Day Pass Spa Marrakech: Hammam, Jacuzzi & Massage

The Spa Vendôme is the in-house spa of Riad Vendôme, managed by the house.

What Is Included in the Spa Day Pass

• 🧎 Private traditional hammam: steam generator, black soap scrub, ghassoul clay
• 🛁 Heated jacuzzi at 36°C on the rooftop, panoramic view of the Atlas Mountains
• 💆 1h relaxation massage: argan oil, natural essential oils
• 🏊 Private pool access exclusively for your group

Day Pass Spa Packages

We also offer packages including an authentic Moroccan lunch at the riad: the Hammam + Massage + Lunch package at €68/pers offers a complete traditional spa experience, while the Massage + Jacuzzi + Lunch package at €68/pers is the relaxing alternative. Both lunches are prepared by Chef Naima at the riad. For a half-day option without spa treatments, see the Pool Day Pass with lunch at €38/pers.

Choosing This Hammam Day Pass in Marrakech

The Riad Vendôme hammam is an authentic oriental hammam - not a westernised imitation. Marble and tadelakt walls, traditional steam generator, genuine black soap from Fez. The massage rooms open onto the rooftop with views of the illuminated Koutoubia minaret. Unlike hotel spas, the entire space is privatised: only your group during your session, no strangers.

Spa Day Pass in Marrakech, explained

A spa day pass at Riad Vendôme lets you access the private spa facilities for a half-day session without booking a room. You get the traditional hammam (steam + black soap scrub + rhassoul gommage), a 1-hour massage (relaxing or toning), access to the private patio pool, and the option to add the rooftop jacuzzi at 36°C. Everything is privatised exclusively for your group, no strangers sharing the space.

The riad is located 7 minutes on foot from Jemaa El-Fna square in the Dar El Bacha neighbourhood, one of the finest parts of the medina. Sessions run morning (10:00-13:30) or afternoon (14:00-18:00), available from April to October.

Spa Day Pass Prices 2026-2027

½ Day Pass Spa, €60/person
Includes: hammam + black soap scrub + rhassoul + 1h massage + pool access. Jacuzzi: an option for guests staying at the riad. The standard spa day pass: complete and excellent value versus a 5-star hotel spa (€150-300).

½ Day Pass Prestige, €75/person
Includes: Moroccan lunch + hammam + scrub + 1h massage + pool. The same spa experience plus a traditional Moroccan lunch (tagine, salads, pastilla, mint tea) on the terrace.

Spa & Cooking Day Pass, €96/person
Includes: hammam + massage + pool + 3h Moroccan cooking class with Chef Naima. The most complete day, you leave knowing how to cook a tagine.

What a Traditional Moroccan Hammam Actually Is

If you have never set foot in one, the word hammam can suggest a sauna, a swimming pool or a beauty salon. It is none of those. A traditional Moroccan hammam is a room of tadelakt and marble filled with warm, wet steam, where the skin is softened by the heat and then washed by hand. It belongs to ordinary Moroccan life far more than to tourism: for generations people have gone to wash properly and to mark the rhythm of the week. The heat is moist rather than dry, the main difference from the northern European sauna most visitors know: a distinction set out in our note on the hammam compared with the sauna.

The Ritual, Step by Step

Knowing the order in advance removes most of the apprehension. This is the classical Moroccan sequence, and the one followed in our hammam.

• The steam. You sit on the warm bench while warm water is poured over you from a bucket. This stage exists only so the skin softens before anything is done to it.
• The black soap. Savon beldi is a dark, soft olive-based soap with the texture of a paste rather than a bar. It is spread over the body, left to sit in the steam, and does not lather: see our guide to Moroccan black soap.
• The exfoliation with the kessa glove. The part people ask about most. The kessa is a coarse woven mitt, worked over the body in firm, repeated strokes. Dead skin comes away in small grey rolls: this happens to everyone and is the point of the exercise, not a sign that anything is wrong.
• The rinse. Warm water again, generously, until everything has gone, the moment most guests say the body finally lets go.
• Clay and oil. Ghassoul clay may be applied and rinsed away in turn, then argan oil is worked into the skin, which feels smooth and slightly tight before it settles.
• The rest. You do not go straight back into the street: you cool down, drink mint tea, and let the heat leave at its own pace.

What It Feels Like, and What Surprises First-Timers

The heat is the first surprise and the easiest to manage. It builds gradually and is not oppressive; if it becomes too much you say so, step out, and go back in. Nobody is timing you. The scrub is the second surprise: firmer than most people expect from the word spa. Not painful, but not a caress either. Guests who like a firm massage love it at once; those with more delicate skin ask for it lighter, which simply changes how the glove is used. Say so at the start rather than enduring it politely.

The third surprise is how little conversation there is: a hammam is a quiet place, with no running commentary and no decisions to make once you are inside. The last is how the body reacts afterwards: most people come out heavy-limbed, warm and unwilling to do anything demanding, which is why we tell guests not to plan a long walk through the souks straight after. The tradition is to follow it with tea and stillness, as we explain on our page about the Moroccan hammam tradition.

