Lovely oasis in the middle of a bustling dusty city, helpful, friendly staff, even helped when rogue taxi drivers tried to rip us off after various nights out. Thankyou Riad Amira for helping me celebrate my birthday in style. I will definately be staying here again next time i visit Marrakech!

Whatever I write in my review, is nothing compared to reality. This Riad is top of the line. Her owner was very helpful, french descendant and lived in Spain for many years. Married a Morrocan and trust me, if ever in Marrakech, stop by this Riad, you won't regret it. From the room to the breakfast and decoration - THE BEST.

Amazing nice riad with extremely very friendly staff and owner. They all do their utmost best to make your stay pleasant. We really enjoyed the cooking of the Berber lady (forgot her name sorry!!) Also our colleague guests were nice. The location of the riad is ????? But behind the door it's an oasis of rest and friendliness. The location is almost in the center of medina near rue Kasbah. When you want to experience the real Marrakesh, this is the location to be. Also the Place Jema el Fna is easy to find within 10 min walk. I will be back for sure!

Summary: Extremely poor accommodation! Desperately in need of some tlc. Mouldy thin towels with holes in, mouldy walls, electrical sockets hanging off exposing wires, no shower, no hot water, no food available, prison style breakfast. Read on for further detail of my experience…

I have been to Marrakech and stayed in a Riad before so do have something to compare it to. Firstly, the location of the Riad is AWFUL and I felt totally unsafe at night walking from where the taxi drops you off to the door. I couldn’t find the Riad, it is not signposted and the dark unlit alley way you have to walk down is dodgy to say the least. In the alley way are men who hang around watching you and who follow you and there are lots beggars (one beggar who in the daytime lies directly outside the front door of the Riad). One man followed me (I am female and found this intimidating – in comparison I didn’t feel intimidated by being spoken to by the locals elsewhere in Marrakech) – he actually showed me to the door of the Riad and then demanded money. I didn’t have any change and he got cross demanding something else like a packet of cigarettes. I couldn’t simply walk into the Riad – the front door is always locked and shut and you have to ring a bell. It took around 5 minutes for someone to answer the door and get me away from this man.

I arrived at the Riad around 8pm. After a longish flight I was planning to get some dinner at the Riad and have an early night. I was told that unfortunately they couldn’t provide me with any dinner and I was informed that if I wanted to have dinner or lunch, I had to tell them in the morning so they could go and buy the food and cook it. I think its ridiculous you have to do this, how can I possibly know in the morning where I would be at lunch or dinner time and what I would want to eat? I asked if they had any snacks like nuts or crisps or something instead as I was really quite hungry and didn’t want to brave the dark alley way and strange man again to go out. I was told that they didn’t have anything at all for me to eat. So I went to bed on an empty stomach. The Riad should inform you of this rule in advance.

I woke up wanting a hot shower and some decent breakfast. I got neither! There was in fact no shower. Just a bath with a hand held shower head that doesn’t allow water to come out when you manoeuvre the head over your body. There was no hot, warm or remotely warm water. It was ice cold. So, I had to have an ice cold wash down in the bath. This allowed me to notice the stains all over the wall (see photos uploaded). I reached for a towel to dry off and warm myself up. The towel looked about 20 years old. It was a dingy colour, had mould all over it, was thin with holes in it and not something I wanted to touch my body. Also, the light switch was hanging off the wall exposing wires which made me nervous using the switch.

I dried myself using my dirty clothes from the day before and walked out for breakfast. I sat at a table in the courtyard which was pretty. The ‘pool’ is tiny (not a pool at all in fact and merely a square metre of water) and the floor of the ‘pool’ had bits all at the bottom and looked dirty – I would not want to go in it. I noticed that there was nowhere to sit in the sun – the courtyard was completely covered by trees and didn’t look like the sun would come down into it. I sat at the table for 10 minutes but nobody came so I got up to find someone to order my breakfast. I had to walk into the private area of the Riad to find someone. Having read the reviews on Tripadvisor I couldn’t wait for the quote ‘belly busting breakfast’. I was HUGELY disappointed. The lady brought me some coffee and apologised for the poor quality because it was out of a machine. I was given some bread and a pot of yoghurt (the smaller kind of individual pots you get in the UK). The yoghurt was plain yoghurt. Bread and a yoghurt just wasn’t what I was expecting. Don’t get me wrong I wasn’t expecting a full English fry up but perhaps the option of some eggs or a bowl of cereal to go with it would have been better. I mean come on, bread and a yoghurt?! And, if they had bread available at breakfast, why wasn’t I allowed to order some the evening before for a snack?!

I decided not to write the Riad off just yet and took a walk upstairs to visit the ‘beautiful roof terrace’ I had read about. All the furniture looked rusty and old, had no cushions on and the view was of what looked like building rubble.

I took a walk down the street of the Riad and decided that this was not a good place to stay. Having been to Marrakech before and stayed in another Riad of comparable price, I knew that this was way below the 4 stars it has quoted. I decided to cut my stay short and left the Riad immediately, checking into another Riad.

This place ruined the start of my break.