Africa Food and Wine Holidays

Beautiful riad but the rooms were hot felt like the A/C wasn’t working

We stayed at this riad for just one night, as they were fully booked and we had to move to another hotel the next day. Overall, the riad itself was beautiful, the room was clean, and the staff were generally welcoming. However, the experience when checking out left a very negative impression. We asked the front desk to call a taxi to take us to our second riad, which we knew was accessible by car. Instead, the receptionist insisted it was only a 10-minute walk and offered to arrange a luggage porter instead. We trusted his advice. Unfortunately, the porter was an elderly man with a hand-pulled cart who did not know the exact address. Navigating the busy, narrow souk alleys was very difficult. My husband had to guide him using GPS. What was supposed to be a short walk turned into a stressful 20+ minute trek. We eventually reached an alley too narrow for the cart, had to offload our luggage, paid the porter twice the cost of a normal taxi out of sympathy, and carried our bags on foot for another 15 minutes. Ironically, for the next two days, we took taxis back and forth through the souk area with no problem at all, each ride took only about 15 minutes and cost us less than half of what we paid that day. While the riad itself was pleasant, I would strongly recommend double-checking transportation options independently rather than relying on staff recommendations, especially if you have luggage or mobility concerns.

Beautiful riad but the rooms were hot felt like the A/C wasn’t working

We stayed at this riad for just one night, as they were fully booked and we had to move to another hotel the next day. Overall, the riad itself was beautiful, the room was clean, and the staff were generally welcoming. However, the experience when checking out left a very negative impression. We asked the front desk to call a taxi to take us to our second riad, which we knew was accessible by car. Instead, the receptionist insisted it was only a 10-minute walk and offered to arrange a luggage porter instead. We trusted his advice. Unfortunately, the porter was an elderly man with a hand-pulled cart who did not know the exact address. Navigating the busy, narrow souk alleys was very difficult. My husband had to guide him using GPS. What was supposed to be a short walk turned into a stressful 20+ minute trek. We eventually reached an alley too narrow for the cart, had to offload our luggage, paid the porter twice the cost of a normal taxi out of sympathy, and carried our bags on foot for another 15 minutes. Ironically, for the next two days, we took taxis back and forth through the souk area with no problem at all, each ride took only about 15 minutes and cost us less than half of what we paid that day. While the riad itself was pleasant, I would strongly recommend double-checking transportation options independently rather than relying on staff recommendations, especially if you have luggage or mobility concerns.