful but tiring days on a Sahara tour – long drives, early starts and endless views -we were ready for a pause button. Three nights at Villa Dinari, just outside Marrakech, turned out to be exactly that.

Villa Dinari manages to pull off one of my favourite travel tricks: feeling wonderfully tucked away without being inconveniently far from everything. And after the Sahara, tucked away sounded excellent.

First impressions: immediate stress reduction

Well, almost immediate. I arrived with a slight problem. Somewhere between leaving our desert camp and arriving at Villa Dinari, I realised I had left my phone charger behind. Not just anywhere, obviously. Under a large pile of woollen blankets in the desert camp. Because if you’re going to lose something, you may as well make recovery as difficult as possible.

I mentioned this to one of our hosts, Abdel, who immediately went into problem-solving mode and somehow sorted it out with a level of calm competence I can only admire.

Actually, that turned out to be a bit of a theme throughout our stay. Everyone at Villa Dinari was incredibly kind and helpful without ever feeling over-the-top about it. Just quietly lovely people who seemed genuinely keen to make sure everyone was having a good time.

The rooms: stylish and comfortable

We stayed in a little house tucked away in the gardens and it immediately had the sort of atmosphere that makes you wonder whether checking out is strictly necessary. Waiting for us were robes, sun hats, complimentary water and a bottle of wine- all of which made us feel considerably more organised and glamorous than we actually are.

The room itself was beautiful, with thoughtful little details everywhere and enough space to properly unpack and stop living out of bags for a while. There was an inside seating area and a table with two chairs on a little outside terrace. After desert camps and road-trip living, this felt incredibly luxurious.

The heated pool: where plans quietly disappear

Villa Dinari has a heated pool surrounded by loungers and, unfortunately for productivity, it is very easy to settle in there and lose all sense of time. We did manage to get into Marrakech, do some things and see some sights, but we also spent considerable amounts of time just lying on a lounger in the sun or, in my case, swimming laps in the pool. Our final morning especially involved spending several hours doing very little beyond moving occasionally to maintain an acceptable sun-to-shade ratio.

You know those days where you think: “We should probably do something.” And then immediately think: “Or should we?”
That.

Dinner at Villa Dinari

Dinner and lunch were available at the villa (breakfast was included in our stay) and turned out to be one of those pleasantly simple arrangements where there isn’t a menu to agonise over. You eat what’s being served. Ordinarily I can spend an embarrassingly long time choosing food, so removing responsibility entirely was strangely relaxing.

The food was lovely and after days of travelling, sitting down somewhere quiet and being fed without making decisions felt exactly right. As for the food: think tagines, salads, grilled skewers and a steady stream of meze-style bites arriving at the table. The sort of meal where you confidently think “this should be enough” before discovering there is more.

The spa: an excellent final-day decision

On our final day we booked massages in the villa’s little spa and I can report that this was an extremely strong life choice. After several days of long drives and bouncing around on excursions, various parts of my body had started making small complaints every time I stood up.

The massage was amazing and I left feeling significantly less creaky than I arrived. We immediately undid much of this by heading straight back into the hustle and bustle of the Marrakech Medina, but for a brief and glorious period we felt wonderfully relaxed.

You can book couples massages as well as several other spa treatments, which feels dangerously tempting once you’ve spent a few hours by the pool doing absolutely nothing productive. By that point, adding “have someone fix my increasingly travel-worn body” to the itinerary starts to feel entirely reasonable. They’ll even heat up the hammam for you if you let staff know in time.

Getting around

Because Villa Dinari sits outside Marrakech, transport is worth thinking about. We didn’t have a car in Morocco so we had to rely either on public transport, or on somebody else to make arrangements for us. Fortunately, Villa Dinari organised taxi services for us both into Marrakech and later to the airport, which made everything wonderfully easy.

I appreciate any travel arrangement that removes the possibility of me standing somewhere looking confused. Unfortunately this still happened when we arranged to meet our driver at La Mamounia and I confidently led us to the Royal Mansour instead. Another 5,000 unnecessary steps later and Marc had still not so much as given me an exasperated look.

Good to know before you book

Villa Dinari regularly hosts retreats, including yoga and writers’ retreats. Neither yoga enthusiasts nor writers are generally known for wild party behaviour, but you may find yourself sharing the space with organised groups. Worth knowing if you prefer a more independent atmosphere.

There is a small shop selling clothes and Moroccan bits and pieces, plus courtesy bars both by the pool and in the restaurant area.

One practical note: the bathtub in our little house required a fairly determined climb and the shower was inside the bath itself. If you have limited mobility, I’d definitely check room details before booking.

Final thoughts

Marrakech is the kind of place that fills your camera roll very quickly. Villa Dinari feels more like the place where you finally sit down afterwards and take it all in.

And after several days of adventures, apparently what we needed most was a heated pool, a massage and somebody solving problems involving chargers buried under blankets in the desert.

If you book through this link, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

This wonderfully relaxing stay was part of our week-long Morocco holiday. If you want to know more about Morocca as a destination, read my Morocco travel guide.