Riad L emir

Ahead of my stay, I corresponded through the WhatsApp number given on the website with, as I later learned, the owner, who lives in France. He did not speak/write any English, which was inconvenient, but all my up-front questions and requests were answered/catered to.

The riad is tucked away from one of the main arteries of the medina, a few turns too many for my liking and convenience, in a somewhat dark cul-de-sac. Walking time from Jemaa el Fna square is less than five minutes though. A few small stores/holes-in-the-wall selling groceries are on the way from/to the square, but note that the rooms don't have a mini fridge.

I was greeted by Khalid, a young man, who was friendly and helpful throughout my stay, but his English could be better. You get a room key but not one for the front door of the riad, which is inconvenient. You always have to ring the bell and be let in.

The entrance area and ground floor courtyard are nice enough but nothing to write home about.

I stayed in the 'Marrakech' suite on the first floor, which was spacious but lacked space to put down random bits and bobs, like a work desk. Closet space was ample, but there were not enough hangers. The bed was extremely firm, which I like, but that might not be to everyone's taste. The pillows, on the other hand, were too soft and flat for my liking. Unfortunately, there are no available outlets on either side of the bed for a phone charger. An A/C unit was present, modern and functional but not needed. The bathroom is spacious, but there was no hand soap and the towels were old and scratchy, they need replacing.

The room has three windows, all to the walkway around the courtyard and staircase to the rooftop. There are no curtains so when the windows are open, there is no privacy. When they are closed, however, the room is very dark, with no natural light. A regrettable dilemma. If I had known this in advance, I might have chosen a different room, with a window to the alley.

Cleaning was reliably done but a bit too intrusive, too many of my posessions were needlessly moved and organized in a way I wouldn't have done it. Unfortunately the bed sheets were not changed during my one-week stay despite a few small blood spots on them in the shoulder area.

One of the biggest issues for me was noise. Not that there is any road noise or noisy guests - but the old wooden windows and door offer no sound insulation, every conversation or bird chirping in the courtyard could be heard, frequently waking me up early.

WiFi was decently fast, breakfast was okay, no cold cut meats and unfortunately very repetitive. The orange juice was not freshly squeezed. The riad had two of my dress shirts pressed free of charge, which was kind, but whoever did the pressing did not do a great job on one of the shirts.

On departure day, some voluntary help with pulling my heavy suitcase over the cobblestones to the taxis at Jemaa el Fna would have been appreciated.

Overall, not a bad riad, but there are many better ones.

When we first arrived I was a little underwhelmed after the walk to the Riad through a couple of dodgy looking streets. The place was cold and the split that heated our room was noisy and so was glad I had brought my ear plugs. But I soon realized that the Riad was a perfect refuge from the noise of the whirring motorcycles and mopeds that raced through the narrow alleyways. The people who work there are so warm and welcoming and the food we had was some of the best we had while in Morocco. The beds are super comfortable. You can also arrange to have dinner there which was nice on days when we had been away all day on side trips to the desert or mountains.

We stayed at this Riad for 5 nights, and unfortunately, it was the least restful vacation we’ve ever had. First, although I had clearly requested an upstairs room, we were given one on the ground floor. Upon arrival, we discovered that the room was extremely damp — even the bed sheets felt wet. After just one night, we were greeted by a cockroach coming out of the headboard. A second one appeared two days later. But the worst was yet to come: we had chosen this place to relax, but every single morning at 6 AM we were woken up by the night guard’s alarm clock, which he let ring not once, but three or four times each morning. We informed the manager several times, and although he spoke to the night guard repeatedly, the problem was never resolved. You might wonder why we could hear the alarm as if it was inside our room? That’s because the night guard slept on a sofa right outside our door. There was absolutely no privacy — the old windows and doors provided zero sound insulation. We could hear new guests arriving, buzzing the entrance, and talking loudly in the echoing hallway at 2 AM. We asked to change rooms but were refused. We asked multiple times for the alarm situation to be handled, but nothing was done — it continued every single morning. No compensation was offered for all these issues. On top of that, we were forced to pay the city tax in cash, even though we had no cash left and they refused card payment. The only bright spot was the lovely cook who prepared delicious breakfasts and was always kind and attentive. The manager was polite as well, but he really should have intervened properly to save our stay. We left feeling even more tired than when we arrived. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this place.