Aqua Fun Club Marrakech

We stayed at Pickalbatros Aqua Fun Club Marrakech for a week at the end of September/beginning of October, travelling as a group of five, including our 6-year-old daughter.

Overall, we had a good holiday and our daughter absolutely loved the water park, but the hotel itself was a mixed experience. For the price we paid, I’d describe it as a decent budget-friendly family resort rather than a true 5-star experience.

Location

The hotel is around a 30-minute drive from Marrakech and is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. There are no shops, restaurants or other attractions within walking distance.

You can get into Marrakech using the hotel shuttle, which runs twice a day, or arrange a taxi from the lobby. We paid 400 MAD (around £32) for a return taxi journey to Marrakech.

Check-in

We arrived quite late, at around 10pm, and were pleasantly surprised by how efficient check-in was. Within about 15 minutes we had our keys and a member of staff took us to our room. We had enough time to drop off our luggage and still get back for the evening entertainment.

Rooms & housekeeping

The rooms are large and spacious. Ours had two large beds plus a proper full-size bed for our daughter rather than a small extra bed. There’s plenty of storage, the air conditioning worked well and we had a balcony.

One small improvement would be somewhere to properly hang wet swimwear and towels to dry.

Unfortunately, housekeeping was probably the biggest negative of our stay. Cleaning was very basic, particularly in the bathroom. We also had strong reason to believe that pillowcases and some of the bedding weren’t being changed regularly, but were instead being turned over or moved between the beds, as we recognised previous marks from make-up and sun cream/oil.

Leaving a tip didn’t seem to make any difference. The tip disappeared, but the standard of cleaning remained exactly the same. We weren’t expecting towel swans or anything fancy – just more thorough cleaning and properly changed bedding.

General cleanliness

Outside the rooms, things were considerably better. The hotel grounds were generally clean and every morning there were plenty of staff cleaning the communal areas.

During the day you occasionally saw plates left around or restaurant tables waiting to be cleared, but this wasn’t a major issue for us. The hotel also wasn’t overcrowded during our stay, so there was plenty of space around the pools and in the restaurants.

Food

There’s plenty of food and everyone should be able to find something they like. You certainly won’t leave the restaurant hungry, but don’t expect a huge amount of variety or a “wow” factor.

There are plenty of local vegetables, while the choice of meat, seafood and desserts is more limited. During our week we only saw seafood a couple of times, mainly small prawns.

I wouldn’t say the food is bad – it’s simply average and becomes fairly repetitive. If this is your first all-inclusive holiday, you’ll probably be perfectly happy with it. If you’ve stayed at quite a few all-inclusive resorts around Southern Europe or North Africa, the food probably won’t impress you.

Bars & drinks

There are plenty of bars and we rarely had to queue during our stay. Coffee, soft drinks and cocktails are readily available.

There’s a decent choice of cocktails, although the alcohol is very weak – you’d probably need to drink a bucket of them to feel anything 😄. That said, this isn’t particularly unusual for this type of all-inclusive resort.

Pools & water park – definitely the BIGGEST PLUS

This is where the hotel really does well.

There are loads of pools and water slides, with plenty for younger children, older children and adults. Some of the slides are showing their age a little, but everything worked and did the job. Lifeguards were present and we had no concerns about safety.

The water park operates roughly from 10am until 6pm, although you can use the pools earlier. On our first day we waited until 10am because we didn’t realise you could get into the pools before then, but after that we were usually in from around 9am.

As we visited at the end of September/beginning of October, there was absolutely no battle for sunbeds. Whether we arrived at 9am, 10am or even around midday, we could always find somewhere to sit.

There’s plenty going on throughout the day as well – aqua aerobics, Zumba, darts, archery, various games and foam parties for both children and adults. If you enjoy joining in with daytime activities, you certainly won’t be bored.

Families with children

In terms of facilities, this is a very good hotel for families. The sheer number of pools and slides means children have plenty to keep them occupied throughout the day.

We didn’t use the Kids Club as we prefer spending our holiday together with our daughter and spent most of our time with her around the pools and water slides. We did see the Kids Club and playground facilities, though.

Evening entertainment

Unfortunately, this was one of the biggest disappointments for us.

The evening entertainment is very poor, particularly for children. The kids’ show basically consisted of a handful of songs and then it was over.

We’ve stayed in many resorts across Southern Europe and North Africa and this was easily one of the weakest evening entertainment programmes we’ve experienced.

For us, this matters because good evening entertainment is a big part of the holiday atmosphere. It’s even more important here because the hotel is in the middle of nowhere, so you can’t simply walk out in the evening and explore the surrounding area. In our opinion, the hotel really needs to improve this side of things.

Hotel grounds

The resort itself is large with plenty of greenery. The gardens are nicely maintained and there’s lots of open space, pools and additional facilities. There are also tennis courts towards the front of the resort.

It never really felt as though everyone was squeezed into one area, which was a definite positive.

Wi-Fi, spa & gym

The Wi-Fi worked surprisingly well and we had no major issues with it.

We didn’t use the spa. The gym is similar to what you’ll find in most holiday resorts – nothing particularly special, but perfectly adequate if you want to get a workout in while you’re away.

Exchanging money

You can exchange money at the hotel if you need cash straight away, but the rate wasn’t particularly good.

We exchanged £40 and received 460 MAD. We later found a noticeably better exchange rate in Marrakech. Based on our experience, I’d only exchange a small amount at the hotel if you need cash immediately and change larger amounts in the city.

Marrakech & excursions

Because of the hotel’s location, most things outside the resort require transport.

We did a day trip into Marrakech and also a few hours of buggy riding in the desert, both of which were a nice change from staying around the hotel.

There are other excursions available, including hot-air balloon rides and trips to the Atlas Mountains, although your options can obviously be slightly more limited when travelling with a young child.

Value for money

This is where expectations matter. It’s essentially a budget-friendly all-inclusive holiday, so comparing it with a Hilton or a genuine luxury 5-star resort wouldn’t really be fair.

For what we paid, the hotel was OK and it does have some genuinely strong points.

Biggest positives: the huge water park and number of slides, lots of swimming pools, very good facilities for families, plenty of green space, no issues finding sunbeds during our stay and good Wi-Fi.

Biggest negatives: housekeeping and room cleanliness, limited variety of food, very poor evening entertainment and the isolated location.

Would we return?

Probably not.

That doesn’t mean we had a bad holiday. We enjoyed ourselves, our daughter had a brilliant time on the water slides and, considering what we paid, the hotel largely did what we expected it to do.

However, next time we’d choose somewhere with better housekeeping, more varied food and, most importantly for us, a much stronger evening entertainment programme.

Overall, I’d give Pickalbatros Aqua Fun Club Marrakech 3.5/5.

It’s a good budget-friendly choice for families with children, particularly if pools and water slides are your main priority. If you’re looking for high-end rooms, excellent food and a strong evening entertainment programme, I’d look at other options.

Great place to stay at, good entertainment, enough swimming pools to enjoy the day, with the food you can get a taste of the tajines and easy to get to the city centre