Riad Dar Ben Slimane, Marrakech: our honest review

Booking somewhere to stay in Marrakech is absolute madness. There are so many options that, without knowing the different areas well, choosing where to sleep is no easy job. But you already know we’re big improvisers who plan very little, so this time was never going to be any different.

In fact, I booked our accommodation the night before we flew, and it was rather a case of: “Right, this one, it looks lovely and the price is great”.

When we booked the Riad Dar Ben Slimane, we weren’t expecting much. We’d paid just under €50 a night, in the middle of July, inside the Marrakech medina. At that price our expectations weren’t high, but we liked the riad far more than we thought we would.

Let me tell you how our stay at the Riad Dar Ben Slimane in Marrakech went.

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What the Riad Dar Ben Slimane is like

The Riad Dar Ben Slimane is a small, new riad. It opened at the end of 2025 and has very few rooms, all set around the central courtyard. You can tell it has just been renovated and decorated with a lot of care.

As soon as you step through the big wooden door of the Riad Dar Ben Slimane, you find a small entrance hall leading straight to reception. It’s tiny, but that’s where Paco was, a lovely Senegalese lad who looked after us throughout our stay.

While we checked in they offered us cold water, which in the middle of July in Marrakech was very welcome indeed.

To the right the riad’s central courtyard opens up, and it’s pretty much the heart of the house. This is where the breakfast tables are, with several of the rooms arranged around it.

It’s a simple but beautiful space, with plants, doors and windows in pale blue and turquoise, a few paintings and small decorative touches that give it so much charm. And above all it has that sense of calm we love so much about riads: outside is the chaos of the medina, and inside time seems to move at a different pace.

Our room was on the second floor, along with some of the riad’s other rooms and a small sitting area or reading corner that I thought was lovely. It’s one of those spaces where you just want to sit for a while and do absolutely nothing.

And on the third floor there’s the small rooftop, with a bit of terrace furniture, where you can sit down, rest and enjoy the views.

Being honest, we didn’t use it. We were in Marrakech in the middle of July and with that heat, sitting up there with no pool didn’t really appeal. Because this is worth knowing: the Riad Dar Ben Slimane in Marrakech doesn’t have a pool.

Another small detail worth knowing before you book is that the riad has no lift and the stairs are quite narrow. It wasn’t a problem for us, but I’m mentioning it in case you’re travelling with a lot of luggage, with small children or with reduced mobility.

The room and the bathroom

When we booked the Riad Dar Ben Slimane it struck us as a very cheap place to stay in Marrakech, so we decided to book the best room they had. And even then it was still cheap.

This trip was a special one too. We were celebrating our 15th anniversary and travelling on our own, without the girls, so we fancied somewhere with a bit more charm.

Our room had a sort of double entrance door with a beautiful curtain in between, which already hinted that this was going to be prettier than we expected.

As you walk in, the bed was on the left, with its two bedside tables and several paintings on the walls. By the way, have you seen how lovely those lamps are? I adored them.

In the middle of the room there was a small sitting area, with a table, a couple of armchairs and a big mirror. A perfect spot to sit down and rest for a while. The wardrobes are open and built into the room itself.

And on the right was the star of the room: the bathroom.

It’s huge. The toilet is tucked away on the right behind a curtain, and the bathroom has a shower, a bathtub and a double sink.

One small thing, though: the hot water didn’t work in the bathtub, so the baths we had were cold ones. And although that might sound like a disaster in the middle of July in Marrakech, after hours of walking in the sun I promise you we didn’t mind all that much.

There were also toiletries following the Moroccan theme, with scents of jasmine, roses and other smells that took you straight to Morocco. There was a hairdryer too.

Everything was very well looked after, without being over the top. The room had a mix of traditional and modern that we really liked.

And above all it was very quiet. After the noise and the constant movement of the medina, closing the bedroom door and finding that silence was wonderful.

How much the Riad Dar Ben Slimane costs

And now the price, which for me is one of the most surprising things about this riad.

We paid 855 MAD (about €78) for the two nights, plus the tourist tax, which is paid separately and comes to €2.50 per person per night, so around €10 more.

In total, about €88 for the two nights with breakfast included. Just under €50 a night, and remember we’d booked the best room they had.

