The Night Manager hotels and filming locations
Credit: Des Willie/ BBC
Zoe Johnson, Travel Writer
18 March 2016 • 4:32pm
The impressively lavish filming locations for BBC’s big-budget adaptation of John le Carré’s 1993 novel The Night Manager have garnered as much attention as its high-calibre cast.
We round up the hotels and filming locations featured in the show, as well as providing some tips on how to experience some of the spots that provide the backdrop to the action.
1. Nefertiti Hotel, Cairo, Egypt
The grandiose ‘Nefertiti Hotel’ where we first meet Jonathan Pine holding his post as night manager in episode one is not actually in Cairo - or Egypt - at all, but is in fact filmed in the opulent Es Saadi Gardens & Resort in the Hivemage area of Marrakech.
Overlooked by the Atlas mountains, Es Saadi boasts 20 acres of beautiful gardens, 83 suites and 10 private villas, and the only Dior Institute spa outside of Paris.
According to the supervising location manager, Tom Howard, guests staying at Es Saadi during filming were confused by changes to the interiors made by the production crew - so much so that many guests would return from a day's sightseeing only to question whether they were in fact in the right hotel.
Read the full review: Es Saadi Gardens & Resort
Es Saadi Resort & Spa, Marrakech
The best hotels in Marrakech
2. Richard Roper's Majorcan Villa
The sprawling clifftop villa from which Richard ‘the worst man in the world’ Roper conducts his business is 17th-century fortress-turned-private holiday home, Sa Fortaleza, that looms over the Bay of Pollença in the north of Majorca.
Originally built as a fort to protect the island against Barbary pirates in 1628, the 20,000 metre-squared estate comprises six villas, two swimming pools and vast gardens. It became Spain’s most expensive property when British banker Lord James Lupton acquired it for an estimated €40 million in 2011.
Whilst the historic fort itself is not available to rent, its commanding peninsula-top position can be spotted from the surrounding bay.
Barceló Formentor, Majorca
For Balearic luxury and similarly spectacular views of the Tramuntana mountains, Belmond La Residencia (formerly owned by Richard Branson) is also conveniently located near the picturesque restaurant C’as Patro March, on the cliffs above Cala Deià, that features in episode two.
Read the full review: Belmond La Residencia
Belmond La Residencia, Deià, Mallorca
The best hotels in Majorca
3. Meisters Hotel, Zermatt
In episode two we see Pine working in another luxurious hotel when he is recruited by intelligence officer Angela Burr; this time in the exclusive Swiss resort of Zermatt.
The hotel itself is entirely fictional and most interior shots were filmed on a set in London - save for Burr’s interview with Pine - which took place in the dining room of the resort's Chalet Hoel Schonegg.
Chalet Hotel Schönegg, Zermatt, Switzerland
Many of the exterior shots featuring views of the striking Matterhorn peak were filmed at the Riffelalp Resort 2222m, home to Europe’s highest luxury hotel reached only by the Gornegrat Railway.
Riffelalp Resort 2222m, Zermatt, Switzerland
The best hotels in Switzerland
4. Jonathan Pine's coastal Devon cottage
If you fancy holing up in Jonathan Pine/alter-ego Jack Lindon’s remote Devon hideaway from episode two, Blackpool Mill Cottage sleeps up to eight people and is available to rent from Lady Stucley of Hartland Abbey in Hartland, Devon.
It is not the first time the cottage has been on our screens: it was featured (looking rather more quaint) in the BBC adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility in 2008.
Blackpool Mill Cottage, Hartland, Devon
After a brisk waterfall dip at Blegberry, just like Pine, you can nurse a pint of real ale at The Anchor Inn in Hartland village - but perhaps best to avoid a bust up with the locals.
The best hotels in Devon
5. 'The Haven'
Intended to depict the Syrian/Turkish border, scenes in episode 5 - ‘The Haven’ - were, again, filmed in a desert in Morocco.
Fans of the programme can recreate the programme's desert vibe at Le Palais Paysan, complete with on-site farm and spa, which offers a pastoral retreat on the sunbaked plain of the Agafay Desert in Morocco.
Read the full review: Le Palais Paysan
