Auberge L ile de caroubiet — Hotel in caïdat de Tafrante

This is real rural Morocco. Access is difficult and the cuisine is local, as you should expect. The hospitality is superb, the location is terrific, and the facilities are basic. ||The gite is the top floor of a private house. It is the premium residence in the village, on a hill, but very basic by western standards (similar to a simple mountain hut in Snowdonia). The owner's wife provides copious good food in the evening and for breakfast. The owner speaks good English and provided us with a 30 minute tour of the village where everyday North African life can be observed - this is a great privilege. ||You would be well advised to use a 4x4 vehicle - certainly for the 1km drive off the (East) of the R419. Note google maps is wrong, but the GPS coordinates given on booking.com are correct. There is a sign from the road, very easily missed, so you would be wise to ask for directions regularly. All the locals will know you are a visitor, and are likely to know of the gite (but not guaranteed - we were misdirected twice!) The track to the house has several junctions and we grounded the car at one point, and had to be pushed up another hill on the track. ||The road from Chefchuaoen is appalling - frequently missing Tarmac entirely, and with so many potholes as to be difficult to navigate (we took 4 hours for 90km - I have off-road driving experience in Africa). The road to Fes is better. Although there are many two-wheel drive vehicles on these roads you should think carefully before travelling without 4x4 and a reasonable ground clearance vehicle. Having said that, we just about coped in our Hyundai Accent hire car (in retrospect this wasn't wise).||You should visit. It's fantastic. But...

This was one of my favourite places in Morocco. We stayed here at the end of February and absolutely loved this place, location and vibe. Murat and his family didn’t know that we were coming and even so were very welcoming and kind, Murat speak good english which was helpful as neither of us speaks french or Spanish. We were offered tea and a super tasty meal and beds were big and comfy. This a humble and real home and a saviour when you are stuck in the mountain.

Getting there: We were travelling by bicycle from Fez to Chefchauen and this was pretty much the halfway point: it is the only guesthouse in the area. The roads around the lake are in poor state- many big and deep holes so cycling in the dark will be hard but during the day is ok. There is very little traffic and it’s stunning. The house is on a hill and my boyfriend manage to cycle all the way up while i pushed the bike in parts. It’s best to ask the locals as it can be hard to find. It’s about 10min cycling/walking from...

I was going to give this place a 5 star review until he completely ripped me off. I have been traveling through Morocco for more than two weeks and I have experienced various places. This was the worst place I’ve stayed by a landslide and also the most expensive by a fair bit. 700 dirhams for 2 persons in a slum. Absolutely ridiculous.

The reason I initially wanted to give 5 stars was because of the - what I thought - genuine and kind experience with a local family and a caring man.

The price should have been 200-300 dirhams for what it was and I hate the feeling of being asked more...