PALATIAL ELEGANCE AT THE FAIRMONT TANGIER
For a cultural getaway to Morocco, Tangier’s Fairmont Tazi Palace offers the perfect base. Wendy Rigg basks in five-star luxury and explores everything this legendary port city has to offer...
From the moment you set foot in Tangier, you’ll feel like you’re on a film set. And that’s because you are: The Bourne Ultimatum, Only Lovers Left Alive, and the James Bond movies The Living Daylights and Spectre were all filmed here.
My accommodation – the sumptuous Fairmont Tazi Palace – is no less cinematic, thanks to its soulful Moroccan décor, private gardens and eyrie-like location overlooking Tangier. My arrival also had me feeling like a film star too.
A friendly driver was waiting at Tangier Airport (instantly assuaging my fears about being a solo traveler arriving late at night). A 20-minute ride later, I was stepping into Fairmont Tazi Palace’s breezy lobby, and being handed a refreshing strawberry lemonade. From here, I could spy people supping cocktails in the hotel’s Beat Generation-accented Innocents bar (don’t believe the moniker: the Fairmont Taxi describes it as a “space that’s anything but innocent”), soaking up its jazzy vibes.
However, it was late, and my suite beckoned. The coffee table was festooned with dainty Moroccan pastries, a bowl of fruit and a bottle of wine. The pastries were a sure-fire gateway to sugar rushes and sleeplessness, but what the heck.
For those susceptible to sugar-induced insomnia, the Fairmont Tazi Palace is a great place to be wide-awake in the small hours. From the balcony, you can gaze endlessly at the white city of Tangier illuminated by moonlight, with the Strait of Gibraltar unfurling beyond. Or you could marinade in the elegant bathtub beside a large-arched Moroccan window, dreaming about what tomorrow might bring…
A former palace built in the 1920s, the Fairmont Tazi Palacae has been restored to its original opulence. Walking around the palatial grounds the following morning, I admired its palatial architecture before enjoying a swim in its cabana-fringed pool.
Breakfasts are served in Crudo, where guests tuck into yet more of Morocco’s heavenly pastries. Seafood is what Crudo does best however, with the lunchtime’s catch-of-the-day arriving fresh from the port.
My pick, however, was Parisa with its Persian/Moroccan cuisine. The Zeytoon Parvarde starter is a mouth-wateringcombination of crushed olives, walnuts and pomegranate syrup. Meanwhile, the Mahi Kabab seabass fillet marinated in saffron and fresh lime is delightful, while Bastani-Ye Akbar Mashti saffron ice cream with pistachio is equally sublime. As we exit, Issam, our maître-d for the night, tells us he’ll be DJ-ing in the Innocents bar until 1am. It’d be rude not to join him…
Fortunately, the Fairmont Tazi Palace has rooftop yoga sessions and a fitness studio to exercise off these calories, while its world-class spa offers respite for those feeling delicate (tips: use the facial using calmative marocMaroc products).
Do leave the hotel, though. Tangier’s medina is a hypnotising labyrinth of alleyways crammed with traditional homes and tiny shops full of treasures. It’s surrounded by the walls of a 15th-century Portuguese fortress with its Insta-friendly blue and green arched doorways, ancient banyan trees and beautiful bougainvillea.
Experiences are big in Tangier. One of the most rewarding is enjoying a fresh orange juice at Café Salon Bleu, above the Kasbah. Situated in the former stables of the Sultan’s Palace, guests climb a spiral metal staircase to the rooftop where they can take in sweeping views of Tangier Bay and the Straits of Gibraltar. Café Salon Bleu is loaded with literary history: Samuel Pepys wrote under the fig tree just next to the small courtyard, Francis Bacon had a studio on the same street, and Rolling Stones stayed nearby when they visited in 1967. The décor is a writer’s dream too: think blue ceramic plates, a retro blue radio on a shelf in a corner, a framed Spanish Elle cover and you get the idea. In fact, Tangier’s Kasbah has long inspired writers and artists, particularly beatnik literati such as Jack Kerouac, Jean Genet and William Burroughs.
Down at Tangier’s souq, you can pick up inexpensive ceramic dishes, Moroccan slippers, kaftans, and gorgeous baskets. A must-visit is Fondue Cherja, in the Weavers’ Market, where you can watch weavers making colourful bedspreads and rugs using the same wooden looms that they’ve used since the early-1900s. It’s an atmospheric place, with weavers offering you mint tea and always ready to barter. A rug or a bedspread can take up to four days to make, and many of the men have their sons and grandsons working alongside them.
The Fairmont Tazi Palace can curate these experiences and more, as well as excursions to the blue city of Chefchaouen (two hours’ away), horse-riding on Achakar beach, local cookery classes, plus even a trip to Europe, visiting the kitesurfing mecca of Tarifa in Spain (just a 40-minute ferry-ride across the Strait of Gibraltar).
Tangier can feel like a celluloid fever-dream, but one thing’s sure: its many stars – whether the bustling medina or Fairmont Tazi Palace – shine far more incandescently than anything you’ll find at the Oscars.