An insider’s guide to the bars and nightclubs in Marrakech , including the best Moroccan bars, local clubs and poolside parties. By Paula Hardy
The Marrakech nighlife scene has a speakeasy feel – and technically, there are still Moroccan laws prohibiting the selling of alcohol in view of a mosque (ie everywhere). But once night falls and the music in the Djemaa starts, cocktails flow on discreet Medina terraces and in Ville Nouvelle bars. Around 10pm belly dancers take to the floor, and most clubs kick off after midnight. Admission ranges from £12 to £28.
Le Comptoir
This decadent Art Nouveau villa is crammed with Marrakshi hipsters and Casa playboys who come to flirt in the first floor bar, or lounge in the cushion-strewn courtyard. When conversation gets too intriguing, squadrons of belly dancers descend among the guests distracting attention with their mesmerizing, sequined shimmy.
Address: Avenue Echouhada, Hivernage
Contact: 00 212 524 43 77 02; comptoirdarna.com
Prices: cocktails from £7
Opening times: Mon-Sun, 4pm-2am
Le Palace
This clubby downstairs lounge at Le Palace restaurant is redolent of a 1920s hideaway. The dim lighting, lavish, inlaid mahogany walls and chandeliers set the scene for grown-up drinks and after-dinner tristes. The drinks menu is as fashionable as the crowd is beautiful. Jackets are recommended for gentlemen, and elegant eveningwear for women.
Address: Avenue Echouhada, corner of Rue Chaouki, Hivernage
Contact: 00 212 524 458 901
Prices: cocktails from £8
Opening times: Mon-Sun 6pm-2am
Churchill Bar
Named after the hotel’s most famous guest, the piano bar at La Mamounia is one of the great drinking dens in Marrakech. Its jazzy, Art Deco décor of red velvet sofas, high-backed leopard-print chairs, a backlit bar and leather studded walls sets a decadent tone for evenings gazing moodily at the jazz pianist and twirling cocktail sticks in your Mamoune Lady: gin, lemon and orange-flower water.
Address: Mamounia Hotel, Avenue Bab el Jdid, Medina
Contact: 00 212 524 388 600, mamounia.com
Prices: cocktails from £14
Opening times: daily, 6pm-1am
Le Grand Café de la Poste
This colonial Art Deco bistro has a storied history as the favourite café of the dread Pasha Glaoui, and still attracts the city’s movers and shakers to its shady terrace and palm-filled, 1930s interiors. While the food is a fine blend of French-Moroccan dishes, it’s the 6-8pm happy hour that really draws the crowds. Then you can pair your peppery S de Siroua wine with a parade of free appetisers.
Address: Blvd el-Mansour Eddahbi, Gueliz
Contact: 00 212 524 433 038, grandcafedelaposte.restaurant
Prices: drinks from £7
Opening times: Mon-Sat, 8am-1am
Kechmara
Slip into a Saarinen tulip chair and cool down with a minty caipirinha in the soothing all-white interior of this Ville Nouvelle bar and bistro. Stay a while and you’ll be joined by a hip, creative crowd who come for the live jazz and groovy DJ sets on the shaded terrace.
Address: 3 Rue de la Liberté, Gueliz
Contact: 00 212 524 42 25 32, kechmara.com
Prices: cocktails from £4.50
Opening times: Mon-Sat, 11.30am-1am
Le Studio
This sophisticated winebar and restaurant serves up impeccable French food with an extensive wine list of international and Moroccan wines. Come early to grab a bar stool overlooking the kitchen and nibble on dainty plates of foie gras and spiced olives as you sip a blossomy glass of Roussanne from the nearby Essaouira winery Domaine du Val ‘Argan.
Address: 85 Avenue Moulay Rachid, Gueliz
Contact: 00 212 524 43 37 00; lestudiomarrakech.com
Prices: wine by the glass from £5
Opening times: Mon-Sat, 6pm-1am, Tue-Fri, noon-1am
Café Arabe
Tucked away in upmarket Mouassine, Café Arabe’s rooftop terrace is the best place for Medina drinks. Downstairs, tables sit snugly in an open-air zellij (mosaic) tiled courtyard, while upstairs curvaceous beige sofas sprawl across the shaded terrace, which is magically lit by candlelight at night. It’s highly romantic and the cocktails and Moroccan wines are well priced, although you’d do well to avoid the bland food.
Address: 184 Rue Mouassine, Medina
Contact: 00 212 524 429 728; cafearabe.com
Prices: wine by the glass from £5
Opening times: Mon-Sun 10am-midnight
Lotus Club
Jay Gatsby would fit right in in this gleaming, glossy pleasure pad housed in the 1930s Art Deco Villa Eva. He’d also no doubt approve of the musical high jinks of DJ BOS and Jad, and the high-energy antics of the OHLALA! cabaret troupe that dazzles the crowd with eclectic floorshows ranging from Geisha Mon Amour to hip-thrusting, lip pouting Beyoncé routines. Cocktails and small plates of sushi fuel the fun, and the pool bar provides the perfect place for intimate time outs.
Address: Rue Ahmed Chawki, Hivernage
Contact: 00 212 524 421 736; lotusclubmarrakech.com
Prices: cocktails from £7
Opening times: daily, 7pm-1am
