Riad Dar Attika

The staff were brilliant and very accommodating, the location is perfect, and the outside terrace offered a peaceful break from the bustle. Breakfast was nice, though quite heavy on carbs. Those were the good parts. The rooms weren’t as clean as I’d like: the rugs and space under the bed were filthy. There were no windows, and the lighting was so poor we sometimes used our phone torches. The bedside lights were broken, with electrical fittings hanging off the wall. There was no door between the bedroom and bathroom, so the drain smell lingered in the bedroom. The shower soaked the bathroom floor, and its floor was too painful to stand on without flip-flops. There was nowhere to dry towels, and they weren’t changed unless we asked. There’s a dipping pool on the terrace, but it didn’t look inviting, so we avoided it. The staff and location are what saved Riad Dar Attika for us.

I left feeling scammed, stressed, and exhausted. Riad Dar Attika felt manipulative, unsafe, and unhygienic from start to finish. In my view, it’s mis-sold, badly maintained, and relies on intimidation and overcharging. It was easily the worst holiday I’ve had. I booked through a package despite online reviews warning that the owner was a scammer, and found the warnings accurate. I paid for a luxury suite with private amenities, but on arrival staff said all rooms were identical and those facilities didn’t exist. The photos and description felt completely misleading. At check-in I paid the city tax in cash, and no receipt was offered. Several days later the owner said I hadn’t paid. A “representative” came to my room and tried to bully me into paying again, claiming there was video of me “not paying” and threatening to call the police. The owner also contacted Love Holidays with what I believe were fabricated claims about my conduct, to discredit me and add pressure. As a woman traveling alone with my young son, I found this orchestrated intimidation disgusting and felt it was aimed at making us vulnerable enough to hand over more money. When I refused to pay the tax twice, staff called me a liar and again claimed there was video, which was never shown. The stress and poor conditions led me to book a night away at Labranda Targa for a break. The tax argument flared up only after I returned. On arrival, a man demanded about £50 for walking me a few metres from the taxi. After I complained, the money was suddenly returned. The owner called urging me to trust only him, then began pushing overpriced excursions the next day. He kept pressing them; a day trip was quoted at €230, though I later found the tour online for €20-€30, nearly ten times less. Staff regularly sat uninvited at our table and made odd political remarks, including “Turkey good country, England bad country.” As a Scottish guest, I found that offensive and unprofessional. Meals were communal tagines. I have a small appetite, and the repeated “You no eat?” remarks made each meal stressful and uncomfortable, even if that may have been cultural. The riad was dirty and grubby, nowhere near professional standards. The bed sheets weren’t changed once during the week, and I doubt they’d been changed between the previous guests. Avoid this riad.

Dar Attika is beautiful, clean, and well kept, with friendly, helpful staff, right in the centre of the Medina. Breakfast was simple but good, with a different kind of bread each of the three days we stayed. The terrace doesn’t have much of a view, and we skipped the “jacuzzi” since it isn’t our thing. It was hot at night during our hot-season stay, and unfortunately the air conditioning didn’t work at full capacity. One other note: if you book a tour through the hotel, check exactly what it includes. Their “Atlas tour” wasn’t what we expected, and I wouldn’t recommend it, especially in summer. It was overcrowded and really dirty. That didn’t affect my rating of the place.

The trip to the Marjorelle Gardens on my wife’s birthday and our wedding anniversary turned into a real mess. We’d asked the owner to arrange a taxi, knowing it should cost about 6 euros each way if booked ourselves. He suggested visiting other gardens along the way, with the driver waiting at each, and quoted 60. My wife offered 60 Dam, but he said it was 60 euros or 600 Dam. We thought that was a lot, but agreed to pay at lunch since the driver would be ours all afternoon. Our Marjorelle Gardens booking was for 3pm. After visiting a couple of sites in the morning, we rushed back for lunch. The owner then changed the taxi price to 660 Dam. We were annoyed but paid. He walked us down the road to the taxi and spoke to the driver in Arabic. We set off expecting to see gardens, but the driver stopped in a rough-looking part of town and said it was the first stop, the tannery. He gave us mint sprigs to hold under our noses, calling it the Berber gas mask, then led us to where they soften hides with lime and pigeon droppings. The smell in the midday heat was dreadful. My wife said she didn’t want to spend her birthday there, and I agreed. At the shop, they gave us an aggressive hard sell on carpets and leather goods. They wouldn’t let us leave without buying something, so I overpaid for a belt to get out. We were angry by then and asked the driver whether we were finally going to a garden. He knew nothing about gardens and took us instead to remote wasteland with palm trees, camels, and old guys drinking tea. We declined the expected camel ride and photos, which we would have had to pay for, and got back into the taxi. Next the driver showed us the new city and pointed out buildings we weren’t interested in. At last we reached the Marjorelle Gardens, which we’d already paid for. The driver said he’d wait 40mins, so we felt rushed through the gardens and Berber museum. When we came out, he was nowhere to be seen for a few minutes, then appeared from a side street and drove us back. We planned to confront the owner, but he had disappeared and wasn’t coming back. Aside from that, there were good parts to our stay at this little Riad during the first week in June 2024. The decor was nice, and the roof terrace had a shaded seating area that was great at midday, plus a small jacuzzi. Meals could be served in reception or on the terrace. The reception area was lovely, and Nordin welcomed us and served our first evening meal. Staff serving food were lovely and welcoming too. Our room was generally OK, with aircon, a safe, an ensuite shower, toilet, basin and hair dryer. We were in the blue room, where the toilet moved when sat on and the basin tap wasn’t secure. Towels were worn, one had a hole, and the bathroom mug was chipped. Some crockery was chipped too. We were full board, and the traditional meals, mainly different tagines, were nice but repetitive. The Riad was well placed for walking to the major sights, except the Marjorelle Gardens. My wife and I had come for a week, and the birthday and anniversary were on the same day.