My Favourite Hotels – Part 3 – Destination Hotels.

There are only three hotels in this category and two are close to the two places I call home: Sydney, Australia and Arles in Provence in the south of France. Hence these hotels are not needed merely for accomodation. I go there because I love them.

The other is a hotel that started out as a favourite ‘Situation’ Hotel’ – i.e., the hotel I preferred to stay at when I was in the location that continued to be a hotel I’d choose to visit long after I’d exhausted my interest in the location.

Marrakech – Les Jardins de la Medina

Having been to Marrakech a few times and even though I’ve been thoroughly charmed by its exotic nature, it has exhausted its fascination. In the main, it’s because it’s just too difficult.

I don’t find Marrakech to be a location particularly conducive to a woman travelling on her own (ditto for most of Morocco – they do things differently there).

While I’ve never felt particularly unsafe in Marrakech, the harassment by men and hawkers is savage and can be quite threatening.

I’ve been deliberately sent, by supposed well-meaning men touting for business, into back streets of the Medina (a confusing melange of streets and alleys) so that I had no option but to pay them to show me the way out. I’ve had my bottom very deliberately stroked by a passer-by and I’ve had a man yelling abuse after me because I’d not taken up his various offers and asked him to “go away.”

The people you meet

It’s impossible to walk anywhere without harassment and strident offers of help (paid) that should you refuse brings the hawker’s wrath upon you. Getting rid of these people, who will follow you everywhere and even wait for you to emerge from a restaurant in which you are dining, is almost impossible. And then there are the snake charmers in Jemaa el Fna Square who frighten you half to death and then insist on payment for it.

A friend did warn me – he said that in Morocco, they hate women and donkeys. He never elaborated and I didn’t ask.

Luckily, on my first trip to Marrakech, I’d booked at Les Jardins de la Medina, a riad ( a traditional Moroccan Inn) in the Kasbah and with the booking came a complimentary airport pick-up, meaning that my confrontation with Moroccan harassment was postponed.

Outside the walls

One of the joys of this hotel is that although it is in the Kasbah, in the old part of town, and near the central and lively Jemaa el Fna square it is not on a pedestrian street unlike many riads in the vicinity that are on those winding pedestrian streets and alleys that are almost impossible to navigate and where you can easily get lost.

Finding your way back to this hotel is relatively simple, if all else fails, you can take a taxi – not so for many riads.

On one occasion that I was in Marrakech, I stayed somewhere else in a riad that was deep inside the Medina on a hard-to-find pedestrian street. It was a particularly charming riad, which, sensitive to the problems of location, gave each guest a mobile phone in case they got lost. In that case, the riad would send a member of staff to find you.

I had cause to make that phone call during the visit and the staff member eventually rescued me from a pack of teenage boys all giving me wrong directions of road closures (that weren’t) in an effort to confuse me. I’d made the fatal mistake of consulting a map on the street on which I’d found myself lost, causing them to recognise a potential income source. and pounce

As much as I loved that riad, it put me off ever staying there again – I’d felt particularly vulnerable.

However, over the high walls of Les Jardins de la Medina, behind an ornate wooden door in that wall, all is welcoming. Running water from the various fountains and water features have a calming effect and you are immediately hit with the heady scent of orange blossoms wafting gently through the foyer on a breeze from the garden beyond.

An oasis of calm

Inside the riad, the swimming pool is the central feature surrounded by lush gardens with guest rooms flanking three sides in low-rise buildings of two storeys with the restaurant and bar also turned facing inwards towards the pool and garden. The chaos of the streets outside is a million miles away. (Yes bar –hospitality venues such as this are allowed to serve alcohol banned elsewhere).

A place to relax

In amongst the lush foliage of the garden are poolside tables for a casual meal or beverage and lounge chairs for soaking up the sun. The riad also has a luxurious spa and its restaurant is top class serving Moroccan and western food.

The rooms are rustically beautiful, many with open fireplaces that the staff will light for you, if you desire a fire. Housekeeping leave rose petals on your bed and in your bathroom every day. A basket of pool necessities with sunscreen, towels and hats is at the foot of your bed and if you are lucky enough to have a room with a balcony, either Juliet or one you can sit on that has overhanging orange branches, the perfume is sublime.

My comfortable room

The bathrooms are typically Moroccan, very luxurious, some with deep soaking tubs and all tiled with typical ornate Moroccan tiles. In short, it’s a perfect spot for a ‘flop and drop’ holiday with all you’d ever want inside the four walls – and all with a touch of the exotic if you so desire – more, if you venture outside.

Marseille – Intercontinental Hotel

Marseille is just a 40-minute train journey from Arles, so there is rarely a necessity to stay overnight there, however, I do, anytime I can afford it and it’s all in order to stay at the Intercontinental Hotel – one of the best hotel experiences in the world, in my opinion.

I’ve already stated that I’m particularly fond of the Intercontinental brand that seems to do a lot of things right and this hotel is wonderfully luxurious with all the beautiful interior finishes (in this case ‘modern’) that you’d expect.

But for me, who always appreciates all of that, nevertheless, the biggest pull is its location and its vast terrace that takes full advantage of it.

The first time I was in Marseille at night was when my train journey home to Arles (I think I’d been to the Riviera) was through St Charles Station, Marseille and didn’t arrive until late when Local trains had stopped running. So I stayed the night in a hotel at the Old Port – the most picturesque part of Marseille.

I’d never been in Marseille at night and I was gobsmacked at how beautiful the Old Port was at night – during the day too but at night-time it was extraordinary.

The Old Port

The Old Port is in a small valley – on one side, high on the hill is the church of Notre Dame de la Garde. It’s always imposing looking down on the port as it does but, all lit up at night-time, it was magical.

On the opposite hill was a building – a large, architecturally-beautiful building that was all lit up too. I thought that it was perhaps a municipal building but found out later that this was the Intercontinental Hotel – although it once was the municipal hospital.

In fact, the hospital (Hotel Dieu in French) goes back more than 800 years to 1188 and has since been extended extensively with its present footprint dating to 1866. It was still operational until 1993 when it saw its last patient. It was opened as a hotel in 2003.

The utter magic of this hotel though, is its extensive stone terrace, looking down onto the Port and across to Notre Dame de la Garde – especially at night. I can honestly say that I have seen few views to rival it.

The Terrace

In summer, it’s a sheer delight to enjoy a cocktail or a meal on the terrace and in winter, the terrace is dotted with heated pods for the drinkers’/diners comfort – no less delightful

As for the facilities, I’ll let you find them out here (it’s five star) – for me, the terrace is enough. When I become unspeakably rich, I think I may live there.

Milton Park, Bowral

There’s not much I can say about Milton Park that I haven’t in a previous article. I’ll let you re-visit that here. Suffice it to say, that staying here is a sheer joy – a fabulous way of getting away from the big smoke for a couple of days without having to rough it (read: three star hotel/motels or self catering – haha.)