How the Royal Mansour does wellness: a detox at one of the best hotels in the world

Can a three-day micro-nutrition break at the five-star Royal Mansour hotel in Marrakech help cure your digestive problems?
Emma Justice22 February 2020

My name is Emma and I’m a cheese-aholic. I also love bread and can’t say no to a slice of cake plus two spoonfuls in my morning brew. Sadly these addictions - to gluten, sugar and dairy basically - mean I’m at least a stone overweight, regularly feel bloated and suffer the occasional bout of IBS.

I knew I had to do something about it but also thought it would be painful to change the (bad) habits of a lifetime. I was wrong - about the painful part anyway.

The Royal Mansour hotel in Marrakech recently launched an exclusive nutrition-based wellness break which promises to beat bloating and other digestive disorders, as well as stress and anxiety, in five-star style. This opulent Moorish retreat has established itself as one of the finest places to stay in the world - the sixth best to be precise - and the ‘Best Hotel in Africa’ according to Conde Nast Traveller readers. It’s a fabulously luxurious place to deprive yourself and I can’t wait to check in. Because if you’re going to give up your indulgences then you may as well do it somewhere indulgent, right?

The hotel’s new three-day nutrition ‘cures’ are run by Paris-based nutritionist Valérie Espinasse, whose diet advice has been featured in French Vogue, and who counts France’s most glamorous actresses, sports stars and media personalities amongst her clients. But this is not a faddy diet - Valérie aims to correct the balance of micro-nutrients - basically vitamins and minerals - in your gut for optimum health and give practical advice for long-term diet changes.

The spa at the Royal Mansour (Royal Mansour)

Valérie jets in to the Royal Mansour once a month to give guests personalised treatment plans and if you want yours even more finely-tuned you can go for a food-intolerance blood test in London before or after your stay.

I’m picked up from the airport in a gold Bentley, one of the hotel’s fleet of luxury cars, and whisked through the hotel’s opulent gates to check in. The 53 rooms here are more like self-contained houses, each one entirely unique and, like the hotel itself, covered in intricate mosaics, opulent silks, rare Italian marble and beautifully carved cedar wood.

In mine, a one-bedroom riad set over three floors, there’s an entrance courtyard with a fountain tiled in delicate pale green, a downstairs living area with more scatter cushions than Habitat, and a desk filled with my own gold-embossed personalised stationary. My bedroom ‘suite’ is on the second floor and has a walk-in wardrobe, creamy marble bath and huge shower. If that’s not enough there’s a plunge pool on the roof, from where you can just about make out Djemaa el Fna square, a short walk from the hotel, and hear the enchanting call to prayer in the distance. I make a mental note to lounge around it in a kaftan later.

This must also be one of the few hotels which has bedside alarm clocks by Balenciaga and ‘Lady Mansour’ mules, designed exclusively for the hotel by Christian Louboutin. I’m told that later in the year there will be a Royal Mansour djellaba designed by John Galliano, too, all of which bring new meaning to the idea of accessorising with a hotel.

But now it’s time to head to the spa for my first consultation with Valérie (you get one at the end of your stay too). This elaborate, all-white multi-storey temple to the art of pampering is - quite literally - fit for a King as the Royal Mansour is owned by the King of Morocco.

The spice kitchen (Royal Mansou)

I wait for Valérie in the spa's spectacular white atrium which resembles a gigantic filigree birdcage, and am ushered into one of its elegant sun-dappled side rooms to see her. Over a glass of fresh Moroccan mint tea grown in the hotel’s garden, she quizzes me about everything from my daily diet to my morning bowel movements, sleep patterns and menstrual cycle. It’s like chatting to a very knowledgable friend (albeit a very chic French one) and although she confirms my worst fears - that I should cut out bread, sugar, cheese and alcohol - her advice is also realistic. If I do want a slice of toast I can have sourdough (it contains less gluten) and if I swap normal milk for oat-milk in my morning brew it should be sweet enough to stop me missing my usual two spoons (it is!). Plus the good news is if I must drink alcohol, and sometimes I really must, then Champagne is the healthiest option. Cheers Valérie!

But for the next three days I can simply choose the wellness cuisine dishes that Valérie has devised with the hotel’s three-Michelin starred chef Yannick Alléno. You can have these in each of the hotel’s four fabulous restaurants - La Grande Table Marocaine, where I enjoy a healthy seafood tangine, Asian-inspired Le Jardin by the pool, where the sashimi and sushi are delicious, and Mediterranean-influenced La Table, where I sip oat-milk coffee under the olive trees. So far, so easy! The new Italian, Sesamo, which opened at the end of 2019, will also offer dishes recommended by Valérie. Forget the 5:2 regime, this is the world’s first ‘gastro diet’ and while I don’t lose any weight over the three-days, I do feel less bloated and less stressed - although that could be down to staying in absolute luxury.

I’m also prescribed a daily detoxifying body wrap and Chi Nei Tsang, a 60-minute blend of Thai and Chinese massage that concentrates solely on your stomach. I can’t say that this is particularly pleasurable, nobody really likes having their stomach massaged, but it does seem to get things moving and therefore kickstarts my sluggish digestion. Plus if you want to pamper yourself you can book in for nail treatments by ‘pedicure prince’ Bastien Gonzalez, who has tended the trotters of Gwyneth Paltrow, Naomi Campbell and Robert DeNiro. There are also massages by Sisley or Dr Hauschka and two-hour Hammam rituals that eave your skin feeling softer than the silk drapes surrounding you.

Restful days by the spa pool (Royal Mansour)

I waft out of the spa full of good intentions even if I do realise that this new diet is far easier to follow when it’s being cooked by Michelin-starred chefs and I’m being treated like a queen. I know that when I get back to a rather cold and rainy London it’s going to be harder to follow but then there’s always that glass of Champagne to cheer me up!

Details

One bedroom riads at the Royal Mansour (royalmansour.com) start from £900 per night. Three-day nutrition programme with Valérie Espinasse from £513 per day including personalised programme, wellness meals and treatments.