Gardens of Marrakech: Featuring the Garden of Yves Saint Laurent

Depart at 09:25 from London Heathrow on flight BA0668, arriving in Menara, Marrakech Airport at 14:00. We transfer to La Maison Arabe, with time to settle in and relax before dinner in the colonnaded riad garden, at which delicious Moroccan wines will be served.

We start the day with a short walk to Dar Bacha, an iconic landmark in the Medina, a beautifully resorted royal palace and classical Islamic courtyard garden.

Continuing our walk through the Medina, we come to Tom Stuart-Smith’s le Jardin, in which the designer has created a 21st-century perspective on both the Islamic garden and post-colonial plantsmanship.

Following a light lunch at the Café Arabe’s famed rooftop restaurant, we visit a secluded private garden of stunning contemporary design on the outskirts of the city. A free evening follows to explore the wonderful dining possibilities Marrakech has to offer.

Today we head to the French quarter of the city to discover the beautiful colours, textures and spaces created by and for Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé. La Majorelle is a rhapsody of intense plantsmanship and artistry, incorporating the exquisite Berber museum housed in Cubist artist Jacques Majorelle’s former studio. We continue to the stunning new museum, dedicated to the lifetime creations of Saint-Laurent, just a few yards away from the famous garden.

We are then privileged to be invited for a private viewing of Villa Oasis. One of the world’s most-heavenly gardens, it is studded with pale blue, lime green and soft yellow pots: a citrus garden, lily pool, and shaded walkways. A special lunch is included in our visit later this afternoon, and we assemble in the famous Churchill Bar to stroll through the lovely gardens of La Mamounia where we dine in one of the hotel's celebrated restaurants.

An hour's drive into the foothills of the Atlas Mountains brings us to Olinto. Here, the former owner of La Maison Arabe, Prince Fabrizio Ruspoli, has created an astonishingly beautiful retreat for musicians and other guests seeking discreet luxury in a breathtakingly beautiful setting. Following a tour of the gardens we are invited to a delightful lunch in the central building.

We then travel cross country to visit Anima, a garden created in the past decade by the multi-media Austrian artist, André Heller. Extravagant, colourful and filled with daring combinations of plants and sculptures, this is a garden designed to stimulate all the senses.

A quiet morning at leisure is followed by a walk to the very new Fondation des Arts de la Parure, close to the Bahia Palace. Lunch is served on the roof terrace in the garden designed by Marcus Boulesteix.

We continue to Jnane Tamsna in the Palmeraie district to meet ethnobotanist Dr Gary Martin and his wife, the designer Meryanne Loloum. Following a walk through Dr Martin’s garden, now dedicated to water-wise horticulture using traditional Moroccan methods of water conservation, we have a special invitation to a wonderful dinner with this very special couple.

We start the day with a visit to The Thiemann Cactus Nursery, the largest succulent collection in Africa, and a verdant oasis in the desert just a short distance from Marrakech. We take our return journey to Marrakech, Menara Airport for flight BA2667 departing at 14:35pm, arriving at London Heathrow at 17:15.