Riad Douirtna
A room, painted-beam ceiling and terracotta tiles · © Riad Douirtna 
The Riad Douirtna plays against the grain of geography: it is a full riad, patio and terrace included, but planted in Gueliz, the new town, not in the medina. Eight rooms only, a hammam, a Moroccan table, a welcome travellers rate very high, a quarter of an hour on foot from the Jardin Majorelle. The spirit of a guesthouse, without the old-town lanes.
Our verdict
A real riad that would not be in the medina: the Riad Douirtna rests entirely on that shift. You push a door at the end of a planted lane of Gueliz and find yourself in a Moroccan house by the rules, set around its patio and topped with a terrace. The nuance is in the address: the car comes right up to the door, the station is ten minutes away, and nothing of the complicated arrival that a stay inside the walls usually imposes.
Everything in the house comes back to its small size. The welcome dominates the comments, cited ahead of the rooms and ahead of the table: you are received by a host, not by a front desk. The decor, itself, does not seek unity and changes from one room to the next, padded headboards here, contemporary canvases there, old terracotta tiles on the floor. Some will see character, others a want of line. The cooking extends this hand-made spirit, Moroccan and open to vegetarian and vegan diets, still rare in the genre, with a breakfast, msemen and homemade jams, regularly praised.
The flip side, now. Without a pool, the wellness plays at the hammam rather than by a basin, and the terrace does the fresh air. The house is small and fills up fast, which calls for booking early. Most of all, the stance of the riad outside the walls has its price: you gain easy access and the calm of a residential street, you lose the immersion in the souks and the bustle that make the salt of a medina stay.
Two Marrakechs for the price of one compromise: you keep the patio, the zellige and the hammam, you swap the souks for a quiet street a quarter of an hour from the Jardin Majorelle. Add a personal welcome, a small-scale address and a contained budget, and the equation is good. This is a claimed in-between: the spirit of the riad, the logistics of the city.
What sets it apart
- A riad, but at Gueliz Patio, brick, zellige and stained glass, the full riad spirit, but in the new town rather than in the medina. You arrive by car, no need to drag your case through the derbs.
- A small house, a present host Eight rooms, a personal welcome: that is what travellers place highest. You are received and advised, more like at a host's than in a calibrated hotel.
- Hammam, terrace and house table A hammam, a steam bath and massages, a sunny terrace, a home-made Moroccan cooking with veggie and vegan options, a breakfast often praised.
- What to know No pool, a house that books up fast, and an eclectic decor from one room to another. You choose the calm of a Gueliz street rather than the bustle of the souks.
Worth knowing
12 rue de Yougoslavie, in Gueliz, the new town. The Jardin Majorelle and the Yves Saint Laurent museum are a quarter of an hour on foot, the station ten minutes, the airport five kilometres, the medina a quarter of an hour by taxi. Eight rooms around a patio riad, eclectic decor. Sunny terrace, hammam, steam bath and massages, Moroccan table with vegetarian and vegan options, sitting room and coffee shop. Moroccan breakfast included, often flagged positively. Free Wi-Fi. No pool. Access through a quiet lane, the car comes close.
- Double room (from, indicative)
- ≈ £38
Facilities & services
Location
Practical info
Details checked and cross-referenced by the editors - June 2026.
