JOIN US THIS DECEMBER FOR A
MOROCCAN INTERIORS AND STYLING RETREAT
WITH SOPHIE ROBINSON
1st December – 5th December 2025
From €4,220 / £3,523 / $4,843 single occupancy
All prices are excluding flights & travel insurance
RETREAT HIGHLIGHTS
- Experience Marrakech with Sophie Robinson as your guide
- Four nights at El Fenn – named on Conde Nast Traveler’s Gold List 2024 as well as one of ‘26 exceptional hotels’ for The goop List 2024
- Four mini masterclasses with Sophie that include the artisan techniques and Moroccan design heritage, colour workshop and styling your home using El Fenn as your inspiration.
- Experience El Fenn’s ‘insiders’ Marrakech – our favourite places & artisanal makers
- Meet the creative team behind El Fenn & find out our interior design secrets
- Visit modern makers, the UNESCO-listed Marrakech medina & shop everything from rugs to ceramics
- Enjoy a one-of-a-kind tour of a stunning private Marrakech home
- All meals, pre-dinner cocktails, wine with dinner, airport transfers & transport are included
- Enjoy time for yourself to discover more about your passion for interiors & forge new friendships with people who share it
“El Fenn is a dream for colour lovers. And beyond its walls, there’s a city packed with creatives doing fascinating things.“
Interiors expert, TV presenter and podcast host Sophie Robinson hosted a series of sell out events at El Fenn last year. Now she’s back in 2025 for a four-day ‘Moroccan Design and Styling’ Retreat.
In a series of mini workshops, Sophie will be covering everything from Moroccan design to her signature colour masterclass. We’ll also be opening up our little black book of the city’s best interiors addresses.Think artisans, modern makers and everything from vintage furniture to tiles, textiles and lighting.
Plus, you’ll get a chance to meet the creative team behind El Fenn to find out how we put our look together and we’ll be sharing some of the city’s secret spots that we love the most.
Our aim is to take you behind the scenes of Marrakech’s dynamic interiors scene and give you access to places and spaces that most visitors never see.
The best bit? You’ll learn, get inspired and make friendships for life as you take time out for yourself to tap into your passion for interiors.
“El Fenn is a dream for colour lovers,’ says Sophie. ‘But beyond its walls, there’s a city packed with creatives doing fascinating things. And the thing I love most is that we’ll discover all that together.’
The Moroccan Design and Styling Retreat runs Monday 1st to Friday 5th December. Prices start at €4,220 / £3,523 / $4,843 for a small room and include all meals, pre-dinner cocktails and wine with dinner, trips out & transport plus airport transfers. Here are all the details.
YOUR RETREAT ITINERARY
Day 1
Check in to one of our gorgeous rooms before a welcome lunch in the sunshine on our rooftop. El Fenn’s interiors have earned us mentions everywhere from Architectural Digest to Vogue so you’ll start to discover them on an afternoon tour of the hotel before gathering for sunset cocktails and a candlelit dinner on the El Fenn rooftop with Sophie where you’ll get to know each other more over some great food – and wine.
Day 2
This day focuses on Morocco’s artisans and their amazing skills. After breakfast, you’ll sit down with Sophie to learn about her love affair with Moroccan design heritage and traditional crafts such as zellige tiling and tadelakt plasterwork. Then it’s off to the historic medina to discover the souk and see artisans working on everything from metal to leather. After lunch at one of our favourite art and eating spaces overlooking the UNESCO-listed Djemaa el Fna square, you’ll head out of town for a one-of-a-kind tour of one of Marrakech’s most stunning private homes which is packed with design inspiration. Dinner that night is at Villa Aaron, a restaurant housed in a traditional riad with gorgeous interiors.
Day 3
Today you’ll discover the now and the next in Marrakech’s buzzing creative scene. Enjoy breakfast on the terrace before your second workshop with Sophie which will focus on discovering your unique colour identity – what makes your heart sing and your home feel unique. Then it’s off to Sidi Ghanem, a former industrial area which is now packed with large ateliers where some of Marrakech’s most exciting modern makers work. Think rugs, lighting, pottery and art that interpret Morocco’s heritage through a modern lens. After down time in the afternoon, you’ll head off into the medina again for dinner at a restaurant we’ve chosen not just for its food and atmosphere, but its stunning interiors too.
Day 4
It’s time to put everything in practice and today starts with a masterclass from Sophie on devoted to styling and how to shop for pieces that will translate well in your home. Then you’ll visit one of Marrakech’s best-known interiors addresses – a labyrinth of rooms packed with lanterns, carpets, furnitures and accessories – before visiting one of our favourite carpet dealers who’ll talk you through the key rug styles and history of this ancient craft. After lunch at El Fenn and some downtime, join Sophie and El Fenn’s artistic director to a styling workshop covering everything from accessories to tablescaping. The day will end with cocktails and a final gala dinner at El Fenn.
Day 5
Soak up the blue skies over breakfast before a final word from Sophie. What have you loved the most? What’s got you inspired? And how will you take what you’ve learned back home? Then it’s time to head off for your flight. Or stay on for another couple of nights at El Fenn.
