marrakech
riad or
hotel in marrakech?
Two completely different ways
to experience the city
WHAT KIND OF MARRAKECH WOULD YOU LIKE TO EXPERIENCE?
Hotels in Marrakech are easy to understand.
- Golf resorts in the Palmeraie
- Family hotels with pools
- Modern city hotels
- Quiet boutique hotels
- Traditional luxury palaces hidden behind high walls
WHAT DOES IT ACTUALLY FEEL LIKE TO STAY IN A RIAD IN MARRAKECH?
Most riads are located deep inside the old city. Your taxi usually won’t stop directly at the door. Depending on the riad, you may walk anywhere between five and fifteen minutes through narrow alleyways.
Some riads will send somebody to meet you. In other cases, you simply follow Google Maps — or ask one of the small luggage cart porters waiting near the Medina entrances to help you with your suitcase.
And then, suddenly, a small wooden door opens.
Behind it: silence, candles, fountains, orange blossom, shadows, birds, mint tea.
Riads were originally traditional Moroccan homes built around an interior courtyard. Beautiful? Absolutely. Quiet? Not always.
Because the rooms open toward the patio, sound travels easily. Conversations, footsteps, breakfast preparations, the fountain in the courtyard — you live inside the rhythm of the house.
Rooms, especially on the ground floor, can feel darker than modern hotel rooms. But this architecture also keeps the spaces naturally cool during Marrakech summers.
And then there’s breakfast.
Fresh orange juice. Mint tea. Msemen. Moroccan pancakes. Homemade jams. Bread baskets that somehow keep refilling themselves.
Bring one clothing size more for your Morocco trip.
The charm of staying in a riad inside the Medina is incomparable — as long as you embrace the small inconveniences that come with authenticity:
no elevators, narrow alleyways and houses that were originally designed to preserve privacy and keep interiors cool in a hot climate, rather than to provide perfect soundproofing.
And that is exactly why so many travelers fall in love with them.