Riad Zaitouna Chaouen — Hotel in Chefchaouen

Firstly with the positives, the location can’t be beaten, it’s in the heart of the Medina and within walking distance of everything you’ll want to see. The views from the terrace are also stunning, especially at sunset. Plus, the beds are super comfy and we slept amazingly well in them…

HOWEVER, there’s some things that this Riad can really improve on to help guest comfort:

There is no mint tea offered on arrival which is very strange, as we have experienced this everywhere else we have stayed in Morocco, it’s just a nice touch and shows genuine hospitality.

The whole place runs on solar energy which is great, but not so great when there’s no hot water for guests. We spent almost a full day without hot water (so we couldn’t shower) before someone eventually fixed it, after we asked 3 times.

Speaking of the shower it’s very impractical, there’s no shower curtain so the entire bathroom becomes wet after every shower which is a little annoying…

The bedroom we booked was tiny, like almost too small for two people to stand up at once. This size room is okay for one night, but consider booking a larger room for longer stays.

The breakfast is nice, but weirdly enough in Morocco there’s no option for mint tea again? We aren’t coffee drinkers and look forward to drinking mint tea in the morning. We had to request tea each morning and even then it was just normal tea bags.

Especially with the room we booked we found our stay a little overpriced for the hospitality we received in return. We’ve paid much less in other parts of Morocco and received a much better experience. If we could give this place a 3.5/5 that would be a...

We stayed here for 2 nights and arrived quite late to check in on the first night. ||Location- 10/10 ||In the heart of the Chefchaouen medina. It helps if you use Google maps or you'll definitely get lost. ||Hotel/Riad - 3/10||This place needs a refurb. It could be that they were going for the traditional riad design but this just seemed like it was designed 100 years ago. Certain parts need an upgrade. Cleanliness wise it wasn't too bad. Although on the first night, there was bad odour coming from the bathroom.||Service - 5/10||The owner had bad attitude and just seemed miserable the whole time. Then I realised that's his personality so I don't think he means to be horrible, it's just the way he is. He offered to sell his riad to me, and has plans to relocate. So I think he is just bored and fed up of running his riad. ||Breakfast - 10/10||Cooked fresh to order. The usual traditional moroccan breads, pastries, spreads and eggs. ||Value for money - 8/10||Cheap and cheerful. Okay for a very short stay and you don't plan to sit in all day There weren't many other options around as the town itself is very quiet in terms...

We booked 2 separate rooms for 4 people inside Riad Zaitouna and upon arriving in chefchaouen, our WhatsApp messages & calls confirming the stay and requesting walking directions from the drop off point went unanswered. When we finally arrived at the Riad, we were given a room outside the glass & main blue door, outside the Riad in the Main Street and the room on the first floor lobby, despite one of the rooms we booked being a "mountain room view." We were later told this room was already given to other guests and now we could choose to forfeit our 1st room floor (that 4 people were staying in) for the mountain room view that would only fit 2. The manager then arranged for a mattress to be placed on the floor in our first floor room so the 4 of us could sleep in the same room as opposed to 2 in the room outside the Riad on the street. I slept on the mattress on the floor and in the morning found bugs near where I had slept. No toilet paper provided, lots of noise into the night and overall unpleasant stay. Do not reccomend this Riad, there are many others that are...