Résidence Touristique Koutoubienne

Jemaa El-Fnaa square is only half a minute away on foot, and it’s a handy starting point for exploring the busy centre. To get to the airport, you can walk to the square and hail a taxi there. Finding the riad can be trickier, especially on a first visit to Marrakech. It’s a short walk from the square, but our taxi driver sent us to the wrong street. Our booking.com reservation wasn’t known when we arrived. Luckily they had a room free. If they hadn’t, we’d have been left trying to find another riad on the spot while carrying all our suitcases through Marrakech.😰 Room 8 was spacious and looked out onto the streets below, but it was dusty. The bedding and bathroom, apart from the white sheets, were outdated at best. It was the most expensive place we stayed on our trip, so we expected more. The pool and chairs were shabby and dirty, too. The photo makes them look better than they are. The roof terrace has a lovely view, and breakfast there is nice, but it can take a long time to arrive. The only coffee they serve is ready-made, so if you want a good morning coffee, you’re better off finding one in the centre. A second cup normally costs extra, though in our case they exceptionally gave us one on the house. The lock on our room wasn’t working properly. A handyman quickly fixed it by hacking and chiseling away at it. The porter took one of our suitcases from our hands to carry it up a few steps, then waited in our room until we tipped him.

The rooms were basic but fine, and the WiFi was weak. The staff were very rude. I was charged too much, and when I questioned it, a man shouted at me in French for about ten minutes, then stormed off and never came back.

Really good value for the price. The service was great, the people were lovely, and breakfast was good.

Nothing fancy, but it was clean and breakfast was included, so the price felt fair. The people running the place were very friendly.