Villa Marco Au Jardin des Senteurs

OK, bear with me as this is quite a lengthy review but if you are going to Villa Marco or planning a trip then hopefully this will help. We initially booked this holiday in January 2024 and were impressed with the reviews. After reading the 2024 reviews we wondered what we had let ourselves in for!! So lets get the negatives out the way, this place is in the middle of nowhere so if you are looking for a "resort" style holiday this is not the place for you. It is 20 minutes or so from both the airport and Marrakesh so if you want to get out and about, we managed to get a taxi for 500 Dirham return. The previous comment that they got it for 80 Dirham (about £7), whilst I'm not doubting this, it does seem remarkably good value. I contacted three different firms and they were all quoting between 600-800 Dirham, so the 500 we paid seemed a fair price. The venue is a little scruffy around the edges but would qualify as a strong 3* or low 4* in my eyes. The menu is slightly limited and Italian(!?) but then they are catering for a small amount of people so having a vast menu wouldn't make financial sense to them as owners. The good stuff - treat your holiday here as you would a French Gite or a Spanish Villa, just with attentive staff who look after your every need. As others have stated we were also the only ones on site but actually we enjoyed the tranquility of not having loads of people around, bombing into the pool and trying to drink the bar dry by lunchtime. The grounds are stunning and the pool is bathed in sun all day long. The food is always freshly cooked and my wife who is vegetarian had no problems selecting two meals a day. The bungalows are well equipped and beautifully laid out. Marrakesh is a delight to visit and there is so much to do with local excursions you will never have chance to get bored. If you offset the extra cost to get to these excursions against the bargain basement prices inside the resort then the whole package is very appealing. The staff could not do enough for us and whilst not fluent in English, we had no issues with language. They were a delight to be around. We spent three nights here and did a quick visit to Marrakesh as we wanted to carry on the relaxation by the pool. I would personally say that anything up to five days here would be idyllic, after that the remoteness and lack of variety of facilities might start to cause irritation. We could have easily spent a couple more days here. So in conclusion if you are looking for a long weekend or even up to a week, this is a peaceful oasis which we really enjoyed. If that is your kind of holiday then I would thoroughly recommend this hotel. If it's not and you are looking for a busy nightlife and lots of choice for food and drink then i suggest you look elsewhere.