Riad Dar Latifa — Hotel in Essaouira

Review on Dar Latifa 25. Nov 2010||||Travelers: Two adults with twins (8 months old) staying in Dar Latifa for two weeks.||First of all Essaouira is a perfect location traveling with children. We can highly recommend taking some time off with your children doing nothing but eat cheap local food and go early to bed and follow the "clock" of your children.||It´s easy to get food for young children in a variety of pharmacies and for older children potatoes, carrots and whatever you need.||We chose Dar Latifa for two reasons: the price and that it had a kitchen we would be able to use in preparation for kids food.||We got a good price (25% off because we stayed for two weeks in low season).||I have never met the french owner, Pierre, but I had a fantastic email-communication with him. He answers very quickly to my questions and is a very helpful person. ||The house is right in the center of the action. One block down from the "mainstreet" and you´re on. The Riad is quiet and you don´t hear noise from the very lively street.||The Riad is managed by a very helpful "landlady" who unfortunately, don´t speak english or maybe it´s unfortunate, we don´t speak french... :-)||She makes breakfast (exactly the same for two weeks - a little variation would be nice) and make your bed. For a minor fee she washed our clothes. She is so nice and we really liked her. ||Besides the landlady, there is a manager, and she is well, a manager. When we arrived I asked if we should buy our own water and I was told that is was no problem. However, when we left we were charged for 15 bottles of water 1€ each. It´s not the amount of money, it´s the way it just "sneaked" in. Furthermore it felt a little awkward, when she told me that, in our case with the children, there was no fee for use of the kitchen?? I had specifically asked the owner weeks ago for permission to use the kitchen. Standing there saying thank you for the use the kitchen, just felt awkward.||The Riad could have had WIFI, and I would gladly pay for it, but it´s just a minor thing and you can find a WIFI access almost everywhere around the city.||We would definitely come back another time and we would also recommend Dar Latifa to other travelers coming...

Originally we were booked for the other property Dar Sabon, but due to some miscommunication, Agne the owner, welcomed us there and advised that we will stay in Riad Dar Latifa. She was very apologetic and understanding, so this wasn't really an issue for us. Agne took us to Latifa, showed us around, gave us a map and very helpful tips on what to see while in Essaouira. The Riad was tastefully decorated, with loads of authentic art work by a local artist, which gives a character to the place. Rooms are well presented, it is basically 2 rooms per floor. The only downside is that there is a bathroom in one bedroom, which might be a bit inconvenient if you are not family or really close friends (we were family so not an issue). There is an extra bathroom on the ground floor, so I guess this won't be a huge problem. The other great thing, is the roof terrace which had lounge chairs to just chill out and relax. The location is just off the main souk so easy to walk everywhere. Breakfast was served by Simona, the sister of the owner, who was helping her with the Riad. We had one of the best omelettes ever, she had carefully prepared everything fresh on the morning, breakfast was so much that we could not finish. We were alone the 1st night, than there was another group the next day, staying on the 2nd floor but this was not an issue. I would however definitely recommend this whole property to be booked for a group of friends/family as you can really enjoy the...

where to start, maybe from the location: very good place, we felt safe both during the day and around midnight when we came back sometimes... service: very good, Fatima picked us up from the place where the taxi took us and took us to the place, breakfast is Very simple but enough for the first hunger, something similar to pancakes they are called "msemen" with fresh baguette, jam, honey, butter, coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice, although Fatima does not speak English and we speak French, these days with Google Translator has no problem getting along, Rooms: our room was budget, i.e. without a bathroom or toilet, you had to go downstairs, but you can survive, the room is clean, WiFi is generally available throughout the building, which is also a big plus, we bought it anyway local sim card because the internet is useful .... the cost is 100 dirham for 20GB .... on the last day we could leave our backpacks for almost the whole day in the hall and we would have a key to enter because we would have a flight at 8 pm so another big plus for this place .... on the roof, of course, a small terrace with chairs and sunbeds, everything you need and if not, you can ask and it will be, I must say that we spent 4 days here nicely .......