Dar Lalamoune

Good points first. The Dar is in a good bit of Fès, near Museum Bacha and within easy reach of nice restaurants and the souk. It's about a 25 minute walk to the Qarawiyin Mosque. The alley it's on is tidy and there's a taxi rank nearby. The two hosts, Abdul and Soufyan, were charming and helpful and the breakfast was good. The room was clean and relatively quiet, good wifi, and the building itself is a very interesting c19th Dar with lots of original decorative detail. Now for the irritations. I was collected from the train station as arranged (albeit after waiting half an hour). The website says this is free but I was charged E10. I arrived at a hotel - which turned out not to be the one I booked. 'There is a problem' I was later told. That may well have been true. But no-one thought to discuss it with me, and I'm the one paying the bill. I had been taken to Dar Amir, also managed by Hamza. Put in a room which opened directly off reception and had glass doors, and the window in the shower opened right behind the reception desk. It was very noisy as people came and went and lights were going on and off all night. Very little sleep. This change of hotel without any discussion was very poor and I said so. I suspect many might have expected not to be charged for that night but yes I was. And they wanted paying in cash, not mentioned on the website, which involved a trip to the bank. So no doubt there's not much tax being paid. So check, dear reader, they're actually going yo take you to the hotel you booked.

The guys are welcoming but their services are a disaster. You feel treated like a number. No payment with card, sometimes accepting dirham, sometimes pretending euros. They sold us private transport on a van to another city but at the end it was a bus with other 20 ppl, not even comfortable. We paid a lot and in euros. They also changed our departure time after we confirmed already another time. The tour guide was paid in dirham. The hotel they pretended to be paid in euros, no card no dirham. Ah, the breakfast was really small.

I regretfully stayed at this Moroccan Dar and found the experience to be highly unsatisfactory. The few positives were the stable WiFi and convenient location near the medina and Blue Gate. However, the negatives far outweighed any benefits. The breakfast lacked variety and remained monotonous throughout my stay. The provision of shower and sanitary amenities was minimal. The staff, particularly Soufiane, initially seemed welcoming but failed to address my concerns effectively. The major issues included two consecutive days without functioning air-conditioning, a non-functional television, poor soundproofing, limited availability of cold water, and inadequate security. The staff's handling of booking information was also incompetent. Overall, this Moroccan Dar fell short of providing a satisfactory experience. I strongly advise against choosing the economy room or this establishment altogether.

The host are probably the best we have ever had! They helped us with everything, they booked taxi’s for us, tipped us the best restaurants, tipped all the best places and made us the perfect Moroccan Thea whenever we liked. The room was really cute and lovely! The shower was really nice and the airconditioning worked really well! The breakfast was also really good! We loved it here so much!! The hosts were the best part of it for sure! But that makes the Riad so lovely to be in! We would 100000% sure come back, and recommend this place to everyone!

It was one of my best stays in Morocco. Absolutely neat and clean, with a nice, peaceful environment. Felt very safe, even at night. Extremely hospitable, caring and generous staff! Would totally recommend.