Hmmmmm. Not sure. The Riad is away from the noise and bustle of Marrakech and is an oasis of calm, but the rooms are dark, not very comfortably furnished, the bed was hard and there is just a curtain between the bedroom and bathroom. They were clean and serviced every day. The WiFi never worked and the TV only had a negative picture and only one English speaking channel out of hundreds. The Managere couldn't care less about things not working. Breakfasts were adequate, if rather samey. We didn't sample the in-house dinner. As other reviewers have said,m the main square is a 20 minute walk away, but there are good restauants serving wine and beer closer than that. Be warned: the manager will try to get 44 Dhms per person per night out of you for taxes just as you are leaving. This is fine if you are an independant traveller, but if you have gone with a company ie Thompsons etc check that you don't need to pay these. We were stopped frrom leaving the Riad until we had paid the tax as we couldn't get hold of our Rep and now we have the hassle of claiming it back. We saw it happen to other couples, so it is a regular occurrance.

Spent 5 nights at Riad Opale on a recent visit to Marrakech and agree with other reviewers, staff good, rooms nice, ok location wise (if a little far from centre 20mins (yeah do it twice a day both ways)). However I dont get the "must see" Marrakech thing. ok its as different as your gonna get this close to europe but once youve seen the square the mosque the markets its all a bit samey! I had wanted to see Morroco for many years and was excited at the oppourtunity but I have to say I was a little dissapointed. I would recommend staying at a resort style hotel on the outskirts of the city and should you want a more traditional feel check in to a riad for an overnight, this way you get all the holiday comforts away from the city and youve also done the "must stay in a Riad" thing.

My boyfriend and I spent 7 nights at Riad Opale in August. First of all the building and decor are beautiful. There is a lovely little pool (perfect for cooling off) and a roof terrace complete with a covered area and sunbeds (unfortunately they were quite stained).

The room we stayed in (Saphir Suite) was nice. The bed was huge and the furniture was beautiful and very traditional. You are only provided with one very flat pillow each, but there are cushions if, like me, you like to sleep with more. There is a TV and DVD player in the room, but it is impossible to get any UK channels, also, the WiFi is very patchy unless you are on the roof.

Our main problem was that there are NO LOCKS on the bedroom doors! On our third day my brand new Galaxy S3 was stolen from our room whilst we were in the swimming pool along with 400 dirhams (approx 40E). We reported it to the manager, but there was no apology whatsoever and only a comment about how it could not possible have been one of the members of staff as they are not authorised to enter bedrooms. The safe in the room was not working.

All other members of staff were lovely and the evening meal we had was delicious. Unfortunately breakfast is the same every day and is just a selection of breads and jam. The maid only cleaned our room twice and most days just handed us a loo roll.

Warm welcome and a clean room. Nice retreat to come back to away from the hussel bustle. Graduate couple age 23.

Pros:
Almost empty, relaxing, traditional, sun deck, safe, lovely bathrooms and decor.

Cons:
Dark rooms, no lock, poor recommendations from staff for over priced restaurants and bars...

Romantic rating: 8/10
Party rating: 3/10
Location rating: 5/10