Banyan Tree Tamouda Bay review: making a scene

Ask about Morocco’s hottest holiday destinations and most Brits will point to Marrakech. Those in the know, however, are heading further north.

Tamouda Bay, set on a long stretch of the Mediterranean coastline, has been a popular getaway for Moroccans for several years, but has remained something of a secret on UK shores. Strolling along the bay’s quiet beach, disturbed only by a light breeze and the lapping of the waves, that oversight seems inexplicable.

With miles of powdery white sands overlooked by rugged mountains, and a generous smattering of historic towns including Tangier, the so-called Door to Africa, the region deserves more attention.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Little wonder, then, that savvy travellers are discovering its emerging luxury resort scene. High-end hotel chains including The Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott are racing to get in on the act, but the established star of the show is the Banyan Tree Tamouda Bay.

Banyon Tree Tamouda Bay reception building

Where is it?

Tamouda Bay sits between the Rif Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea on Morocco’s northern coast, just across the water from Gibraltar. Tétouan, the former capital of Spanish Morocco, is about a 30-minute drive to the south, while Tangier, and the city’s international airport, is an hour to the east.

The hotel

Part of the Banyan Tree group’s global chain of up-market hotels and spas, the Banyan Tree Tamouda Bay is one of the region’s first resorts, arriving on the scene in September 2016. The beach retreat also broke new ground as Morocco’s first all-pool villa resort, and the Singaporean hospitality brand’s first foray into Africa.

Impressive stuff, but that isn’t what makes it one of The Week Portfolio’s first-choice destinations following a recent all-too-brief visit.

Villa entrances

The resort impresses from the moment our car draws into the 69-acre beachfront complex of spacious white villas dotted around lush lawns, palm trees and a palatial central reception building. The architecture and decor bear hallmarks of both the region’s Andalusian-Moorish legacy and Moroccan heritage, with long corridors of towering arched doorways, hand-cut mosaic tiles and wrought ironwork.

Austere exteriors give way to opulent interiors decorated in rich bronze and blue tones, with intricate Moroccan moucharaby panels and the pervasive scent of burning essential oils that change throughout the week (forget “Thursday”, it’s “Lemongrass Day”).

That winning attention to detail is evident throughout the 92 villas, from the 20ft-high ceilings down to the marble floors. This being a 21st century luxury experience, they’re also kitted out with all the mod-cons, including capsule coffee machines that at the touch of a button dispense a welcome morning espresso to sip beside the mini pool in your private walled courtyard.

Bliss Pool Villa private courtyard

Parents can take full advantage of that privacy by sending their small people off to the Kids’ Club, which offers a daily programme of activities ranging from face painting and pottery to yoga and cooking lessons from the resort’s chefs.

Guests of all ages can mess around kayaking, surfing and the like at the hotel’s water sports centre, down by the beachfront main pool, but with the emphasis on relaxation in our mini break, my companions and I make straight for the award-winning Banyan Tree Spa.

All of the spa’s therapists are trained in Thailand and adopt a “high touch, low tech” approach that translates into top-notch massages, along with other revitalising treatments. Throw in a hammam and saunas, vitality pool, yoga pavilion and gym and there is no reason why any guest should leave feeling less than refreshed.

We complete that effect with the signature Rainforest Experience: a hydrothermal circuit of stepping stones under pattering rains and mists of varying temperatures. It certainly beats the signature grey drizzle back in Blighty.

Fine dining

The resort’s emphasis on indulgence extends to the food, with a choice of restaurants serving delicious multicultural dishes, along with dining-in options including barbecues prepared and served by butlers in your villa garden.

Over in the main reception building/palace, Tingitana restaurant serves an Eastern Mediterranean culinary mixture from breakfast until dinner. Highlights of the evening menu include the octopus carpaccio, grilled sea bass with crushed ginger potatoes, and an ever-changing selection of rich local tagines and spiced stews. There is also a truly first-class breakfast buffet, best devoured on the terrace looking out over the sea.

