WHERE HEALTH MEETS HEDONISM

A royal health kick in the glamorous new medi-retreat owned by the King of Morocco, adjoining his summer home.

- Amanda Linfoot

Tamuda Bay is where Morocco’s smart set spend their summers.

Looking out over the calm waters of the Med, it’s easy to see why. Just a 90-minute drive from Tangier on Morocco’s Riviera, it is the greenest part of the country, flanked by the Rif mountains which keep the coastal strip lush. On this part of the Moroccan coast, facing the Med, there is no battling with Atlantic-sized waves. And, what's more, it’s next door to the summer palace of Mohammed VI, the King of Morocco.

The 55-room hotel is part of the Royal Mansour hotel group established by the king in 2010, which explains the palatial size of the rooms. In summer, it’s used as overflow accommodation for the royal compound with which it shares the private beach: a glorious 700m long sweep of sand. In low season, there's a solitary guard staring out to sea where the hotel ends and the compound begins, right by the boathouse for the hotel’s two Riva yachts.

My room has a modern Med aesthetic, a pretty garden and a muted palette, and is also extremely high-tech. At the end of a long day, I have to summon a member of staff to help me order my supper via an iPad and turn down the air con—but he is charm personified.

The spa is spacious with a pool, hydrotherapy suite, hammam, sauna, pink salt room, gym and treatment rooms. The star, however, is the separate heated “quiet” pool, which has a moon-inspired giant globe suspended above it with a twinkly universe of stars.