I stayed at this Ryad for 4 nights with my two friends in February. It was our first time staying in a Ryad and having looked at hundreds before finally booking this one we definitely made the right choice. We emailed in advance to arrange a transfer from the airport (150 dihram each way) and quickly found the driver and were on our way. This saved us the hassle of haggling with a taxi driver outside the airport and also meant that we were escorted right to the door of the Ryad. The Ryad is sign posted from the nearest gate to it but if you don't get dropped at this gate you'll never find it in the maze of streets! We were greeted by Amin the manager who gave us refreshing towels, mint tea and some cakes to refresh us after our journey which was instantly relaxing. After going through the usual admin stuff he gave us a map and showed us where we were and gave us a few tips to start us off. He then took us on a small tour of the Ryad and showed us to our room where our cases were waiting.
The Ryad is absolutely beautiful, the design is traditional but all the fittings are modern with comfy seats downstairs where you can eat breakfast, a tv room and dining room. The first floor has the 5 rooms on it and upstairs is a rooftop terrace. You can have you breakfast there if you wish (I would imagine this would be lovely in the summer, but in February it was still slightly too chilly in the morning!). The whole ryad has a lovely ambiance and just feels relaxing and luxurious. It's spotlessly clean and very well maintained, there is nothing you could find fault with.
Our room was also beautiful and clean. My bed was very comfortable and I slept very well every night. The room was cleaned every day and we had fresh towels every day. The shower was huge and the toiletries in the room were a delight, they smelt gorgeous! They also had a proper hairdryer in the room not one of those awful box ones stuck on the wall!
The Ryad is about a 20 minute walk away from the Jemaa El Fna Square and Souks but there is a taxi rank about a 3 minute walk away should you not want to walk. We found some of the surrounding streets a little intimidating, especially after dark, but Amin had warned us of this as we were 3 female travellers and we didn't feel it was dangerous as such, just uncomfortable with some of the comments that got made. For this reason we were usually back in the Ryad by 10pm but it was nice just to sit inside and relax after a day in the chaos of the Medina!
I would definitely recommend you eat in the Ryad, we did twice as the food was absolutely delicious. Fatima cooks all the food and will do you a beautiful three course meal for whatever time you want it served at. We had a chicken tagine one night and a beef tagine another and both were incredible. We ate in the dining room where you're served your food and then they shut the doors so you can eat in private away from the rest of the Ryad. We spent two very enjoyable evenings having long dinners in the Ryad! Breakfast is also good. Served at whatever time you get up, you get homemade yogurt, fresh orange juice, tea or coffee, a type of omlette, a sort of pancake or crumpet type thing depending on the day, bread, chocolate croissant and jam, marmalade and honey. It'll certainly fuel you for the day ahead!
The Ryad doesn't have many staff but they all work incredibly hard and you get the impression that nothing is too much of a hassle. Amin was avaliable to give tips, directions and book things such as a morning camel trek and afternoon spa visit. He speaks excellent english and seems to care that his guests are enjoying themselves. Fatima, as previously mentioned cooks wonderful food and Mohammed the porter is always about to let you in and despite the fact that he seems to always be in the Ryad is always cheerful. He walked us down to the main taxi rank on our first night to make sure we didn't get lost which was much appreciated and even showed us how to fold our napkins in to flowers at dinner one night!
We had a lovely stay at this Ryad and should I return to Marrakech I would definitely want to stay here again. I can't recommend it enough!