Kasbah Bab Ourika

After a manic 2 days in Marrakech, it was to this pleasant retreat that we came for 5 nights with family. With stunning views up the Ourika Valley and magical sunsets, this was a serene break in another world of orange trees, lemon trees, olive groves, bougainvillea, jasmine. The gardens are extensive with rosemary hedges, fountain and sun lounges, pool, terrace and pathways. The rooms we had at the end of the garden were private suites a short walk from the main building, isolated in peace. The rooms were nice, cleaned daily and well-appointed. The staff were helpful and very pleasant and willing. The food for breakfast, lunch or dinner was good if slightly limited in choice; well-presented and tasty. It is expensive but we enjoyed it for a family occasion.

The views are magical, but the Kasbah Bab Ourika charges prices that are completely out of touch with what it offers. The rooms are rustic, and the dining room decor, with its faux-leather chairs, is unattractive and dull. I read that everything had been renovated, but I visited five years ago and saw no improvements. The food is downright bad, except for the vegetables—they're the only thing worth choosing. Breakfast is decent.

This serene mountain Kasbah was the perfect ending to our Moroccan holiday. We had good food, good service, and a fantastic room upgrade. (Thanks again for that!!) While each review might vary, I can only say that our time there was wonderful. The views, the gardens and the cats all made our stay truly enjoyable.

Stunning location. Friendly staff on the whole. Loved our trek with Idris- he was superb. Food so so. Not the best but it did as the scenery and location made up for its short falls. Lots of friendly cats and dogs too. Beautiful swimming pool. Would go back. A little rustic in places… but this was again, part of its charm.

I beautiful setting spoiled by poor food, unhappy staff and a management team that doesn't really care. The hotel is full of children spoiling what should have been a serene environment at the pool and during dinner. The management were very unfriendly and wouldn't help when my wife was ill from the food.

It was pouring with rain when we arrived and no one was at the door to help us with our bags. Everything got wet. We had to wait what sent ages before anyone acknowledged us and check us in. We arrived at lunch time so a couple of hours before check in. No one asked if we were ok or would we like lunch. We really didn’t feel at all welcomed and slightly abandoned. Of course the hotel has lots lunch time bookings so it felt like we were way down the priority list - not great considering we were hotel guests. So our initial impression was not great at all and we did wonder if we had made mistake staying Kasbah Bab Ourika. When we eventually checked in we decided to have lunch, but we had to wait ages for a table. When we were shown to our room / villa, we thought we might have been given a tour of the hotel at the same time and shown the spa, pool and other amenities etc but this did not happen. The Initial impression of our accommodation (family delux suite) was how dated it was, although maybe this was part of the charm. It felt slightly dirty as well and it transpires it wasn’t cleaned properly as my son found used contact lenses on his bedside table. We did mention this to hotel and we did get an apology but that was it!! Our room was a garden room which was lovely but it had absolutely no view and if anyone was in the garden outside the room they could look in. However after all this and over the course of the first day we started relax and got to know the staff, who were actually lovely. We went for a great walk with Hamid who was helpful and sooooo we enjoyed hearing about the area and about him. The food was delicious although the service was a bit slow. On our final night we ordered wine which never arrived and we were charged for it. We didn’t realise until we returned home. We are great believers in benefit of the doubt and would love to return one - it’s super handy if you are travelling to or from Marrakesh airport.