Riad Belle Essaouira

“A cozy riad in a great location”

Riad Belle Essaouira was a cozy place to stay with an excellent location, a beautiful rooftop terrace and very friendly host who had great recommendations for food. The host, Zora, set up our room beautifully with roses and fruit (it was our honeymoon).

“Tastefully decorated, comfortable and friendly Riad”

We spent five nights at the Belle Essaouira, on our first visit to Morocco. As we followed the old man and cart who carried our baggage through the maze of streets and led us to the Riad, we were a little freaked out by the location, thinking we'd never find our way back again. But we got used to i… more

We spent five nights at the Belle Essaouira, on our first visit to Morocco. As we followed the old man and cart who carried our baggage through the maze of streets and led us to the Riad, we were a little freaked out by the location, thinking we'd never find our way back again. But we got used to it quite quickly and in a day or too we knew our way around, Zora, the owner, was really welcoming and helpful. She's done a great job renovating this Riad, our room was very comfortable, the bed was amazing. It was a little dark inside, but we put that down to the way the Medina is built, and to keep the inside cool in the hot sun. Loved the breakfast too, with fresh fruit and juice, eggs, a selection of Moroccan bread and coffee.

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“Average stay”

Very difficult to find it in the medina’s labyrinth, there are no signs. No aircondition (!!!) even though on Booking.com it was mentioned as included. Poor Wi-fi, you never get connected. Poor breakfast, served at the windy and cold rooftop terrace. No power shower and the bathroom’s sink needs wo… more

Very difficult to find it in the medina’s labyrinth, there are no signs. No aircondition (!!!) even though on Booking.com it was mentioned as included. Poor Wi-fi, you never get connected. Poor breakfast, served at the windy and cold rooftop terrace. No power shower and the bathroom’s sink needs work on. Lack of small towels for hands or hair, but they gave us when we asked. Couldn’t pay by credit card, only cash. The riad and the rooms were clean and quiet, but kind of dark. PS, euro to DH rate is not 11 !!!

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“Should hire a property manager and upgrade rooms”

Overall I give this hotel 3.5 stars. Location: The Riad is located near the north end of the medina which is both a pro and a con. The main disadvantage is that it's quite the trek (probably 10 minutes) from any of the taxi drop off points and the ground is quite uneven. The main advantage is that… more

Overall I give this hotel 3.5 stars. Location: The Riad is located near the north end of the medina which is both a pro and a con. The main disadvantage is that it's quite the trek (probably 10 minutes) from any of the taxi drop off points and the ground is quite uneven. The main advantage is that it is close to the sea so you can see a bit of the ocean from the rooftop. Essaouira has a fairly small medina so amenities are quite close. The store just downstairs sells the big bottles of water for 5 dirham which is the cheapest we found during our trip! Rooms: We found the rooms tastefully decorated and the shower had good water temperature and good pressure. Our main complaint is that the room is quite dark and there is no air conditioning. I understand that Essaouira is a coastal city that doesn't get super hot with nice breezes but the problem is that the windows are ancient. There is no glass in the windows so if you want to let in some natural light the window is wide open. There is also a funny odor in the room so you basically have to open the windows at all times, potentially letting in bugs. Also wifi was non-existent, we couldn't even see the network nevermind try to connect to it. Service: We found the housekeeper to be great, she does not speak English but is friendly and tries her best. The owner has good English and appears quite friendly but is absentee most of the time. An alarm is going off all night in the room next to you? Can't find her at night or the morning. Need to check out or have questions? Hope you are very lucky. Even if you find her she is probably looking at her laptop and not even giving you her full attention. To offset the cons, this riad can be a pretty good deal if you get the right timing. So basically if you get a smoking deal then maybe you can deal with the inconveniences but otherwise for $100 I think there are better options.

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