Royal Mansour Marrakech
Marrakech, Morocco
A private-riad hotel just outside Marrakech’s Medina walls, built as a medina within the city, with around fifty-three individual riads.
Read the full verdictCompareMarrakech
Side by sideRoyal Mansour Marrakech vsAmanjena
Overall, Royal Mansour Marrakech is the stronger stay.
Royal Mansour Marrakech leads on dining (+4), wellness (+3.5), rooms & design (+2) and location (+2). Level on service.
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Amanjena
Marrakech, Morocco · Aman
A secluded Aman resort in Marrakech’s Palmeraie, built around reflecting pools and pisé-walled pavilions outside the medina.
Read the full verdictHow they score
Out of 20. The bars start at 10, so half a point still shows.
Overall+1.5
Overall: Royal Mansour Marrakech 18 out of 20, Amanjena 16.5 out of 20.ServiceLevelWhy
Service: Royal Mansour Marrakech 18 out of 20, Amanjena 18 out of 20.
Royal Mansour Marrakech: Butlers like Taoufiq and Fathallah get singled out for round-the-clock attentiveness, but housekeeping lapses and a slow-to-apologize incident recur.
Rooms & Design+2Why
Rooms & Design: Royal Mansour Marrakech 19.5 out of 20, Amanjena 17.5 out of 20.
Royal Mansour Marrakech: Fifty-three private riads with courtyards, plunge pools and tunnels that keep staff out of sight set a design bar almost nobody else in the city touches.
Amanjena: Rose-hued pisé walls, reflecting pools and palm-lined courtyards win people over, though several 2025 stays flagged pavilions as dated despite renovation.
Location+2Why
Location: Royal Mansour Marrakech 18 out of 20, Amanjena 16 out of 20.
Royal Mansour Marrakech: A short walk from the Medina and souks but silent behind its gates, guests repeatedly describe stepping from chaos into total calm.
Amanjena: Set apart in the Palmeraie outside Marrakech, prized for total quiet but requiring a driver for the medina and souks.
Dining+4Why
Dining: Royal Mansour Marrakech 18 out of 20, Amanjena 14 out of 20.
Royal Mansour Marrakech: The Moroccan restaurant’s seafood pastilla and Friday couscous draw the most specific praise, though afternoon tea service has slipped on busier days.
Amanjena: The Italian restaurant Arva gets singled out as the best meal of the trip; the Moroccan restaurant is loved for atmosphere but food is called average.
Wellness+3.5Why
Wellness: Royal Mansour Marrakech 18.5 out of 20, Amanjena 15 out of 20.
Royal Mansour Marrakech: The hammam, indoor pool and Forbes-rated spa are called the best in Marrakech by repeat guests, though booking the spa by phone can be a fight.
Amanjena: The hammam and spa treatments are called relaxing, but multiple 2026 guests found the space outdated with a fungus complaint in one shower.