You can enjoy an even better view of the waves from the Azura beach restaurant, where the menu of barbecued meats and seafood, and seashore setting, proved so popular in the first year that builders were sent in to extend the dining area and double the size of the kitchen.

Saffron restaurant

The resort’s most popular dining venue, however, is Saffron. Foodies from across the region flock to this standout, stand-alone Thai restaurant, with queues stretching down the street during peak season. If you can bag a seat, try the signature tom kha gai coconut broth with chicken, coriander and kaffir lime leaf, and the banana fritters with honey ice cream.

The choices for alcohol lovers are equally fine at the Volubilis bar, which serves up an extension range of cocktails, along with tapas and live music from around the world. We ended the evening with a nightcap up on the rooftop terrace, where guests can stretch out on oversize cushions around two pit fires and watch the stars come out.

What to do

There are plenty of other, generally healthier, ways to enjoy the great outdoors at the Banyan Tree Tamouda Bay than rooftop drinking sessions. The resort is ideally sited for hiking, cycling or even quad biking in the nearby Rif Mountains, while the bay’s clear, calm waters are ideal for diving.

Natural splendours duly appreciated, we motor off to one of the various historic cities within driving distance of our luxurious base. Tétouan was the capital of Spanish Morocco during Spain’s 44-year rule of the North (while France ruled the South), before Morocco officially gained independence in 1956.

Long before that, in the 15th century, exiled Muslims and Jews came to Tétouan from Andalusia, and the city’s medina retains a distinctly Andalusian vibe. You can happily while away an afternoon just strolling around this old city, now a Unesco World Heritage Site, amid the whitewashed buildings that have earned it the nickname White Dove.

Further south lies Chefchaouen, another melting pot of religions and cultures, and widely regarded as one of the prettiest towns in Morocco. Yves Saint Laurent once said that Marrakech “taught me colour”. The fashion legend clearly hadn’t seen Chefchaouen, also known as the Blue City in tribute to its multi-hued colour scheme.

Chefchaouen

Some believe it was the Jews who fled there to escape the Spanish Inquisition that first painted the town in their religion’s divine colour, though as our guide explains, many others chalk it up to blue acting as a mosquito repellent.

The bright Berber robes of local people provide a further blast of colour as we wander through the winding, hilly streets, where stray cats lounge in the sun as we take in the sights and smells of shopfronts packed with traditional rugs, leather goods and freshly baked khobz bread, the region’s staple food. There’s a further slice of history to be had at Chefchaouen’s ancient kasbah, a restored walled fortress that now contains a large garden, a small ethnographic museum and a tiny art gallery.

For a taste of big city life, head to Tangier, Morocco’s gateway to Europe via the Strait of Gibraltar, with the Mediterranean to the east and the Atlantic to the west. Formerly the playground of Hollywood starlets and literary types including Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and Tennessee Williams, the multicultural port city is enjoying a resurgence under the patronage of Morocco’s King Mohammed VI and other royal fans including Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, who holidays here every year at his $100m (£75m) summer palace.

Hollywood has also come calling again, with Tangier providing backdrops for hit movies including 2007 action thriller The Bourne Ultimatum, Leonardo DiCaprio’s 2010 sci-fi flick Inception and 2015 Bond film Spectre. With its hillside whitewashed medina, ancient kasbah and bustling bazaars, the appeal is obvious.

Tangier offers more off-beat attractions too, including the Caves of Hercules, a cave complex dating back to the Roman Empire, with a man-made opening in the shape of Africa and ridged walls carved out by generations of Tangier settlers seeking stones to grind grains.

Running a hand over the furrowed rock, it feels like a physical embodiment of this culturally layered region - a region that is now carving out a fresh identity for itself.

Prices and booking

Nightly rates for a Bliss Pool Villa at Banyan Tree Tamouda Bay start from £420 on a b&b basis, including taxes.

Banyan Tree Tamouda Bay, Route Nationale 13, Oued Negra, 93100 Fnideq, Morocco. See banyantree.com