Marrakech: The Glamorous Moroccan Oasis Luring French A-Listers

Since 2019, top model and TV host Adriana Karembeu owns a luxurious hotel in Marrakech that impresses anyone who has the chance to stay in this establishment. It is the Palais Ronsard Relais & Châteaux, an establishment located just a few kilometers from the famous Jemaa el-Fna square. The hotel owes its name to the famous rose of Pierre de Ronsard, Adriana Karembeu’s favorite flower. "My ex-husband (Aram Ohanian) loved to receive guests. When we were planning the layout of our future house in Marrakech, he would tell me every day that he wanted to add rooms to accommodate this or that friend. One evening, I told him that at that rate, he’d better build a hotel," Adriana Karembeu confided in an interview with Gala.fr.

With his wife Jennifer, Gérard Lanvin owns a "heavenly house, surrounded by a magnificent property," the actor described in the columns of the Journal de la Maison on October 2, 2024. "Over there, our house with a garden, a vegetable garden and chickens is worth the price of a 2 m² in Paris," he also told Télé-Star in 2022. Between Gérard Lanvin and Morocco, it’s a love story that has lasted for many years. "People smile. I love the smells, cycling in the countryside and the sun is good for morale, skin, as well as knees and shoulders, where I’m starting to have pain. Normal, at 71 years old!" he confided. He has settled in the kingdom, but he continues to work in France.

Arielle Dombasle and Bernard-Henri Lévy (who have shared their lives since 1993) are also lovers of Marrakech. In the red city, the couple owns the Palais Zahia. They bought it back from Alain Delon in 1998. This former property of billionaire John Paul Getty Junior is laid out like a riad with a sumptuous decoration. The transaction is said to have amounted to 2 million euros.

Singer Vitaa is also among the stars who have a pied-à-terre in Marrakech. She owns a residence there called the Villa Benda, which includes a huge garden and large bay windows overlooking a pool, surrounded by palm trees and sun loungers.

Other French celebrities choose Marrakech to celebrate their weddings. In 2008, Jamel Debbouze celebrated his love (for Mélissa Theuriau) in a riad in Marrakech. In September 2011, host Moundir married his wife Inès in the Ochre City. Rachel Legrain-Trapani and Valentin Léonard celebrated their wedding on October 19 and 20, in the Agafay desert, about twenty kilometers from Marrakech. "We really wanted to be in our own bubble, far from everything, with all our guests and to be able to spend time with them," the beautiful brunette confided on Instagram, joining the list of Miss France married. Adriana Karembeu and her ex-husband Aram Ohanian had organized their wedding at the Palais Rhoul.