This is my first review. My husband and I stayed at the Riad Les Jardins de Mouassine for a week in June 2007 with our at-the-time-16-month-old son.

ROOM: Had the room called “Tayda” which was spacious enough for the 3 of us. The air-con room was at 1st floor, above the tiny pool and although very simple, it was very bright, spotless clean and the bed was comfortable. I also appreciated the fact that it wasn’t looking onto the main courtyard, granting us more privacy. The bathroom was rather small but adequate to our needs. As other reviewers already wrote, the shower was separated from the toilet by a mere 1-meter-high wall, no curtain, no door, no bracket on the wall for the shower head. Unfortunately we experienced the water overflow in the shower too, because of the blocked-up drain but that didn’t bother us so much. After 30 min. everything came back to normal.

GENERAL: Downstairs the lounge is tastefully decorated in typical Moroccan style. The roof terrace is really nice and enjoyable in the evening with deckchairs to relax on.

SERVICE: Little English is spoken, better use French!
Very easy booking through their website. Got the summer offer: stay 7 nights, you pay 5 nights and got two nights with breakfast and a dinner on the terrace free. David and his personnel have always been very friendly and helping. Ahmed welcomed us on our arrival and gave us a map showing us all the main sights. David gave us useful tips for our excursions. They even managed to find our digital camera we left in the taxi booked through the riad one morning: that same evening – thanks to their intervention - the taxi driver came to the riad with our camera!!

A note for families with young children: all the staff are really child-friendly (like all Moroccan people we met) - we got free use of the kitchen at all hours to warm up our child food and milk, stored in their refrigerator. Every person we met had a genuine smile for our son. Just one negative note: if you need a baby cot make sure it is really available. In our case it was provided in the room just for the first night and then replaced by a mattress on the floor. Upon asking we were told it got damaged / broken by the maid during cleaning??!! Although the explanation seemed us rather odd we didn’t complain further because it really wasn’t a big problem for us.

FOOD: Breakfast was included in the room price and was served on the lovely roof terrace in summer. It was a little limited but OK for us, fresh orange juice and fantastic pancakes, highly appreciated by our son, too. The food was covered with nets to protect it from the bees. We had dinner twice (one was offered) – a high-quality home-cooked traditional meal: excellent.

LOCATION: can’t be better – only a few minutes from Place Jemaa El Fna. A quiet oasis in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the medina. You can hardly find it on your own unless you have already been there, so a pre-arranged pick-up from the airport is highly recommended. The taxi takes you to the door Bab Laksour and then your luggage is placed into a wheel-barrow and you are led through narrow alleys till the riad.

OVERALL OPINION: staff efficiency and service can be improved as well as the showers’ drain problems. But location, rooms and the overall friendly atmosphere make of this quiet riad a great-value place to stay.

We stayed in Marrakech for a few days during a week's stay in Morocco. We chose the Riad Jardin de Mouassine mostly on the strength of the online reviews we read, which I think are pretty accurate.

As others have noted, this riad is situated very close to Place Jemaa el Fned, the main square in Marrakech. This made it ideally situated for exploring, but did mean that any journey to and from the riad involved a dash through the souk, avoiding donkey carts, reckless scooter drivers and beggars at every step. This in itself made the riad feel less relaxing than we had expected.

Inside, the riad is beautifully decorated and our room was large and very ornate. However, there is some attention to detail lacking in the design of the layout with ill-fitted shelving in the bathroom and painfully obtruding curtain hooks. As our room was on the first floor overlooking the central patio, it was often noisy and the clattering of the decorative shutters and doors, coupled with the nightly calls to prayer made it difficult to sleep. Also, we were disappointed by the splashpool - although we had expected it to be small, we had not realised it was right next to the riad's office, not making it the most discreet location.

We had no problem with the staff who spoke both French and English with us, and seemed keen to help. The breakfast was nice, but served buffet style which often meant that drinks or pancakes would be cold depending on when you arrived. All in all, we did like the Riad but feel it is perhaps a little over-priced.

This was the most beautiful and well represented place I have ever stayed at!
From the moment we booked with them to the morning that we left we were treated like gold.
The owners really do look after your every need. The Riad is in the most ideal location. Literally a stone throw away from the main square and all the attractions.
Our rooms were absolutely fabulous!! Clean, spotless and very well looked aftered.
The delicious flaovours of home cooked cakes were fabulous to wake up to.

I would personally like to thank Chantal (the booking co-ordinator) who's emails were prompt and who answered every question we had.

I would highly recommend this 5* Riad to anyone visiting Marrakesh the most enchanting city in the world!!

Myself and my boyfriend travelled to Marrakech last week and stayed at Les Jardins de Mouassine in the Medina for 3 nights. Our time spent in Marrakech was amazing, and was made even better by staying at this Riad.

The location of the Riad is brilliant, just a short walk though the souks to the main square (jeema el fna). We did on the first day get completely lost (This was more a reflection on our ability to read a map than the level of difficulty in navigating back to the riad) and ended up paying various "helpful" locals to take us back. They were very nice people but tended to apply the guilt trip by showing us photos of their kids when we only offered them 10-20D for their help. Thankfully by the second day we were much more savvy and had no problem getting around.

Our room in the Riad was located on the first floor and looked out onto the central courtyard space. The room itself was a good size, with a double bed and aircon/heating. The heating proved to be essential as it got very cold at night because of the high ceilings and rustic touch to the room. The bathroom was stunning with traditional handcrafted design. I note that the shower didnt have a bracket, only as others did in their reviews- did this cause us a problem?- no, not at all. It was hot, powerful and clean. The riad was very quiet, amazing considering the hustle and bustle just a few steps outside. If there was any noise it did tend to echo around the riad but this was part of the charm of staying in a traditional moroccan riad.

Breakfast at the Riad was very basic, just a selection of breads, fruits and juices, but it was adquate for what we wanted and we ate it on the roof terrace most days. Food was available at the Riad but the snacks finished quite early so if you wanted food that you hadnt pre-ordered you had to go out after about 8.

On our second to last day we arranged a trip through the Riad to Essouria, a seaside resort on the atlantic coast. It cost approx £60 for the two of us and this only included the cost of the transport to the town. For us this was perfect as it allowed us to explore the town without the restrictions of an organised trip and the limitations of being in a group of tourists being told what to look at and where to eat. When we arrived in Essouria we were offered by a local a guided tour of the town, but we choose to look around ourselves. The driver told us to be back at 4pm, although we were a little late this wasnt too much of a problem and we arrived back in Marrakech about 7.30pm.

The staff at the Riad were really helpful. David the Riad director met us on arrival and provided a map of the town and some guidance as to how much to pay for taxis etc which proved useful in negoiating during our stay. The staff were on hand 24hrs a day and helped out with anything they could. To my pleasure the Riad sold booze which is hard to come by in the Medina. Ahmed who works at the riad kindly brought us a bottle of red and me and my boy spent the evening watching the stars on the roof terrace. Gorgeous.

Overall a brilliant experience- and would i recommend it to my best friend ? - well actually my best friend recommended it to me.

We will definately go back.

Ceri