Mandarin Oriental Jnan Rahma

The hotel opens the summer of 2011 on 131 pristine acres in the Palmeraie, the palm forest northeast of the city. The fantasy of Morocco-based expat American architect Stuart Church, the hotel bears a striking resemblance to the great Umaid Bhawan palace, in Jodhpur, India, with its 40-foot-high gilded ceilings. The bedrooms (the smallest is 750 square feet) have gold-leafed four-poster beds, bathrooms of white and gray marble, and terraces with daybeds looking out toward the forest and the Atlas Mountains. It’s no wonder the hotel was used as a location for Sex and the City 2 (though Marrakesh masquerades as someplace in the Middle East in the story line).