After Agadir which is a nothing place with no history, no character and is neither Moroccan OR European, we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the bus journey full of camels, donkeys and carts, argan factories, and the infamous tree climbing goats.
As I climbed off the bus, the first thing that I noticed was the WIND. In Marrakech they describe it as “fresh” and I am not sure if it is worse in July. A little man carried our cases from the bus to the hotel in a wooden barrow: a great experience (30DH).
We walked through the most dreadful streets full of local people with awful buildings and half built roads and pavements with grit and sand and there in the centre of “Beirut” was our hotel! To be fair our hotel was a haven with a nice clean room, boiling hot water and the fluffiest towels and pillows ever. The air-con was an amazing surprise and FREE and also a free safe downstairs. The staff were always very helpful and the local people took no notice of these 2 strange characters walking through their neighbourhood! (There was no furniture on the roof terrace).

On the sea front it was so windy and I was amazed by the number of English speakers around us. You could not sit on the beach in July due to the wind, but we had a fantastic camel ride at the furthest end of the beach. Visit the Ocean Vagabond surf bar there as it is a far better option than the beach.

The fish market with sea gulls everywhere is a truly amazing sight. Although the fish markets seemed much nicer than those in Agadir we still didn’t risk them, but with so many beautiful candlelit restaurants inside the medina we were spoilt for choice. The medina seemed wider, brighter and cleaner than those in Marrakech. It had organised sections for fruit and vegetables, herbs, material, wood – the most beautiful things made from wood everywhere and for next to nothing. Ate chicken kebabs, pastries and crepes all cooked within the medina.

Visited Taros bar which was too modern and European for us, preferring next door’s fabulous rooftop view instead. Enjoyed a meal in “Le Petit Pearle” with its candles.

Anyone can use the pool at Hotel Des Iles where we left our stuff on the sunbeds all day and used the pool for £5 each (pay as you enter the hotel reception). This hotel is super with its nice pool, garden, sun beds and a bar with a lovely plush white sofa area.

At the end of the second day when we walked back through the Beirut area around our hotel where the wind blew stronger with sand and grit in your eyes and against your legs I wondered why we had not paid more (we only paid a room rate of £22) and stayed in a lovely riad in the centre of the medina and used the pool at Hotel Des Iles. And although we seemed safe enough walking these streets at night, for these reasons, I would not recommend the Bahja de Mogador hotel to anyone or use it again. If it could be picked up and moved further into town then it would be prefect.

Any more information – please contact us. Cathy Hughes

We booked into here for our 3rd trip to Essaouira for the Gnaoua festival. Our usual hotel has realised they can charge around £500 a week for the view from their terrace, but we couldn't justify the cost!! Having read a few reviews on here, we thought it was worth a go and it certainly was; an absolute bargain. It's clean an the staff are very friendly.

The cafe downstairs is a good place to start your day with a coffee, although be aware - we thought we'd booked Bed & Breakfast but the breakfast wasn't included we were told on arrival. There is much cheaper food a couple of minutes walk away - the hotel charge 25 Dirhams for their breakfast (although any Moroccan hotel breakfast tends to consist of bread with either jam or processed cheese, orange juice & coffee). 1 Dirhan = 8 pence UK at the time of our visit so it's not a huge price to pay !! The hotel also had the best coffee (and the cheapest we found in the town) at 6 Dh a go !! Opposite, there's a great street cafe which is open until about 1am or round the corner there's one that's open until after 3am...

I don't understand all the people who say it's a long walk from the Medina - come out of the hotel, cross the road and take the 1st right, walk to the end and turn left and you're in Bab Marrakech Square with 3 gates into the Medina - about 5 minutes at the most. As for it being a "dodgy area" ?? No, it's in a residential area with a lot of interesting small shops and cafes and a couple of supermarkets within about 200 metres - not dodgy at all (have the reviewers who wrote that ever been into some parts of the Medina?)

The only downside of the hotel is the main road outside - if you get a front facing room you need to keep the windows shut at night at night for the road noise - but the air con works very well so it's not a problem.

Our room was huge with a double bed, and a living area with a table & chairs, en suite bathroom with very hot water and 2 floor to ceiling opening sets of french doors - one with a reasonable balcony to watch the world from.

To sum up; we've just returned from a week in this delightful place during the busiest week of the year (450,000 people visited the town for the festival this year according to the local papers) and it cost us under £190 for the pair of us - I challenge anyone to find anywhere for that price in England (compare it to a single ticket to Glastonbury...) It's Morocco; don't expect 5 star for the money; but for the money they charge it's bang on - visit now before they hike up the prices !!

Basic, reasonably priced hotel. Nothing to complain about. The staff were lovely, the breakfast was simple but fresh and good. Its about a 10 - 15 minute stroll from the medina. Rooms were large, airy, clean enough and quite comfortable. I'm not saying that it wouldnt enjoy a refurb - a splash of paint would do it good, but all in all we were happy with it.
Easy to find by car as it's on the main road (but not too noisy) and you can park right outside. It has a cafe outside, nice for breakfast or coffee, but no meals and definitely no beer!! If I wanted a reasonably priced base outside the medina I'd return.

For a hostel, there is little to complain about. No food, nor are there any restaurants nearby. Locations is shabby, quite dodgy in fact. The one redeeming factor is the lack of car guards nearby - only pro to not being neat the sea front.