La Mamounia vs Royal Mansour

Our editorial take

Both are palaces, and that is roughly where the similarity stops. La Mamounia is theatrical: twenty acres of garden, Art Deco bones, and a century of hosting people whose names you already know. It works best above 100 guests and rewards couples who want the day to feel like an event. Royal Mansour runs on the opposite instinct. Fifty-three private riads behind a wall, each with its own courtyard and plunge pool, built so that nobody sees anyone they did not invite. It takes up to 200 and still feels smaller than it is. La Mamounia's kitchen is French-Moroccan, Royal Mansour's holds a Michelin star. Both want twelve to eighteen months for a peak weekend, and I would hold the date before I settled the guest list, not after.