Botanical gardens with rooms, privacy and hospitality outside Taroudant.

Passionate about gardens, Ollivier Verra wanted to have a pied- a- terre in Morocco after many years of traveling across the country. After first considering Meknes, he finally inclined for Taroudant, as winters in Meknes can be somewhat chilly and wet. His passion for exotic gardens resulted in Dar Al Hossoun, that feels more like botanical gardens with rooms than a boutique hotel with gardens. In an interview, Ollivier said that the guests ‘live inside- out throughout the year’ and you know he’s serious when you have to step into your own private garden from your bedroom in order to have a shower.

The gardens are host to 900 species of different plants, some of them unique in Africa. There are not one but two pools, a hammam and massage area, a lounge with library, a restaurant mixing Moroccan and foreign recipes and plenty of places where you can just sit down and read a book. The 5 standard rooms, 5 superior rooms, 2 junior suites and 4 suites are spread around three different areas. Some are closer to the main living space and some more secluded but all give onto the gardens. The rooms are stylish but understated, the pise ( adobe) walls and surfaces finished in tadelakt of natural white or muted earthy browns to complement the gardens. The whole place is simply but beautifully adorned with Mediterranean pottery and rare Middle Eastern carpets, as well as locally sourced furniture. If you can afford it, go for the Atlas suite. Alcohol is served on site. Best visited all year round.