Riad l'Orangeraie — Hotel in Marrakesh Prefecture

We stayed at Riad l'Orangeraie for 5-nights during peak season, Christmas 2019 to New Year 2020. The facility, staff and service were excellent. As a seasoned world traveller, I should say beyond comparison! Let me highlight all of the reasons.

This riad is located inside the medina, absolutely straight down from Bab Ksour (sometimes referred to, by locals, as l'Ksour and pronounced almost like 'Luxor'). The maze of lanes in the medina can be quite hard to navigate, and this riad's location helps a lot. You can be out of the medine in a couple of minutes, and are just 1 short taxi ride away from the new town area of Marrakech. On the other hand, you exit the riad, turn left, and are within 5-minutes of Jemaa el-Fnaa square, as well as several other notable sites and top-tier restaurants inside the medina.

The facility is immaculately clean, quiet, and well-managed, and the large pool and huge terrace (with sunning beds and all) are exactly what you will want at breakfast, and after a long and tiring day in Marrakech. Just 7 rooms and perfectly tranquil courtyard. L'Orangeraie also has a superbly decorated lounge with a fireplace, a dining table and a sound system (apart from books, magazines and board games) for families or larger groups to eat dinner, or just lounge around with some wine in the evening. The bathrooms are the best we encountered in our entire trip through Morocco. When Lonely Planet says their showers have the best water pressure in Marrakech they are not kidding! And there is alway a plate of fruits and desserts + cookies in your room, just in case someone gets suddenly hungry.

I challenge you to find a better tagine to eat in Morocco. Of the 5 places (restaurants as well as other riads) where I ate tagines, L'Orangeraie's cooking was without a shadow of doubt the tastiest! I highly recommend that you consider at least one dinner on your stay here. On that account, I strongly recommend that you take Cyril Bernard's recommendations for restaurants inside the medina as well as in New Town area. They made reservations for us at 4 places (Italian, French/Moroccan, and Indian) and every one of those restaurants was top-tier, gourmet meal & cocktails experience.

Everyone on Cyril's staff is universally wonderful. I will not forget Ismail (his manager), and Aziz and Jamal, as well as the ladies in the kitchen (I only remember Khadija's name). I, unfortunately, fell ill with flu-like illness during my Marrakech stay, and they went out of their way to take care of me. They brought medicines for me, changed my sheets and towels multiple times in a day, and cooked me easy to digest, hot, vegetable and meatball soups to tidy me over the cold and cough. In fact, after we had to modify our return to Casablanca, due to my illness, Cyril and his staff put us up in their lounge (with extra bedding and a hot fire) for half a night, so that we could catch our 3AM flight to Paris, and not have to look for a new place to stay. I am making a mention of this because it is heartwarming to know that there still are businesses and people who will take care of you when you need their help the most. For all of these extras L'Orangeraie did not charge us one extra dime, while they helped make arrangements and plans for my wife and daughter go out and shop and see Marrakech without me. I cannot thank them enough for it. This is the kind of place you want to stay at, because you will get the best service & facilities regardless of...

So much has been written about the hospitality and the genuine care that Cyril and his team provide. Their level of care begins even before the stay. Cyril spoke to me several times to review excursions, restaurants, giving me plenty of options to make our trip to Marrakech memorable. He even helped me plan other places in Morocco to go to. This is even before we arrived. ||The Riad provided guides, made restaurant reservations, booked a non touristy cooking class (not Maison Arabe); booked the side car excursion (Marrakech Insiders), booked a massage (very close) and was available for any questions as needed 24/7. No one seems to sleep.,,,,||Our favorite day was going out for the day with Jamel. He works at the Riad and is as gracious and charming as Cyril. He took us to the High Atlas Mountain for the day. Stopped at great scenic spots along with spending time at Richard Branson Kasbah.. Make sure you let them know you are coming and they will have someone tour property with you. Had spirits at courtyard. It was lovely. After this, we went to a Berber home for a true tagine meal. Food was cooked for five hours. It was the best meal with great scenery. This was definitely off the beaten track but a true local experience. Also felt good giving the family the business as the earthquake really devastated this area. You can see the destruction all around. This is a MUST do day.||Please note there are many steps here. Even if you stay on ground level, you need to walk up steps to go to rooftop for breakfast. After a day, we got used to the steps but might be an issue if you have mobility issues. Though, I am sure you can have breakfast in your room. No was never a word used here. ||Also please be aware that this isn’t a hotel with a full size swimming pool or a bar or restaurant, You can get lunch or dinner if you order in advance. . We did have lunch the first day and it was delicious. What you get instead is the local atmosphere with a team that treats you like family. Hugs and kisses when we left.||Thank you Cyril and team!!! It is something that we will...

I have not read the other reviews as I did not want them to influence my thoughts. I can surely imagine that they were all great because it would be imposssible to imagine anyone not having anything less than an excellent experience at L'Orangeraie. From the moment we arrived we were made to feel at home with our sit-down chat with Azziz where we drank mint tea while he circled hot spots for us to see on a map of the Medina. Then a tour of the Riad ending in our beautiful room. "Nutmeg" I believe. It proved to be a wonderful haven for rest and relaxation. The bed was incredibly comfortable and the sheets and pillows were so so amazing. The bathroom was for me the highlight of our room. A beautiful spacious place with a giant shower, amazing hot water and beautifully decorated with Moroccan lamps. The soap, shampoo, lotion all smell of oranges including, somehow, the towels all making your time there a beautiful sensory dream. We arrived late and they offered to have dinner ready for us when we arrived. Our first of many Tagines. We ate on the rooftop terrace and it was fantastic. In the end we ate almost all of our dinners at the Riad save for two nights when ate out. Azziz organized two day trips for us. One was a trip to Imlil in the Atlas mountains for a traditional Berber lunch at a cliffside village. The second was a sunset dinner in the dessert. Both experiences were outstanding. Our guide on these adventures was Jamal. He took amazing care of us and was a wonderful companion. We learned more from him about Morocco than from any other source and we feel that we made true friend. I can't think of a single negative thing to say. If you go to the Medina, stay here. You will not be sorry. Azziz, Jamal and the rest of the team became family to us and I was in tears when we left. The Medina is mayhem, Riad L'Orangeraie was like floating on a...