The Beau Rivage is located right in the heart of the main square in Essaouira so is a perfect base from which to explore. We picked a room at the back of the hotel; it didn't get the sunshine, but we thought it might be quieter than the rooms overlooking the square and we weren't disturbed at all. Rooms are basic, with a double bed, a desk, chair and a hanging rail for clothes. The floors are tiled throughout. Our bathroom was a large wetroom style room with basic fittings. Because of the size and tiling it can be a bit echoey, so you can hear you roommate using the loo; but we worked around this to maintain dignity! The shower was powerful and hot water was available 24hours. We had clean towels daily and the bed linen smelled clean. In terms of decor, this is not a hotel for frilly extras, the rooms are a little bit tired looking, but with breakfast included (tea or coffee, orange juice, a crepe, bread, butter and apricot jam), you'd be hard pushed to find anywhere else that was such good value for money.

If you want luxury then this isn't the hotel for you, but if you're looking for a clean, basic room to stay in whilst you explore the local culture then this is ideal.

I stayed here with my husband and son as part of a Family Adventure Company holiday. There are lots of steps both to the reception area and more to the roof terrace for breakfast but it is in a great location. Quite noisy on a night as there are open air cafes/restaurants all around and unfortunately very noisy when the calls to prayer start at 5am but we really liked it here. Essaouira has a great feel and I would definitely visit again. We liked the staff here and they cooked a special fish barbecue for us one night which was excellent. The breakfast was good although if you wanted a refill coffee you had to pay 10 dirham extra.

We stayed here for two nights in Essaouira, and almost changed hotels - only laziness prevented that. After a lovely riad in Marrakech, this was a dissapointment. It was a very insitutional sort of hotel, and our room had several small things wrong with it that would have been easy for the staff to fix - I got the impression that they didn't care. The room was noisy at night, though it wasn't that bad as Essouira shuts down pretty early. The terrace was nice with a good view and the food was fine. they also serve beer and wine on the terrace restaurant, but it is overpriced.

All in all it is a fine place to stay, but I think you could get better for cheaper if you looked around a bit more.

we stayed here one night, rooms were very clean, showerwater was very hot. We stayed in a room with balcony, doors of balcony couldn't be locked. til 2 am a lot of noise of neighbour shops and restaurants who were cleaning. surprise: they sold wine and beer on the roofterrace.