Mazagan Beach & Golf Resort
Swerve the crowds in Marrakech and head instead to Mazagan Beach Resort on Morocco’s Atlantic coast, set on a seven-kilometre stretch of beach an hour south of Casablanca in the former Portuguese colony of El Jadida, where old churches and synagogues rub shoulders with mosques and a UNESCO-listed fortress.
Some might argue that year-round sunshine and wide, empty beaches are enough to make El Jadida a choice spot for a holiday. But Mazagan isn’t taking any chances. Almost anything you could wish for is on offer to guests staying at the resort’s 500 rooms and suites, including three pools, a private beach, an 18-hole golf course, an exquisite spa home to 19 treatment rooms and a traditional hammam, plus the largest casino in North Africa. There are more sports and activities on offer than you could ever fit into a single stay, from archery, surfing, horse riding and go-karting to zip-lining, paddleboarding and paintballing. Not to mention excursions to notable nearby destinations – Oualidia, Casablanca and Rabat among them.
Foodies are well catered for too, with 15 bars and restaurants ranging from signature seafood restaurant Sel de Mer to a candlelit French bistro, an on-the-beach restaurant by Buddha Bar, and Studio 42, a glamorous cocktail bar inspired by the 1940s Hollywood studios where the legendary film Casablanca was shot.
Rooms face in over the impressive courtyard pool or look out over lush gardens or, better still, towards the beach and the ocean. Interiors are comfortable and inviting, with subtle Moorish nods in the wrought-iron lights, carved wooden doors and woven cushions.
