Riad Palais des Princesses

We were delighted by our experience and the price: two rooms plus return flights came to around £1,000. My mother and I stayed just shy of a week at Riad Palais des Princesses. It’s a beautiful, exceptionally clean place with a luxurious feel, only a stone’s throw from Jemaa el-Fnaa, Marrakech’s famous market square, as well as hammams and rooftop bars. The service, including check-in and check-out, was professional, welcoming, efficient, helpful, and reliable. Knowing I could trust the business helped me truly relax on holiday in a foreign country. One employee showed us around the riad before taking us to our rooms. They kindly arranged our rooms close together, one above the other, with only a ten-second walk down the stairs between them. Both rooms had beautiful tiles, internal windows with shutters, TVs with streaming services, heating and cooling appliances, en suite showers, toilets and basins, free safes, and mini fridges. For 15€, a driver can pick you up from the airport and take you as close to the riad as possible by car. Then an employee meets you with a hand-pushed cart, carries the luggage, and leads you through a busy market alley to the riad. We paid for this for both arrival and departure and were grateful for the help. We travelled light, and I was especially thankful to the gentleman pushing the cart. He worked diligently the whole time with a smile, despite what must be a physically demanding job. I’ve rarely been so keen to tip someone, and in hindsight I wish I’d given him more. I wasn’t happy with the manicure and pedicure at the in-house spa; they were far from what I expected. I also didn’t feel breakfast was worth 15€ per person per day. Those are just my opinions, though. There may have been a language or cultural misunderstanding about the spa service I wanted. Looking back, I could have asked about it right away instead of trying to be polite and waiting for things to match my expectations. It’s quite hard to find breakfast outside the riad before 9am, so having it available from 7am was convenient for my mother and me. If you enjoy Moroccan food, cereal, eggs, sweet foods, or plenty of fruit, you’ll probably like the buffet. The absolute highlight of our holiday was meeting the resident cat, Mimi, a graceful, glorious princess. We loved seeing her each day, playing, patrolling, showing affection, and sleeping. She made the stay incredibly memorable. I highly recommend Riad Palais des Princesses.

We had a great lunch on the terrace, though at first the riad felt a bit like a maze. The rooms were clean and nice, and the whole place is beautiful. It’s centrally located in the Medina but away from Marrakech’s daily chaos. The staff were superb and helped with all our requests. They let us leave our bags before the 14:00 check-in, which isn’t something you can take for granted these days. Breakfast was a really good buffet. Shoutout to the Club Sandwich and the Chocolate Mousse!!

I regret booking this place. The only decent part was that the staff were at least polite, but that didn’t make up for how miserable the stay was. I feel completely scammed by the misleading online reviews. This was nowhere near a 5-star experience. I paid extra for what was advertised as a larger room, but got a cramped connecting room that wasn’t like what we were promised. The noise was unbearable, with loud buzzing the whole time and constant interruptions that kept us from getting a single decent night’s sleep. Whenever we finally managed to drift off, another loud sound woke us again. By 7 AM, it felt like every noise was happening at once, like we were sleeping in the middle of a market. When I raised it with the receptionist, he had an attitude and basically dismissed me, saying, “I don’t hear anything, the room is good.” At almost $200 a night, that response was infuriating. We were so frustrated that the next day we booked another place, a real hotel, and couldn’t stay any longer. It felt like a waste of money. The bathroom was tiny, old, and uncomfortable to use. Save yourself the frustration and stay somewhere else.

There’s a good restaurant in the hotel, and the staff are lovely and very friendly. The rooms and bathrooms were clean. It’s right in the old town and easy to reach the town square on foot, though not by car. There’s plenty of shopping nearby, along with snacks and coffee.