Where to Stay for Golf in Marrakech: Hotels vs Riads

Marrakech gives golfers a choice no other Moroccan city offers: sleep on a golf estate with the course outside your window, in a five-star city hotel ten minutes from the medina walls, or inside a 200-year-old courtyard house down an alley you would never find alone. All three work. They simply produce very different weeks.

Here is how to choose, based on where the courses actually are and what a golf day looks like from each base.

The four areas golfers stay in Marrakech

Area	Character	Typical drive to courses	Best for
Amizmiz road (golf estates)	Resorts with their own course, mountain views	0–15 min to Fairmont Royal Palm, Assoufid, Samanah	Golf-first groups
Hivernage	Wide boulevards, five-star hotels, restaurants	15–25 min to most courses	The best all-rounder
Medina	Walled old city, riads, souks, Jemaa el-Fna	20–30 min	Couples, culture, shorter trips
Palmeraie	Palm grove, large all-inclusive resorts	25–40 min	Families and all-inclusive value

The distances are short by golf-holiday standards — nothing in this list is a long transfer. The real difference is what is outside the door when you finish your round.

Option 1: stay on a golf estate

If the point of the trip is golf, sleep on the golf. On the Amizmiz road, south-west of the city, a run of estates puts you minutes from the first tee.

Fairmont Royal Palm is the flagship: a deluxe five-star set in an olive-grove estate with its own Cabell Robinson championship course, framed by the Atlas Mountains. It is the most manicured golf resort in Morocco and the one we recommend when the trip needs to impress.

Park Hyatt Marrakech is the newest of the golf-resort options, with the same on-site convenience and a more contemporary feel.

Hotel du Golf by Pickalbatros is the value play: a five-star all-inclusive built for golfers, where food, drinks and the practice facilities are all covered in one price. For a group of eight playing five rounds, it is usually the cheapest way to do a serious golf week well.

What you gain: a 7am tee time that starts with a five-minute walk. Range access before breakfast. No transfer costs. What you give up: spontaneity. Dinner in Guéliz or the medina means a 20–30 minute drive each way.

Option 2: stay in Hivernage — the all-rounder

Hivernage is the modern hotel district between the medina walls and the Menara gardens, and it is where we base most golf groups who want both halves of Marrakech.

From here you are 15–20 minutes from Amelkis and Royal Golf Marrakech, around 20 minutes from Al Maaden, and 25–35 minutes from Assoufid and Samanah — while being a 15-minute walk from Jemaa el-Fna and a five-minute taxi from the restaurants of Guéliz.

Our regulars here:

• Naoura Barrière Hotel & Ryads — five-star deluxe against the medina walls, with private riad suites for groups who want their own courtyard and pool.
• Nobu Hotel Marrakech — the design-led choice, and the best hotel dinner in the city without leaving the building.
• Savoy Le Grand — a large, dependable five-star that handles golf groups smoothly: early breakfast, coach access, big pool.
• Les Jardins de la Koutoubia — five-star comfort a two-minute walk from the Koutoubia and the square.

What you gain: the whole city plus easy golf. Best compromise for mixed groups. What you give up: ten to fifteen minutes of extra driving each morning versus a golf estate.

Option 3: stay in a riad in the medina

A riad is a traditional house built inward around a courtyard garden, usually five to fifteen rooms, with a plunge pool below and a roof terrace above. Staying in one is the single most memorable part of a Marrakech trip for many golfers — and it needs a little planning.

Vehicles cannot reach most riad doors: the medina lanes are too narrow. Your driver parks at the nearest gate and a member of staff meets you, so allow an extra ten minutes at each end of the day. Breakfast in a small riad traditionally starts at 8am, which is why we request early or packed breakfasts as a matter of course for golfers.

Our picks for golfers:

• Riad Kniza — an 18th-century family-run riad near Bab Doukkala, and the one we send guests to when hospitality matters more than square metres.
• Palais Sebban — a restored palace with courtyards big enough that it never feels like a small hotel.
• Riad Joya and 72 Riad Living — the design end of the market, quiet and beautifully finished.
• Dar Rhizlane — technically a garden villa in Hivernage rather than a medina riad, which is exactly why it works for golfers who want riad character with car access at the door.

See the full collection on our riads and boutique hotels page.

What you gain: the trip people remember. Dinner on a roof terrace with the Koutoubia lit behind you. What you give up: convenience. Riads suit three or four rounds better than five.

Option 4: stay in the Palmeraie

The Palmeraie is the palm grove north-east of the city, home to the big all-inclusive resorts: Barceló Oasis Palmeraie, Kenzi Menara Palace and Iberostar Waves Club Palmeraie among them.

It is the best value per night in Marrakech, and the right answer when the group includes non-golfers who will spend the day by a pool. The trade-off is distance: 25–40 minutes to the courses on the Amizmiz road, and a taxi ride to reach the city.

How much should you budget per night?

Indicative bed-and-breakfast rates per room per night, based on what we book across a normal season. Everything rises between late December and April and falls in July and August.

Type of stay	Indicative rate per night	What you get
4★ city hotel	€80–€150	Pool, early breakfast, coach access
Medina riad	€90–€250	5–15 rooms, courtyard pool, roof terrace, breakfast cooked to order
5★ city hotel	€180–€400	Spa, several restaurants, concierge, large pool
Golf estate resort	€250–€600	Course on site, practice facilities, resort dining
All-inclusive (Palmeraie)	€120–€260	All meals and drinks included

Two things worth knowing. First, all-inclusive changes the comparison completely: a €200 all-inclusive night can undercut a €150 B&B night once you have paid for dinner, drinks and lunches at the club. Second, riads price by room, not by person, and taking a small riad exclusively for a group of eight to twelve is often cheaper per head than the equivalent hotel rooms — and far more memorable.

What to check before you book any Marrakech hotel

Five questions we ask on your behalf every time:

1. What time does breakfast start? It must be before your first tee time, or you need a packed breakfast.
2. Can a minibus reach the entrance? Critical in the medina, irrelevant on a golf estate.
3. Is there secure club storage? Standard at golf resorts, not universal elsewhere.
4. Is the pool heated in winter? Marrakech nights in January are cold; an unheated pool goes unused.
5. How far is it really? Ask for the drive time at 7am, not the distance in kilometres — the two are very different around the medina.

Which should you choose?

• Playing five rounds in a week? Golf estate or Hivernage.
• Playing three rounds with a partner who wants the souks? Riad, or a riad-plus-hotel split.
• Travelling as a group of eight or more on a budget? All-inclusive in the Palmeraie or Hotel du Golf.
• Celebrating something? Fairmont Royal Palm, or a private riad taken over exclusively.

The split-week option is more popular every year: three nights in a riad inside the walls to see the city, then three nights on a golf estate to play it out. We can arrange the changeover, hold your luggage and keep the tee times unbroken.

Next steps

Pair your hotel with a Marrakech golf pass — Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze, three to five rounds, from €280 per golfer — and we will book the tee times to match your breakfast times, not the other way round.

Read next: the best time to play golf in Morocco and the 12 best golf courses in Morocco. Or send us your dates and we will put a costed itinerary together.