Story
Imaginary Museum
The Villa Mandarine is the story of a french family that has settled in Morocco for generations.
When Claudy Imbert inherited part of the orange grove that her father created, she had a house built that was large enough to welcome her family, surrounded it by a garden with a pool and then set out to maintain and care for the 700 citrus trees.
Then came the time, in the 90s, when all the chicks had left the coop, the house became too big, the groove too difficult to manage. That is when the Lady of the House, who was sharing her time between Rabat for business and Paris, where she taught Art History, decided to transform her home into a hotel.
This totally new enterprise was in fact guided by a childhood dream, inspired by the warm memories of growing up in the hotel atmosphere of her father’s famous establishment in Ifrane.
It took two years of hard work for the dream to become reality : the living room kept his original purpose, but the dining room became the billard room, the master bedroom overlooking the garden, became one of the most appreciated conference room, the kitchen and ante rooms became the bar.
The huge garden had ample space for the construction of the restaurant, kitchen and of all the guest rooms arranged around the patio of flowers.
It wasn’t long before Claudy’s daughters had convinced their husbands to leave Europe and return to become partners in the adventure, opening the Villa Mandarine’s doors to its first clients in 2001.
15 years down the line, in order to capitalize on the experience gained with running the hotel, the family decided to open another location for its faithful customers in brand new settings.
Located in the heart of the Rabat medina , the ryad style property "Dar Shâân - by Villa Mandarine" opened its doors in the fall of 2017.
When Claudy Imbert inherited part of the orange grove that her father created, she had a house built that was large enough to welcome her family, surrounded it by a garden with a pool and then set out to maintain and care for the 700 citrus trees.
Then came the time, in the 90s, when all the chicks had left the coop, the house became too big, the groove too difficult to manage. That is when the Lady of the House, who was sharing her time between Rabat for business and Paris, where she taught Art History, decided to transform her home into a hotel.
This totally new enterprise was in fact guided by a childhood dream, inspired by the warm memories of growing up in the hotel atmosphere of her father’s famous establishment in Ifrane.
It took two years of hard work for the dream to become reality : the living room kept his original purpose, but the dining room became the billard room, the master bedroom overlooking the garden, became one of the most appreciated conference room, the kitchen and ante rooms became the bar.
The huge garden had ample space for the construction of the restaurant, kitchen and of all the guest rooms arranged around the patio of flowers.
It wasn’t long before Claudy’s daughters had convinced their husbands to leave Europe and return to become partners in the adventure, opening the Villa Mandarine’s doors to its first clients in 2001.
15 years down the line, in order to capitalize on the experience gained with running the hotel, the family decided to open another location for its faithful customers in brand new settings.
Located in the heart of the Rabat medina , the ryad style property "Dar Shâân - by Villa Mandarine" opened its doors in the fall of 2017.
Her background in Art History inspired our owner to cover the walls of each room with famous paintings ranging from primitive to contemporary resulting in about 400 replicas from Grand Masters.
As a balancing act , the walls from the reception area are dedicated to original pieces from current Moroccan painters .
As a balancing act , the walls from the reception area are dedicated to original pieces from current Moroccan painters .