Guest house Les Tourmalines — Hotel in caïdat de Ghassate

Coming from Erg Chebbi dunes this was an amazing place to stop for the night. A guest house on the outskirts of Ouarzazate overlooking Lake El Mansour Eddahbi and fed by the waters from River Dades, River Draa and other secondary rivers. The location was little difficult to find as it is not clearly signed posted and it is surrounded by large Villas dotted around the lake. The view from the terrace was breath-taking with infinity swimming pool overlooking the lake. It was particularly windy on the day we arrived so did not get to use the pool. We had two rooms booked and both were nicely decorated with large spacious rooms and a private little terrace, massive bed and seating area and excellent aircon. There is a fast WIFI connection both in bedrooms and outside on the terrace. Idriss manager of Les Tourmalines made our stay very comfortable and welcoming. He is an excellent, very approachable host always smiling, full of enthusiasm and radiating joy and went beyond the call of duty to ensure we had a good stay. Idriss was able to tell us a lot about the local area and answered all our questions. The owners were away in Australia and Idriss ensured that the place was impeccable. We did meet Nelson the family dog and stroked him the next morning. Nelson was keener to leave the compound and run around!||We had a beautiful dinner in an outside tent but as you enter it is a very solid structure and had windows that open out to the lake. We had different food tastes and Idriss was able to satisfy all of us. The Kitchen also prepared a special meal for my vegan daughter. There is a large vine selection to make your evening special. We seemed to be the only guests that night and under the full attention of Idriss. It was quite clear Idriss loves his job and this place.||Breakfast was out on the terrace and there was plentiful to eat and very nicely laid out. ||This place is beautiful, and you do need a car to get here, it is about half an hour’s drive from the centre of Ouarzazate. If you need peace and quiet and let your hair down from the heat of the day, then this is the...

I want to give this hotel three stars for the following: wonderfully pleasant manager, incredible location overlooking a reservoir outside of Ouarzazate, and the Berber omelet we were served with our dinner. Yes, the rooms are a little dated, but the biggest downside for us was our encounter with a man we presume to be the owner. We had a small cooler we traveled with so we could have a cold beer at lunch or upon arrival to our hotel if it did not serve alcohol. This man intercepted our driver when he attempted to unload it and explained that he has a liquor license and so would not permit the cooler on the premises. Fair enough—I guess—but in all my travels I cannot recall a hotel ever searching our bags or preventing us from bringing our own refreshments or snacks to our room. And he was not polite about it, which really bothered my husband. Our driver said something to the effect that it’s not such a big deal and good to have happy guests, to which the owner replied, “I don’t care what the guests or their drivers think. I only care about the booking agent!” He really said that. Maybe this is why we were the only guests there that night even though it is the high season (that, by the way, also felt weird). He was only the second person we encountered on our entire 10 days in Morroco who did not exhibit the warm, welcoming hospitality of the Morrocan people. I think there must be better options in...

I am so glad I stopped here on my trip. This was probably Day 5 of 10 on our trip. I was traveling with a friend and we had been non-stop moving (Casablanca/Rabat to Fes to the Sahara Desert) and this was a stop before we headed to Marrakech. It was really peaceful here, quiet, but just what we needed after a very jam packed few days. The hotel has an infinity pool, which was beautiful as you watch the sunset. It was a little too cold for me to get in, but my friend did for the Instagram.||||It sounds like they are operated at least partially by solar panels, so the water took a little bit of time to warm up, which was fine by me anyways and good for the environment!||||There's not a lot of dinner options nearby, so we had dinner here, which was really good! They even grow their own rosemary in their garden, which is then used to cook with. ||||The BEST part was the staff. We only met Christian, the owner at check-in and then we didn't see him until the end at check-out. There was another guy we interacted with the most and he was super friendly. He even recommended us a dinner spot in Marrakech (Dar Moha), which turned out great. ||||This is definitely not the most 'luxury' hotel in Morocco, but I thought for the price and what it had to offer, it was really good and I would...