Le Mas de L'Ourika

A fair distance from the Marrakech city centre (approx 30km) and just off one of the main highways - you arrive at an obstacle ridden ‘dirt road’ that is also a building site. As we navigate ditches that reveal themselves at the last second, and scrape past gristly bushes en route, we feel apprehensive and anxious about the potential state of the accommodation that lies ahead. The first scare came when we pulled up at the villa gates (we genuinely thought for a second that this stay was likely to be a write off, maybe a contender for ‘Holidays from Hell’). Thankfully as we walked into the compound a somewhat lush paradise opened up before us, landscaped garden with a nice view of the pool ahead. Credit where it’s due, this looked great at first glance, but as you look closer the dirty pool and dated fixtures and fittings became evident. This became clear as you enter the rooms, which varied from decent to dated and rugged. Overall I will give the villa a solid 7/10 for the quality of the stay (owing to a decent layout and number of guests it can accommodate). Moving onto the host and the way we were ‘looked after’ - this is where it gets interesting... The so called host greeted us not with a hello, but a broken English instruction on something that is not allowed. Maybe this was his first gig as a host so let’s maybe cut him some slack. We quickly realised that his demeanour consisted of a ‘no-can-do’ attitude, and would often come across condescending and rude when trying to speak to him. As a group of lads enjoying a stag and burning off steam we had food and drink and generally cleaned up after ourselves out of courtesy / respect for the place. However on some occasions there were a few glasses left near the poolside bar, or a bit of packaging that wasn’t thrown away. The host felt the need to send a nasty WhatsApp message to one of our group which began ‘what the hell’ and was quite abusive in nature when he had to spend the best part of 5 mins clearing up after us. Even if there was a misunderstanding, maybe pull one of the guys to one side and explain in a decent manner what is expected... not this guy though, he was a w****r at the best of times. At the time of booking we asked about allowing friends to visit during the day for drinks to celebrate both a stag and a birthday... we asked repeatedly but this fell on deaf ears... up until approx 48 hours before our stay (when we were pretty much locked and loaded without any time to change anything) the owner mentioned ‘strictly no guests permitted at the villa’ which threw a massive curveball our way. This wasn’t mentioned for the 4 months leading up to our stay, to ensure we booked without any issue. Once the funds where received in full he decided to reveal his hand. These people are cunning and deceptive. I would strongly advise against booking with them - unless you are happy to wing it and hope for the best. This threw our plans into a bit of turmoil, and when trying to reason with the owner they were stubborn, aggressive and rude - a good reflection of the host who they had ‘working’ at the villa. We decided to have breakfast one of the mornings, and besides a dreadful excuse for an omelette, I would be embarrassed to serve this food to a group of rats. Overall, 7/10 for overall property layout Overall 1/10 for host and owner Overall 1/10 for attitude / manners And please note - NOT IDEAL FOR STAG GROUPS !

Good place

Wonderful place for a day out.... a very scenic location and a good trek

Great place and beautiful location

Beautiful