After everything I’ve just told you, it still seems a brilliant price to me.

Breakfast

Breakfast is included and, for us, it was one of the best things about the riad. Not just for everything they serve, but for the moment itself.

Sitting in the courtyard in the morning, with that calm you feel inside the riad, listening to the birds and starting the day without rushing, was wonderful. Outside was all the movement of the medina, but in there Marrakech seemed to run at a different pace.

And then there’s the food, which is home-made and freshly prepared.

All you have to do is choose between tea or coffee and the rest keeps arriving at the table: different kinds of bread, egg, pancakes, jams, butter, honey, pastries, orange juice and, of course, amlou, that Moroccan spread made with argan oil, almonds and honey that hooks you from the first spoonful.

The same woman who serves your breakfast is the one who cooks it, and she is lovely and always smiling. She doesn’t speak English and only a little French, but she does everything she can to communicate with you, help you and understand what you need.

For me, having breakfast in that courtyard was one of those small moments of our stay in Marrakech that I remember most.

The staff

The staff at the Riad Dar Ben Slimane are lovely and were always ready to help.

Paco, the receptionist, looked after us throughout our stay. He helped us with the cases, gave us information about Marrakech, walked us out to get a taxi and made sure we weren’t overcharged.

And the rest of the team were just as warm and friendly. From the very first moment they made us feel comfortable and were always on hand for anything we might need.

By the way, if you’re putting your trip together, below are the two things we booked ourselves in Marrakech and would do again without a second thought. We did both on this same trip.

How to get to the Riad Dar Ben Slimane

The Riad Dar Ben Slimane is inside the Marrakech medina, and there’s something worth knowing before you book: it’s not especially easy to find the first time.

We booked an airport transfer and honestly, it was a great decision. It cost us around €10 and the driver, whose English was perfect, dropped us at Parking Bab Taghzout, a few minutes’ walk from the riad.

He also explained exactly how to get there and gave us a piece of advice that came true a few minutes later: be careful with people who offer to help you with directions, because afterwards they’ll ask you for money. And sure enough. It was the first thing that happened to us as we got out of the taxi.

I’ll admit that on the first day I was pretty terrified in those medina labyrinths. The streets are narrow, some of them quite dark, and there are moments when you feel you’re going to be carved up round the next corner, but believe me, Marrakech is a very safe city.

That said, have the riad’s location downloaded on your phone and, if you can, try to make your first arrival in daylight.

As for the location, it’s pretty good for visiting Marrakech. From the riad to Jemaa el-Fna square is about 15 to 20 minutes on foot, so you can walk around a good part of the medina.

And for us, being inside that little labyrinth ended up being part of the experience of staying in Marrakech.

What we didn’t like

And here comes the honest part, because you know I like to tell things as they are.

When we arrived in Marrakech we were told that week was far hotter than usual. And when I say far hotter, I mean it: we had temperatures of 46 to 48 °C, so you can imagine.

The air conditioning in our room seemed to be working, but it couldn’t cool the room down enough. And of course, at those temperatures, it was still very hot in the room at night and we slept pretty badly during our stay.

We raised it with them and they tried to sort it out. They even called a technician to check the unit, but they told us it was working properly and that, with the heat outside, it couldn’t cool any further.

We weren’t entirely convinced, but we also can’t know whether it was a one-off problem with our room, with the unit, or simply completely exceptional temperatures.

On top of that, looking at reviews from other months, we didn’t see other guests mentioning this problem, so I’d rather tell you exactly as it happened to us without suggesting it’s something normal at the riad.

Is the Riad Dar Ben Slimane worth it?

Yes, we’d stay again without a doubt.

For the price we paid, we thought the riad offers a huge amount. It’s beautiful, freshly renovated, the room and bathroom surprised us, the breakfast was delicious and the staff were lovely.

The air conditioning was our negative, but it needs context too: we had 46 to 48 °C in Marrakech, temperatures that, from what we were told there, were much higher than usual.

Even so, for everything else, our experience was very good and we think it’s somewhere with excellent value for money for staying in the Marrakech medina.

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Have you ever slept in a riad in the medina? Tell me how it went, I love reading these stories.