This exceptional hotel is in one of the world’s most intriguing cities

The hotel

Villa Mabrouka, Tangier, Morocco

Check-in

Oasis… Villa Mabrouka Tangier.

It’s a propitious start. You step through a Moorish portico and find yourself in the almost enchanted garden of Villa Mabrouka – the name translates as “blessing”. Staff complete your check-in with minimal fuss and paperwork. Over a welcome drink in the villa’s light-filled main salon you receive a few survival pointers about the facilities, pools and cocktail hour. Your suitcase follows you down a colour-burst garden path to your suite. It’s calm and uncluttered, and already you’re at home.

The look

Villa Mabrouka is a handsome, two-storey, Moorish-Iberian mansion built in the 1940s by a Moroccan-Jewish family. Later home to a Kuwaiti princess and then the French fashion couturier Yves Saint Laurent, it has good bones, exotic provenance and sits atop a coastal ridge. The original villa has discreetly morphed to accommodate 12 self-contained suites and, fully refurbished by its new owner, British designer Jasper Conran, it launched in 2023 as a boutique hotel. The heritage interiors, with chequerboard-tiled flooring, small objets d’art and ornamental archways are free of gratuitous orientalism. This aesthetic restraint is counterpointed, once you step outside, by the giant blues of the sea and sky, plus a hectare of gardens that shelter private pavilions. A stately pleasure dome fit for the 21st century.

The room

Calming … Villa Mabrouka Tangier.

My Taroudant Suite, named after a walled city in south-west Morocco, is at garden level. Its 40 square metres include a sitting room, large living-bedroom area and spacious bathroom. There’s a huge tub in the latter and Floris amenities at hand. Paintings and Moroccan embroidery from Conran’s own art collection decorate the walls. The bed is king-sized, although its “crisp linen” feels too crisp. The haseera flooring, made of woven reeds, feels terrific under bare feet. A desk, simple light-switches, high-speed internet, ample storage and a large tea, coffee and drinks counter complete the pluses.

Food + drink

Villa Mabrouka has three restaurants, a rooftop coffee-cocktail bar and several garden pavilions for private dining. My favourite spot is the open-air, Atlantic-facing L’Orangerie terrace. Breakfast is served with a palm-framed, “beat-that!” view that stretches from Africa to Spain. Anything would taste delicious here, but the eggs benedict, bakery offerings and juices are spectacularly fresh. Lunch and dinner can be taken here or at the upstairs Dining Room. My evening treat at the latter, tangy beef tagine, a generous glass of Moroccan Zellige red and a perfected tarte aux pommes, closes the day like a well-read book.

Out + about

Villa Mabrouka’s main pool.

This slightly unearthly enclave can capture your senses irresistibly. But just beyond its seraglio wall is Tangier, one of the most intriguing cities ever, anywhere. Break out, and two minutes later you’re in the great Kasbah fortress with its museums and winding, whitewashed alleys. Explore, get lost, find the medina marketplace, drink mint tea, keep wandering, repeat. A short drive from Tangier is Cape Spartel, the northwestern-most point of Africa and home to the legendary Cave of Hercules. Tip: it’s crowded on weekends. Further south is historic Asilah, a coastal port with madly photogenic blue-white medina buildings that have filled a million smartphones.

The verdict

One of the garden dining pavilions… “Luxury here whispers, never shouts.”

This estate is exceptional on so many levels – from location, accommodation and horticulture to service and those views across the Strait of Gibraltar. Luxury here whispers, never shouts. The staff are smart and friendly and the taste impeccable throughout. And Tangier at your doorstep. “I want Villa Mabrouka to feel deeply personal, like staying in a home rather than a hotel,” says Jasper Conran. The guest experience is very close to that aspiration and the price appropriate.

The essentials

Suites, with breakfast, from €450 ($748) a night. Nine of the 12 suites are wheelchair accessible. No children under eight. 1 Sidi Bouknadel, Kasbah, Tangier. Phone: [phone]. See villamabrouka.com

OUR RATING OUT OF FIVE
★★★★½

HIGHLIGHT
Enchanted gardens that cascade towards an emerald pool and Atlantic panorama. In fact, almost everything.

LOWLIGHT
The bedsheets could have been softer and the beef tagine less salty.

The writer travelled as a guest of By Prior Arrangement Travel (bypriorarrangement.com).