A friend and I stayed here last fall and had a terrible experience. We arrived at Mariana after a 4-day tour to the desert. We asked our guide to walk us to Riad Mariana, since we didn't want to have to negotiate the square on our own with our luggage. When we arrived at the riad, the owner started berating our guide for being late (we arrived in the late afternoon/early evening, and had never been told we needed to be there by a certain time). I tried to explain to the owner that 1- we weren't late and 2- to the extent he was expecting us earlier, he should've made that clear to us, since we were the ones who kept asking our guide to stop to let us take pictures on the way back from the desert, so any delay was our fault. The owner kept berating our guide, who then left. After our guide left, the owner also left and my friend and I were alone with the clerk. We decided that we were really unhappy with the unbelievably rude and aggressive way the owner had treated the guide and decided to go stay at another riad. When we told the clerk we were leaving, he started yelling at us, then called the owner, who yelled at me over the phone. My friend and I called another riad, which sent an employee to pick us up. When the other riad's employee arrived, I walked out but the clerk physically blocked the doorway so that my friend couldn't leave. After a brief standoff, he said he'd let her leave if we paid him the equivalent of $20 USD for the 2-minute phone call we'd made to the other riad. I gave him a few coins, which he threw back at me. My friend, meanwhile, managed to slip past him, and we left. I've never been so happy to leave a place. The riad itself seemed fine (what little we saw of it) even though the courtyard was weirdly stuffy and unpleasant while we were there. To this day, I can't get over how badly the owner behaved, and the fact that the clerk basically tried to make us pay him to let us leave. The owner, by the way, did make us pay to leave, since he charged my credit card for our entire stay. Marrakesh is full of gorgeous riads owned by genuinely nice people. Mariana is not one of these.

We visit the Riad Mariana for 4 nights, from october 20 till october 24. The sevice was great. They offered a transport from the airport and evrything went very good. The arrival in the Riad was a pleasure, with tea on te terras on the roof. The room was exelent and every day there was a good breakfast. They gave me advise how to come in the center of the city and what to do and what not. Every day was a pleasure to stay in this Riad. They organised my travel to Essouira, and because of our early departure they made an early breakfast that day.
I can advise this Riad Mariana for a short, and I think also for a longer stay in Marrakesh.
Philippe and his staf, thanks for evrything!!!

Absolutely breath taking. As hoteliers, my friend and I stayed for 3 nights at Riad Mariana. Fully air conditioned rooms, a beautiful roof terrace with views over the Atlas Mountains. We were pampered by the beautiful team who treated us as their own family. Sipping chilled rose wine in the coolness of the atrium with its beautiful rose petaled pool. Late afternoon watching the sun go down from the scented roof garden. Phillipe is the perfect host and Abdul was an absolute star with his recommendations and advice about prices and haggling. Would never want to stay in a hotel ever again, this was our own secret paradise. Thank you Phillipe and Family Mariana!

We came here for our 5th wedding anniversary. It's a beautiful little Riad in the centre of the Medina (a World Heritage Site, deservedly so) and all the online photos we saw in advance (there's a good selection on booking dot come) certainly did it justice . It's just as pretty, romantic and exotic as we expected. The location is excellent - you're a (fascinating) five-minute walk from the souks by Djemaa el-Fna square, and minutes in any other direction from the mosques, restaurants and tanneries you'll want to see.
Do make sure you know what to point to on a map though - our taxi driver from the train station had no idea where to go, and tried charging extra as a result. To be honest it's so cheap here it made very little difference, but important to note if you're keen on saving pennies. Just bear in mind it's a poor country, and one Dirham is less than 10p (about 10 US cents), but still gratefully received as a baksheesh (tip) for directions or carrying suitcases!

The Riad staff couldn't have been more helpful - they spoke French and English which made things easier, and were very good tempered and accommodating, even when letting us back in rather late at night. They were happy to help with sights suggestions, gladly gave cultural insights and recipes when asked and helped suggest and organise a last-minute excursion with no fuss.

The room itself was fresh, cool and clean, a reasonable size and overlooked the mini pool, the same as all the other rooms. I think we went for a smaller room as it was cheaper, but I don't think we lost out at all. The bed was clean and comfortable and - importantly - though the bathroom was dinky, the shower and loo both worked perfectly, didn't flood or smell.

We were provided a wonderful breakfast every day (Moroccan breakfast is rather different: thin potato pancakes, flat bread rolls -a *bit* like a bun crossed with a pitta bread, though not exactly - yoghurt, honey and very sweet mint tea. It's delicious and just what you need to get you started in the heat!) when we got up - we just asked, and it was brought up to the terrace for us. The kitchen also made a packed lunch for our day excursion, and provided delicious traditional dinner (with the option of wine) when we let them know a couple of hours in advance. The food was tasty and the portions were large (neither of us could finish!). The chicken was a little bit dry, but we were about half an hour later than we thought so that's probably no reflection on the chef, to be fair.

Western stomachs: Eating in the tiny street "cafes" (you can see how big they are!) is fine as long as you go for *cooked* food. Ask a stallholder for a recommendation, especially if you've bought something, they're twice as friendly ;) Do be careful of salads and olives though as this made me extremely ill :(

Just a final note about the little pool in the centre of the Riad: I'm not sure whether it was for swimming in or not - it was tiny and probably historically used just to dip into and cool down. It seemed to be a typical feature of all the Riads we looked at, but we n.e.v.e.r. saw anyone in it. It was very pretty though, sprinkled with rose petals and surrounded by mini potted palm trees, comfy wicker chairs and cushions. Just a note, in case you're looking for something with a swimming pool - I'm not sure you;ll get that in any of the Riads, there's just not the space! That said, a cool shower works a treat :)