Riad Petit Karmela

Centrally located Riad Petit Karmela in Marrakech provides spacious, clean rooms with comfortable beds. Guests appreciate the friendly staff, excellent breakfast, and beautiful rooftop jacuzzi. Some find the serving area crowded.

I cannot fault the fine people running the riad. They are friendly and eager to please. 5 star service, good food, rooms are clean and the vibe is great. However my experience with the local (and official) tour guide that the riad arranged for the private city tour, was not great at all. I was just following the guide, walking around half the time in silence. Out of the 3 to 3.5 hours tour that cost me €60, we walked through Jemma el Fnaa, circled around Koutoubia Mosque, a quick stop at Bacha Cafe and visited Bahia Palace and Medrasa Ben Youssef. The guide would say some sentences about each place which I could have read (and found out more) from Wikipedia. The point of having a local guide was to gain knowledge and insights that would enrich my experience as a tourist. Well too bad for me. I mentioned that I wanted to buy dried figs but instead was brought into an apothecary peddling argan oil, creams and so on. I willingly purchased a bottle of prickly pear oil because the one I tried seemed fine and authentic. But when I got back to the hotel, I found that mine smelled very fruity and had a clear colour unlike the yellowish oil with a nutty smell. Shame on me for not checking and trusting strangers. I ended the tour with no tips for the guide because he was already paid by the shop. How I knew? Cos there was a handshake right in front of me when we were leaving the shop. I did not mention my unpleasant experience to the riad as it was not their fault. I guess I was just unlucky. My advice is stick to staying or eating at the riad (which is great) and book tours on your own!