Review: Fairmont Tazi Palace Tangier

Why book

The weather in Tangier, even in the middle of winter, is as congenial as the staff at this five-star hotel. The rooms perfectly complement the history that emanates from the medina. The beaches of the Moroccan Riviera are on your doorstep, and children are looked after with a photogenic swimming pool, beautiful gardens, and various workshops, including one making ceramic art.

Set the scene 

The lobby, a luminous space with a 12-meter-high ceiling, is the first hint that this hotel does everything in style: from the 3.7 acres of landscaped grounds to the dramatic lamps that illuminate the corridor leading to the Crudo restaurant. Fairmont Tazi Palace demonstrates that a large urban hotel can also be a space of quiet tranquillity. Its location, amidst a stunning forest of century-old eucalyptus trees, lowers the city’s noise level by two notches, while its vast, almost labyrinthine design makes it easy for guests to find private corners. 

The interiors evoke the glamour of the 1920s combined with modern comforts that pay homage to Moroccan craftsmanship using tadelakt plaster, zellige tiles, and moucharabieh screens. On the landscaped grounds, palm, olive, and pomegranate trees add to the bucolic views of the wooded hills and the Old Town, with the mountains as a backdrop in the distance. 

The rooms

The hotel’s 133 rooms (including a Signature Suite, two penthouses, and a Katara Suite) are spread over seven floors and two wings. Madrid-based CCCRA Architects’ design is an amalgam of elements that celebrate the country’s craft traditions, with fretwork wooden screens, mosaics, and bespoke fabrics created by local artisans.

All rooms feature a palette of tones inspired by the Mediterranean and a sweeping perspective of the city. The bathrooms invite you to linger and admire the views while soaking in the tub or standing at the basin. While the rooms on the ground floor open onto gardens with plants that reflect Andalusian and Arabic influences, those on the upper floors offer views of the Tangier skyline.

The largest room is the 332-square-meter Katara Suite (the penthouses, in comparison, measure 117 square meters) which can accommodate four adults and two children. It has a principal bedroom with an en-suite bathroom and another bedroom with a private bathroom. There is also a dining table that seats 12 and an impressive circular bathtub in the principal bath.

Food and drink

Chef Christopher Blake, originally from Australia but via the kitchen of La Mamounia in Marrakech, oversees the kitchens of the three restaurants—Crudo, Parisa, and Spa Restaurant—whose theme is “from sea and garden to table.” Quality and freshness are the name of the game, with much coming from the hotel’s own orchard and kitchen garden. 

Crudo features a wood-fired oven and a huge locally made wooden table in a courtyard. The menu includes tuna tartar, tender green beans, octopus carpaccio, mackerel in salt and vinegar, the house mojama (salt-cured tuna), and caramelized leeks. The breakfast table is laden with pancakes with salted caramel butter and bananas, fluffy French toast, and cauliflower shakshuka. Next to the spa, Spa Restaurant offers fresh seasonal ingredients and healthy options (burrata, ceviche, caramelized clementine salad, chicken in a walnut crust) for post-workout or yoga sessions. 

Innocents and the Origin Bar pour innovative cocktails created with ingredients grown in the hotel’s own garden while the Rose Room rounds out the culinary options and serves tea (and other beverages) with cakes and pastries made by chef Anas Hakkal. Innocents has an African vibe, live music (there’s a grand piano), and a wide variety of tailor-made cocktails Parisa, next to Innocents, presents a culinary journey from Doha to Tangier: We can’t stop dreaming about the slow-cooked lamb shoulder in tomato sauce and the incredible chicken tajine. Siddharta Lounge by Buddha-Bar (open from April to October) will feature DJ sets and refreshing cocktails.

The spa

The Fairmont Tazi Palace has a temple to pamper both body and mind with treatments using natural ingredients. It extends over some 2,500 square meters, but the spa manages to feel intimate. It includes 10 treatment rooms, a private spa, a solarium, a hammam, a yoga studio, a gym, and sunny Andalusian-style gardens that lead to a secluded vitality pool.

Sodashi, Maison d'Asa, and Swissline Cosmetics are used for exclusive massages and treatments. Adjacent to the spa, the Studio B beauty salon offers hairdressing, manicures and pedicures, hair treatments, and, once a month, the visit of a well-known international stylist for a week. They use Panier de Sens and John Masters Organics.

The neighborhood 

Deep sea fishing, horseback riding on the beach at sunset, a tour of the medina (less than 15 minutes by car), private boat trips, and Moroccan cooking classes are some of the experiences here. The coastal city of Asilah is about 45 minutes away and Chefchaouen with its dazzling palette of blues two hours by car.

Sustainability and accessibility 

Sustainability is central to operations, and they have built a team committed to fighting waste and plastic pollution. They have sourced sustainable amenities including shower caps and toothbrushes made from corn. There is no plastic in the rooms’ minibars, and they are working with a supplier to source reusable glass bottles.

Straws are made of bamboo, there are no individual portions of items like butter and jam, and they have a vegetable garden that produces the herbs they use in the kitchen (the garden will provide vegetables and fruit too, once they are ready to be harvested). Finally, protecting animals found in the hotel and its gardens, and giving them the best possible living conditions, is another of the hotel’s objectives. The hotel has accessible lifts, ramps, toilets, handholds, and beds.