BOOKING
Booking opens via email at 10am on Wednesday 2nd June. Email subscribers will get early access to booking.
Email your name and preferred room size to request a place. We’ll contact you for payment via email or phone to confirm your place.
Places are limited to 16 people and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
ABOUT SOPHIE
Sophie Robinson is known as the ‘Queen of Colour’ and has worked in interior design for over 20 years across broadcast, print and digital media. You might know her from her hit podcast The Great Indoors, or Instagram – where she’s got 240,000 followers – or because she’s designed hit collections for Harlequin and Dunelm. Sophie presented BBC2’s The Great Interior Design Challenge from 2014 to 2017 and is now a regular guest judge on BBC 1’s Interior Design Masters. What it all comes down to though is this: banning the beige and inspiring everyone to find the unique colour personality that brings true joy to your home.
ABOUT EL FENN
El Fenn opened in 2004 and has captured the imagination of a generation of travellers ever since with its trademark design: one part bohemian, another luxury, always a celebration of Moroccan craftsmanship. This unique feeling of home-away-from-home meets cool has seen it namechecked everywhere from Vogue to Architectural Digest. We’ve also been included on Conde Nast Traveler’s Gold List four times and The goop List 2024.
ACCOMMODATION
All our rooms feature our signature blend of traditional Moroccan artisanal decoration meets a mix of vintage and contemporary furniture and art from the El Fenn private collection. Colour-soaked and playful, each one is unique. You’ll also have access to our three swimming pools and gorgeous spa if you want to book some extra treatments.
Room categories include:
SMALL ROOMS – These colour drenched rooms in the original house all have a tadelakt bath with an overhead shower (some with an open bathroom).
Price for a small room, single occupancy. €4,220 / £3,523 / $4,843
MEDIUM ROOMS – each of these more spacious rooms has a king size bed, small seating area, open fire and either an oversized bathtub or a walk-in shower.
Price for a medium room, single occupancy. €4,671 / £3,899 / $5,361
LARGE ROOMS – larger rooms with a substantial indoor or outdoor seating area plus an open wood fire. Each has an oversized bathtub with a separate shower.
Price for a large room, single occupancy. €5,121 / £4,276 / $5,879
EXTRA LARGE ROOMS – the ultimate in El Fenn style. These huge rooms are sumptuously styled with a large lounge area, open fireplace and a separate large bathroom.
Price for an extra large room, single occupancy. €5,345 / £4,463 / $6,136
All our rooms feature our signature blend of traditional Moroccan artisanal decoration meets a mix of vintage and contemporary furniture and art from the El Fenn private collection. Colour-soaked and playful, each one is unique. You’ll also have access to our three swimming pools and gorgeous spa if you want to book some extra treatments.
Room categories include:
SMALL ROOMS – These colour drenched rooms in the original house all have a tadelakt bath with an overhead shower (some with an open bathroom).
Price for a small room, single occupancy. €4,220 / £3,523 / $4,843
MEDIUM ROOMS – each of these more spacious rooms has a king size bed, small seating area, open fire and either an oversized bathtub or a walk-in shower.
Price for a medium room, single occupancy. €4,671 / £3,899 / $5,361
LARGE ROOMS – larger rooms with a substantial indoor or outdoor seating area plus an open wood fire. Each has an oversized bathtub with a separate shower.
Price for a large room, single occupancy. €5,121 / £4,276 / $5,879
EXTRA LARGE ROOMS – the ultimate in El Fenn style. These huge rooms are sumptuously styled with a large lounge area, open fireplace and a separate large bathroom.
Price for an extra large room, single occupancy. €5,345 / £4,463 / $6,136
YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
The programme on day one of the retreat with Sophie starts with lunch at 1pm, so either take an early flight or arrive at El Fenn the day before.
- All your meals at El Fenn plus restaurants we’ve picked for their great food – and interior style
- Pre-dinner cocktails and wine with dinner.
- Sophie’s mini masterclasses
- Your trips outside El Fenn
- Airport transfers & transport
- Your flights
- Any extra alcohol or spa treatments
Absolutely! If you want to arrive the day before the retreat starts – or stay on for a night or two afterwards to explore Marrakech a bit more then we’ll be offering retreat attendees a 15% discount on our best rates.
Feel good, bright sunny days. The average temperature in December is between 20-23C (65-75F) so think blue skies and t-shirt weather. It’s also wise to layer up because the nights at this time of year are cooler and even during the day you’ll be moving between the heat of the sun to cooler inside spaces.
Bring comfortable clothes to wear in the day because you’ll be doing some walking. And then for evening it’s all about a bit of glitz and glamour. Bring a warm layer to add over your outfit because you might walk to the restaurant or sit on a roof terrace. A full packing list will be sent to you ahead of the retreat.
Not much. The interior design retreat is pretty action packed because there’s so much we want to show you. Each day though, we’ve factored in 1.5-2 hours of downtime so that you can rest, have a hammam or just relax.
You can cancel anytime up to 8 weeks before the start date of the retreat to receive a refund of your deposit minus 5% administration fee.
IS THERE SOMETHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE TO KNOW?