Strengths and trade-offs
Royal Mansour Marrakech
Amanjena
Strengths
- Each guest gets a private three or four-story riad rather than a room, with a butler reachable by phone
- Underground tunnels let staff move unseen, so housekeeping carts never appear in the courtyards
- The hammam and spa are repeatedly called the best in Marrakech, even by guests who’ve been going to rival spas for years
- A short walk from the Medina and souks but completely silent once inside the gates
- The Moroccan restaurant’s seafood pastilla and Friday couscous draw specific, repeated praise
Strengths
- Staff learn guest names and preferences within a day and follow through without prompting
- Pool pavilions offer real privacy with private plunge pools and courtyards
- The Italian restaurant Arva is consistently called the best meal on property
- Genuinely quiet, low-density grounds set apart from Marrakech’s chaos
- Excursions like the Atlas Mountains hike and vintage sidecar ride are well organized
Trade-offs
- Booking spa appointments by phone or WhatsApp can be a genuine ordeal, especially for non-guests
- Service can tip into polished-but-impersonal, and a few guests specifically used the word soulless
- Housekeeping and small operational details (itineraries, room service counts, timely apologies) slip more than the price suggests they should
Trade-offs
- Spa and hammam are dated, with at least one report of a fungus issue in a shower
- Room renovations are inconsistent, so some villas still run wifi and hot water problems
- The property has occasionally closed key facilities (restaurant, spa, main pool) with little advance warning
- Food outside Arva is unremarkable for the price, especially breakfast and the Moroccan restaurant’s kitchen
Where they differ
Only at Royal Mansour Marrakech
Only at Amanjena
The verdicts
Royal Mansour Marrakech
Four nights here costs what a week costs most places, and what arrives is your own three-story riad: a private courtyard, a living room, a plunge pool on the roof, and a butler who moves through a tunnel system so you never see a housekeeping cart. That's not a room upgrade, it's a different way of staying in a city. Guests who've done Amanjena and the Mandarin Oriental in the same trip still put this one first, and the reason is almost always the same: the craftsmanship is handmade, commissioned, and everywhere you look, from the tiling to the fountains.
Amanjena
Amanjena is the quiet Marrakech Aman, built around reflecting pools, pisé walls and enough distance from the medina that outside of breakfast you might not see another guest. That isolation is the whole pitch, and it delivers: guests describe walking the grounds at dusk with nobody around, staff who learn names within a day, and a level of anticipation that shows up in small things, like a team sourcing superglue at midnight or setting up satellite cable for a tennis final within minutes of being asked. The service is the reason people keep coming back, and it's consistent enough across stays years apart that it reads as house culture rather than luck.
Still torn between Royal Mansour Marrakech and Amanjena?
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It's just the two of us, so we take on a handful of trips at a time. If we're full, we'll say so. We reply within a working day. The hotel pays us, not you: your rate is the same as booking direct, and the perks come on top.
What fat travellers ask
Which should I book — Royal Mansour Marrakech or Amanjena?
Royal Mansour Marrakech: The Moroccan restaurant’s seafood pastilla and Friday couscous draw the most specific praise. Amanjena: Rose-hued pisé walls, reflecting pools and palm-lined courtyards win people over. Overall, Royal Mansour Marrakech is the stronger stay.
What’s the difference between Royal Mansour Marrakech and Amanjena?
Royal Mansour Marrakech is ahead on the food. Royal Mansour Marrakech adds Urban and Culinary; Amanjena adds Desert. Both are tagged Heritage, Architecture, Wellness, Romantic and Moroccan Design.
Which is better for dining, Royal Mansour Marrakech or Amanjena?
Royal Mansour Marrakech leads on this. Royal Mansour Marrakech: The Moroccan restaurant’s seafood pastilla and Friday couscous draw the most specific praise, though afternoon tea service has slipped on busier days. Amanjena: The Italian restaurant Arva gets singled out as the best meal of the trip; the Moroccan restaurant is loved for atmosphere but food is called average.
Which is better for wellness, Royal Mansour Marrakech or Amanjena?
Royal Mansour Marrakech leads on this. Royal Mansour Marrakech: The hammam, indoor pool and Forbes-rated spa are called the best in Marrakech by repeat guests, though booking the spa by phone can be a fight. Amanjena: The hammam and spa treatments are called relaxing, but multiple 2026 guests found the space outdated with a fungus complaint in one shower.
Where are Royal Mansour Marrakech and Amanjena?
Both are in Marrakech, about 6.4 km apart — close enough that the choice is the hotel, not the neighbourhood.
How does Fat Voyage compare Royal Mansour Marrakech and Amanjena?
Fat Voyage scores every hotel out of 20 across five dimensions — service, rooms & design, location, dining and wellness — read from the trip reports in the most active luxury travel communities, critics’ reviews and verified guest reviews, with the long, detailed and recent ones counting most. Nothing is paid for, and no hotel can buy a place.