Riad l'Etoile d'Orient

The Riad was beautiful, clean and perfectly located to explore Marrakesh. The staff were friendly, helpful and most obliging.

Where to start? We've visited Marrakech regularly over the last twenty years and this riad has to be one of the very best we've ever stayed in. It's in a perfect location just minutes from the main square with one of our favourite restaurants even closer, with many other street food options nearby. The riad is in a superb contemporary Moroccan style with great views from the roof terrace. The room was spacious and the bed comfortable. The staff were very informative and could not have been more helpful. Breakfasts were excellent, accompanied by the best coffee we had in the city, setting us up for a day exploring. We eagerly look forward to making a return visit.

We stayed in the Riad Blue (a standalone Riad only about 50 metres from the main hotel) and absolutely loved it. It's in the heart of the medina and only a few minutes easy walk back to the main square with all the snake charmers and bustle of the city. But an oasis of calm inside the Riad. We arrived on a late flight at nearly 11pm and the Hotel had arranged a driver to pick us up and take us to the Riad. The walk through the medina is a fantastic experience in itself - the kids loved following our guide and our bags along the alleyways! I cannot emphasise how professional, helpful and welcoming the hotel staff were. We were cooked an amazing meal - the beef and vegetable Tajines were excellent. The Riad itself was great. Room for a family of 5 with lots of space. A massive dining table downstairs and we all loved the Jacuzzi in the centre. The Riad staff made us amazing fresh breakfast - pancakes, croissants, fruit, cake etc every morning. An absolute feast. We used the hotel to arrange both a really excellent medina half day tour on the first day (which helped to align us to the geography of the city and learn more of the history). And we also took the desert camel ride and dinner half day evening tour via the hotel. We all loved it - really quite magical, and made easy with our dedicated driver from the Riad. The main hotel itself was great. We had a few drinks and also mint tea there up on the roof. Really calm and peaceful. You are near loads of decent restaurants within five minutes walk at the Square - where you can people watch or further into the souks. Cafe Arabe and the Marrkechi restaurant were particularly good. I would hundred percent recommend this Riad for both their hospitality, friendliness, attentiveness and value for money. And we felt perfectly safe as a family there and around the medina. You can also sunbathe on the roof in the Riad and look over to the Square and the mountains and then cool off in your own private jacuzzi!

Ive never stayed in a Riad before so didnt know what to expect. I knew it was fairly close to the Jemma but as ive never been to marrakech didnt know what to expect. The hotel staff laid on a transport from the airport and dinner when we arrived which was fairly late in the evening. The location was a bit of a surprise. We thought the bag carrying guy had made a mistake or was just stopping to pick something else up when we were told we had arrived. It was just of one of the tourist streets in the souk about 200m from the square. It looked a bit grim from the outside but when we got in we felt more relieved. Staff were really friendly and fed us and we went to our room/suite on the first floor. I would say the photos on the website show the riad in the best possible light. It’s not quite as glamorous in reality and the phots of the suite make it look much bigger than it actually is. However it was clean and perfectly adequate. The rooms are cleaned everyday. We tried the hamman which was well priced and good. Breakfast is continental and nice though it didnt change much over the week. The evening meal we had was the best tagine we had in marrakech. Staff were really helpful. Couldnt do enough for us and very pleasant. You dont hear much from the outside but the inside of the riad can be a bit noisy. On the first night we had some Bulgarians in the central area chain smoking the night away and being noisy. The rooms dont have thick walls. We were kept up by an Italian family one night until 2am just laughing and chatting with the TV on full blast. Not the riads fault but when i complained the staff sorted it very quickly. I loved the little birds floating around on the make for bits of bread though my partner was not impressed with that! (‘Vermin that should be shot!’ Lol) The Wi-Fi is totally hit and miss. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. On the whole we were there for 7 nights for about 1k which i think was fair and reasonable. I wouldn’t go back to marrakech centre again for a host of reasons 1. Tannery Scam. 2. Streets closed scam. 3.Henna ladies scam 4. Snakes and monkeys scam. 5. Charged for things we didnt order in restaurants scam. Basically if they could charge for the air they would! We found marrakech interesting and a shock to the senses but the place is let down by the number of scams going on. You are constantly on your guard and feel exhausted by the end of the day. I had at least 2 full on squared up confrontations with locals wanting to change me for a simple direction. It can be highly aggressive. It’s a shame because it makes you weary of everyone.

This place was an absolutely amazing home away from home. From the moment you entered to the time that you left, the staff catered to your every needs. They were professional, yet friendly, giving amazing advice and suggestions. They made my stay one that will forever be remembered.

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at this Riad. I received excellent service from beginning to end with pickup, excellent accommodations, friendly and helpful staff, delicious breakfasts, beautiful room, comfortable bed, fabulous suggestions for restaurants and day trips, air conditioning though rarely needed, easy communication and a final drop off at my driver pickup location. The location is fabulous! It’s quieter than the main streets but only minutes away from shopping and great restaurants. The laundry service was also much appreciated. This Riad is very clean with excellent housekeeping and spa services. The staff are all very kind, friendly and helpful. Highly recommend this Riad!

In the heart of the medina but easy to find if you have Google maps! Built round the traditional courtyard with a glass roof which is covered if it should rain. Helpful staff with excellent English. Nice breakfast on the rooftop.

So I spent a LOT of time researching riads. I knew it had to be in walking distance to everything, be centered in the medina, not be too pricey and has to have a minifridge in our room, since it gets very hot in Marrakech, even in March it turned out. It turned out that not many riads offer minibars in their rooms for some reason, so that limited the number of possibilities drastically. Then I found Riad l'Etoile d'Orient. On paper it had everything we looked for, for a four day trip to Marrakech. If you like socialising with others and like to have people around you always when you travel, you should propably not choose this place. But if, after a busy, noisy and chaotic day, you need to relax in a perfect silent and picturesque riad, this is it! It only has 4 (6?) rooms and a lot of the time you feel you have the whole place to yourself. We spent a lot of time on the terrace soaking in the environment. And a big shoutout to Hassan. He noticed that I always got a panic-attack looking for coffee, but with his usual huge smile and a "my home is your home"-comment he allowed me to use the ground's coffee-machine whenever I chose. The two nice ladies who cleaned our room and served us breakfast on the terrace also deserve a lot of praise. And yes....it really felt as we were coming home, every time we entered the riad.