Very friendly hosts and staff, great breakfast, pleasantly decorated rooms - this is a reasonable and lovely place to stay in the medina. The hosts were extremely informative and helped us book our stay in the next town that we were visiting. We stayed in the suite on the second floor, bathroom in the room and a small sitting room. Staff were friendly and the riad was in a convenient location.

We arrived in Essaouira, after a three hour bus ride from Marrakech, and were met by a young boy with a wheelbarrow who transported our bags to the Riad. We paid him the equivalent of $5 US, which was probably more than usual by his reaction, but thank goodness he knew where he was going because it is not an easy find. Long narrow ally ways all seem to blend together, but by the end of the third day we (sort of) had them figured out. Morocco definitely is a different world, but an experience that we will both cherish.
My husband and I stayed for three nights at the Riad Alech in the Yellow Room. Immediately upon arrival the beauty of the decor and the tranquility of the place is evident. Our hostess was so gentle mannered and gracious. We were served hot mint tea, given maps of the area, and given recommendations and directions to local restaurants. Our hostess spoke broken English, however she did much better than we did with our French, and we managed to understand each other quite well.
Breakfast very morning was served on the terrace and was delicious. We were the only ones at the Riad the entire time and felt very spoiled. It was peaceful and relaxing. Not sure how it would have been if the place had been full of other patrons. The first night was a little nerve racking trying to find our way back to the Riad after dark, but once we figured where we were going we felt at ease.
Essaouira is over-kill to the senses. People (very young to very old), bikes, carts, scooters, donkeys, cats (lots of cats), and dogs, fill the streets and allys. Shops of all kinds are everywhere in the Medina. If you see something you like buy it because you will probably not be able to find the place again! Bartering for items is draining. Just be careful and don't pay more than you think something is worth. Once you pay the price, don't try and see if you could have got it cheaper somewhere else, because you probably could have and then you will be depressed (take it from me!). But it is all part of the culture, so have fun with it.
The beaches are big and beautiful. We found a great beach club "Beach & Friends" which had free Wifi and delicious food. You could use the beach chairs and umbrellas if you ordered something. Prices were very reasonable and they made wonderful pitchers of sangria! My husband planned to go kiteboarding one day, but at first there was not enough wind and then it was too windy, so unfortunately no kiteboarding for him.
We had a wonderful time in Essaouira. Recommend staying in a Riad in the Medina for at least a night or two just for the thrill of the experience.

We had a lovely stay at the Riad Alech, which is truly special and gorgeous inside - decorated with a personal touch by someone with exquisite taste. It is down a side street and so off the main drag, which is fine during the day but caused us a bit of nervousness at night (2 women traveling together), also that you have to ring the bell and wait for someone to let you in and so you are waiting outside in the dark for someone to come. However, this is not atypical in Morocco. A bit of a challenge as the staff did not really speak English and we do not speak any French but again, we had that challenge all over Morocco. The staff was lovely and we would not hesitate to recommend our stay, just keep in mind the location if you are a nervous nellie.

My husband and I stayed at Alech for 2 nights. We stayed in the suite. It was comfortable but having the bathroom outside of the room was inconvenient and awkward. The riad is tastefully decorated and they play excellent music! We had breakfast each morning on the terrace and it was great. The staff were very friendly. The only negative thing was we speak english and they speak french so communication was a huge issue. It was hard to make contact with the Riad when we were trying to book. The person we spoke with did speak english and asked us to email her our arrival time so she could arrange transportation. Which we did. However, we never got a reponse from her and therefore had to find our own way to the riad. Overall it was a nice place but we would look for another riad next time.