We are two ladies travelling for the first time to Marrakech for a long weekend. I spent a lot of time comparing hotels & riads, in conjunction with asking lots of questions from ppl who had been before. We were advised to try and stay within the old city walls, as the new town is a short taxi ride away and we didn’t want to rely on haggling with the petit taxis. Next we ruled out traditional riads, as many of them seem fiendishly hard to find and seemed to attract hassle from locals in the small alleys leading to them.

We considered Moroccan House Hotel (the kitsch one, but was 25min walk away), Le Caspien (again long walk from the centre square) and Islane Hotel (2 mins walk from the square & opposite the Koutoubia Mosque). All things considered, we chose the right one!

*How to get there from the airport*

We took the airport express bus 19 – there are arrows pointing you in the right direction from inside the airport. Once you come out of the airport doors, turn left and you’ll see a huge lit up poster of a bus with the bus times (on the hour and half hour). There is no need to cross the road or buy bus tickets in advance. You will get major hassle from the taxi drivers but stand firm and they will eventually bother someone else. Tickets are 20MAD single or 30MAD return (if used within 14 days). It’s a non air-con bus, clean and the driver spoke perfect English. Telll him where you need to go (Hotel Islane) and he will make a request stop right in front of the hotel door! Took around 15mins.

An English bloke got cornered by a petit taxi driver and bartered down from 100MAD to 60MAD to get a ride to Djeema El Fna (the main square). He got into the cream Fiat Uno and the taxi driver did the rounds to get more people into his taxi – we were offered 40MAD but we declined. After a good 10mins, the English bloke jumped out of the taxi as he was annoyed he was still waiting. The bus soon arrived anyhow.

*Checking in & first impressions*

The small hotel lobby was welcoming and in traditional Moroccan décor. Beaded lamps and comfy colourful cushioned seats surrounded the lobby. Check in was a faff as the man at reception didn’t really speak English, so be sure to print out your hotel voucher and be prepared to leave your passports with reception for them to fill out government forms for tourists. We only had a rucksack and a small cabin holdall, but the evening porter (he was short and dumpy, had a red hat and a funny uniform on – it made him looked unattractively like an oompa loompa) took one look at us two tired ladies and amicably grabbed our bags and led us up the stairs. The hotel is like a maze with a number of corridors stemming off at different levels. Our porter led us down the wrong corridor at first, he hit his head when he realised his mistake, muttered, ‘Sorry sorry, hee hee’, then took us back the right way.

We know staying on a main road opposite the biggest mosque in the city is going to be loud, so I requested a room away from the front. Our porter fumbled with the key attached to the massive keyring and opened the door to our room (118)! Our room was huge with a double bed (in reality 2 singles pushed together) and another single bed pushed against the other side of the room. The room décor was atmospheric with the dominant colour of plum purple (on the bedspreads, one side of the wall and the tussle on our massive hotel keyring). There were 4 wall lights which wasn’t as dark as some reviewers had complained about. It was adequately bright for us. The porter showed us the safe inside the wardrobe and showed the pink bathroom with pride(!) He got ready to leave but I stopped him and gave him a small tip, he didn’t expect it and started to bow incessantly thanking us whilst he walked backwards out of the room. Wahahaha, he was hilarious and really gave the pair of us the giggles.

We proceeded to try out the TV (it was unplugged and we couldn’t find a remote for it), the aircon (again no remote, but we didn’t feel we needed it), the hot water (no hot water came out of the hot tap in the sink or the bath) and we couldn’t find any towels. OK so we read about no towels so I brought our own microfiber travel towel, but we needed hot water and some background noise of the TV. So once we’ve settled in and on our way out to dinner, we stopped by reception to let them know. When we came back we collected our passports from reception and our jolly porter led the way and showed us how to get hot water. He switched on the hot taps in the sink and bath tub and did a little jig whilst humming a tune. A few mins later there was hot water. He hunted for the remotes and towels, looking under the beds and in the wardrobe. As he found nothing, he smiled and bowed (made me cringe) told us he will be back. A few minutes later he was back armed with towels and a TV remote. I thanked him whilst trying out a few words of Arabic, ‘Shukran, masaa el kheer’. He beamed at me with a huge smile and started talking to me in Arabic. Eventually he left, but throughout our stay our porter was keen to help and was ready with a smile.

We discovered the bathroom was quite damp and we had to open the little window into the hallway to clear the steam. The shower rail was broken so one cannot hang the showerhead up and there was black mould where the decorator painted over the mastic around the bath tub. We didn’t bring this to the management’s attention, as it didn’t bother us much.

*Bed*

The beds were medium soft, which some might find uncomfortable. I like firm beds, so I found it so-so. At least the sheets were clean and although not the soft Egyptian cotton one would have at home, it certainly wasn’t the Argos value itchy rough quality. I loved the big pillows.

*Noise*

Apart from that, the room was very clean. We slept through the early morning prayer calls during our whole stay (we closed the windows and drew the heavy curtains), so we didn’t have to use the ear plugs we brought with us. The room was very quiet and the only noise heard were other guests slamming their doors shut, but it’s not the hotel’s fault.

*Breakfast*

The complimentary breakfast is ok. Various croissants, buns and rolls, small pieces of sponge cake, plain yoghurt, Moroccan pancakes, butter and jam, tea, coffee and delicious orange juice. It was plentiful, but the carbs soon makes you feel bloated!

There was free wifi in the lobby area and there is an excursion guy who is happy to talk to you about trips in and around Marrakech whether you booked with him or not.

The location was perfect. It was an oasis for us in the midst of the mad medina and convenient for an afternoon power nap and shower. The only other thing that we would have liked was a swimming pool for an afternoon dip, but for the price we paid we couldn’t grumble!

I have also written a trip report here, hopefully it will help those of you planning to stay at Hotel Islane whilst holidaying in Marrakech.

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g293734-i9196-k4289005-Trip_Report_LONG_2_women_in_Marrakech_26_Feb_1_Mar_2011-Marrakech.html