Modesty, What to Wear, and What Is Provided

This is the question people are most reluctant to ask, and it has a simple answer. You keep your underwear on, or wear swimwear, a bikini bottom or swim shorts is what most guests choose. Full nudity is not expected. You are covered throughout apart from the areas being worked on, and the therapist is used to guests who are self-conscious on a first visit. Our session is private, which changes the question considerably: no strangers in the room, only the people you booked with and the therapist. Anyone who would rather go through it alone can say so when booking.

A Neighbourhood Hammam or a Private Riad Hammam?

Both are real, and they are not competing versions of the same thing. The public neighbourhood hammam is where Moroccans actually go: inexpensive, communal, separated by sex, and loud in a companionable way. You bring your own soap and glove or buy them at the door, and either scrub yourself or pay an attendant. It is the more authentic social experience, and travellers relaxed about a busy tiled room full of strangers often call it the highlight of their trip. It is also unadorned: no soft lighting, no tea at the end, very little English spoken.

The private riad hammam keeps the same ritual and the same products but changes the setting. The room is yours, the sequence is done for you, and it ends in a rest rather than a return to the street. For a first hammam, especially for anyone nervous about the undressing, the language or the unfamiliarity, it is the gentler doorway into the tradition. Neither is a lesser version of the other: one is a local institution you are visiting, the other the same ritual arranged around you.

Hammam Alone, Hammam and Massage, or the Fuller Package?

The hammam on its own suits anyone short of time, testing the experience before committing to more, or genuinely intending to go back out afterwards. It is complete in itself. Standalone rates are on our hammam prices page.

Hammam followed by a massage is what we recommend most often to first-timers, and the order matters: the steam and the scrub have already warmed and softened everything, so the massage that follows lands differently from one taken cold. Couples often book this as a massage for two, on tables side by side, and our treatments are listed on the spa and massage prices page.

The fuller package adds lunch and the pool, turning the visit into a half-day rather than an appointment. Choose it when the spa is the day rather than an item in it. What each formula contains is compared on our spa packages page.

Who Should Adapt the Ritual: Tell Us in Advance

A hammam is heat, steam and firm friction on the skin, and some circumstances call for it to be adapted. We cannot give health advice and nothing here is meant as any. We ask something simpler: tell us in advance, in writing, and we adjust what we can.

• Pregnancy. Tell us before booking. The heat and the scrub are usually adapted or set aside and an alternative proposed. We follow what your doctor or midwife has told you, not our own judgement.
• Sensitive, reactive or very dry skin, eczema or psoriasis. Say so and the glove is used lightly, on limited areas, or left out while the rest continues.
• Recent sunburn. The most common one in Marrakech. The scrub is not done over sunburnt skin: tell us on arrival, even if you did not know when you booked, and the session is reshaped.
• Recent waxing or laser treatment, new tattoos, cuts or grazes. Mention them and those areas are simply left alone.
• Heart, blood-pressure, circulatory or other conditions affected by heat. Please raise it with your doctor before your trip and tell us what you have been advised, so we can follow it.
• Children and older guests. Tell us the ages when booking so the heat and the length match who is coming.
• Anything you are unsure about. Send it on WhatsApp when you book. A message beforehand is always better than a difficult conversation at the door.

Say so during the session too, not only before. If the heat is too much, the pressure too firm, or you simply want to stop, say it and it stops.

How a Spa Day Works When You Are Not Staying at the Riad

Most people booking a day pass are staying elsewhere in the city, between flights, or already checked out. The visit is built for exactly that.

Arriving. The riad is inside the medina, where vehicles cannot reach every door, so you are met at the nearest drop-off point and walked in. You come in through the patio and are given mint tea before anything else, no reception queue, no paperwork. This is also the moment to mention anything from the section above, if you have not already written.

Changing and your belongings. A changing space is provided, and your clothes and bag stay inside the riad during the session rather than in a public locker room. If you arrive straight from a hotel checkout, or head to the airport afterwards, tell us in advance and your luggage is kept for you.

The pace, and leaving. A session runs as a morning or an afternoon, not a string of appointments to keep track of. The order is arranged for you, hammam first, treatment afterwards, the pool and the rest of the house in between, and the pauses are design, not dead time. Afterwards you dress in your own time and are walked back out. Guests with an evening flight often spend the end in the patio with tea rather than going back into the heat.

If a spa half-day is the reason you are coming, our spa day in Marrakech page sets out the same visit from that angle, and the spa riad in the medina page explains where we sit in the old town.

Spa Day Marrakech ·

Riad Vendôme is classified by the Moroccan Ministry of Tourism.

The day pass suits families travelling with children too: the pool and jacuzzi are accessible in our private garden, and a babysitter can be arranged on request (€30 at night, €20 during the day).

See also: Top 10 activities hen party · Budget detailed hen party · Where to go out at night · hen party Spa · Our treatments spa