The Palais Namaskar is a luxurious hotel, member of the prestigious Oetker collection, located in the Palmeraie of Marrakesh. The hotel is completely designed around the Feng Shui principles : purity, balance and energy. We will discover how those are implemented throughout the hotel.
Arrival at the hotel
We arrived at the Palais Namaskar under the warm temperature of May in Marrakesh. We have been immediately welcomed by the valet who took our suitcases to bring those into our room. Then, we got to the lobby desk where the check-in was organized while a drink was offered to us. The first impression is peaceful and quietness. You will only ear the singing of the birds.
Then begins a nice stroll into the Palais Namaskar gardens to reach our room. The desk person shows us the fitness center, the spa, introduces the catering offering before we reach our room at the end of a long corridor. What you’ll find here is that the Palais Namaskar spans over a large area even if it only has 41 keys. The advantage is that you’ll usually have the feeling to be alone. It isn’t never crowded. Most of the time, you’ll only see others guests when you go to the main swimming pool and the restaurant.
The Deluxe Room
The room decoration is unvarnished. It echoes to the Feng Shui philosophy. The neutral colors enhance the green nature around. The room furniture is made of raw wood.
The wide windows are dressed with heavy and luxurious curtains. One nice detail, the bottom of the curtains was all properly arranged. The luxury at the Palais Namaskar is in the details.
When you enter inside the room, there is a desk on the left and the minibar on the right in a first area. Then, it opens on the bedroom with a large bed, a sofa, a table and a TV set. There is also a nice chimney but to be honest, it was a bit too hot in May to use it.
On the left, you have a long corridor with the cupboards, separate toilets and then the bathroom. On the other side, the bedroom is opening on the terrace with the plunge pool.
The bathroom is quite large, with floor to ceiling windows. There is a large bathtub and a separate walk-in shower. Indeed, there are two showers inside this huge shower. Nature and light invite themselves through floor to ceiling windows opening on the terrace with bamboos. As for the room, materials used are mostly natural. It is quite pleasant to have a shower with the light of the day in the background, not so usual.
- Bathtub
- Sinks
The terrace is the masterpiece of this room. It includes a table with two chairs and two comfortable mattresses where we have spent some time between two baths in the plunge pool. It is a true luxury to have a plunge pool dedicated to the room. It is set in a larger pool, surrounded by the vegetation. The water temperature is as warm as it would be in your bathtub.
We have really enjoyed this terrace with its plunge pool. It is really uncommon and it was really peaceful with all the vegetation. It is well set so that you mostly don’t see the others customers.
Catering
The breakfast can be taken at the restaurant, next to the main swimming pool. You have few different options for the breakfast that can be selected à la carte. We opted for those ones : fresh sliced fruits, Viennese pastries, fresh fruit juices and Bircher muesli. All the products are very fresh and tasty. It feels really natural. The jam coming from St Dalfour is delicious. All the products used at Le Palais Namaskar are coming from the organic farming.
Even if it isn’t a buffet breakfast, the staff is quite flexible and will prepare what you’d like to have a good start in the day. I especially enjoyed the Bircher muesli, really nice!
For the lunch, we ate once in the intimate setting of our private terrace with the room service and once at the restaurant. Had a good club sandwich together with melon. Then next day, at the restaurant, had delicious gnocchi with fava beans and arugula sauce.
In the evening, we have been to the restaurant, next to the pool. This is also where you can have the breakfast and the lunch. It is highly recommended to book a table in advance for the dinner as a lot of guests not staying at the hotel are getting there for the dinner. The restaurant is a really romantic place for a dinner in Marrakesh. When the sun sets and the night comes, filtered lights create a romantic atmosphere around the pool with the beautiful garden as background.
Two menus are available at the restaurant : a French menu inspired by Moroccan spirit (Le Namaskar) and a Thai menu (Le Sawadee). We have tried the roasted beef and the chicken breast stuffed with foie gras.
The bar decoration is really nice, especially in the evening with all the lights. The chandeliers, the curtains and the comfortable sofas create all together a cozy and luxurious setting for this bar.
Activities
When you are staying at the Palais Namaskar, the first obvious activity is to discover the place by strolling through the garden. Those are really well maintained with nice palm trees and green grass.
Day and night, we really loved the perspective offered by the path over the pool between the lobby and the restaurant.
- The lake
- Another view on the lake
If you want to practice sports, the fitness center is waiting for you! A team of sport coaches is there to make you feel better (after a bit of efforts). Professional champions from the Champion Spirit team are available to build a custom training program. Every day, there is a training schedule that includes yoga, boxing, stretching, etc… You can also have private courses if you want. The fitness center is well furnished. Then regularly, a Shiatsu master is coming to the Palais Namaskar during few days to have sessions with the hotel guests.
So overall, the Palais Namaskar offers an end to end experience set around the wellness with a green setting, organic products at the restaurant, soft decoration in the room and then a complete schedule of body training.
If you are looking for a massage, just head to the spa. It is located next to the fitness center. The products used are coming from Aromatherapy Associates and Ila (again organic products). We didn’t have the time to try one of the treatments but there is a full range of stress relief and age prevention programs available. One of the treatment rooms includes a plunge pool as you can see on the pictures below.
Conclusion
The Palais Namaskar is an exclusive place where the luxury is in the space and the quietness offered to the guests. We enjoyed the Balinese decoration of outdoor areas. The balance between water and green areas is perfect and creates a peaceful atmosphere inviting to relaxation.
In the room, the key advantage is the terrace with the plunge pool. It isn’t so common there to have a private plunge pool and we really enjoyed relaxing in the privacy of our terrace.
At the end of our stay, we took advantage of the hotel driver to get back to the Marrakesh airport. It took approximately 40 minutes to reach it. It is much more comfortable than a regular taxi as their car is larger, pretty recent and equipped with the air conditioning and the WiFi. Then the driver took care of our luggage at the airport up to the airline check-in counter, nice!