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About us

Make Yourself at Home

The Riad bandeau

A warm Anglo-Moroccan welcome to Riad Azawan from Saïd, Teresa and Ayoub. Azawan means ‘music’ in Amazigh, the language of the original Berber inhabitants of Morocco.

Saïd and Teresa met at a music festival in the Moroccan Sahara in 2013, hence the name. Many festivals later, we welcome you to our riad guesthouse in the Marrakech medina, where our aim is to share our passion for Morocco with you, our guests, to help you make the most of the magical city of Marrakech.

Riad Azawan combines traditional Moroccan home life with 21st century comforts, first-rate customer service and attention to those little details that make all the difference…

A riad is a traditional Moroccan town house, built around a central courtyard garden with a fountain, offering a peaceful and private refuge from the busy streets of the medina (old town), a place to rest and recharge your batteries.

 

Our riad is a little jewel, with walls a metre thick which, along with the electric roof over our patio, keep us cool in summer and warm in winter. The house was renovated in 2008 and we have redecorated and upgraded it with the help of maa’lems (expert craftsmen) from Saïd and Ayoub’s home village south over the Atlas Mountains in the Draa Valley.

The bedrooms are simple but comfortable, and calming in décor. The ground floor patio bedroom has traditional tadelakt (waterproof plaster) walls in a sumptuous deep red colour. All the bathrooms have traditional tadelakt walls and floors, as do the salons, stairs and first-floor gallery. The four ensuite bedrooms have air-con and heating, although we rarely need to use these, given the insulating properties of the walls. Two of the bedrooms can be configured as twin rooms.

We have plenty of space for you to rest and relax: a summer salon on the first floor overlooking the patio, and downstairs a winter salon with open fireplace to keep us cosy during those cold Marrakech winter nights. The ground floor patio has a traditional tinkling fountain: flowing water is at the heart of every Islamic garden. Because of our location close to the southern walls of the city, the large roof terrace has a wonderful view of the Atlas Mountains. We have sunbeds, parasols and a sheltered seating area on the terrace, the latter with a misting system to keep you cool in the heat.

The view made us fall in love with the riad. Both sunrise and sunset are magical times on our terrace. Morning is cool and full of promise for the coming day – a great time for yoga or meditation. The evening breezes rustle the fronds of the tall palm tree in the little square in front of the house, and the swifts swoop and dive overhead, with the occasional stork flapping its lazy way to roost. The peace of the riad is broken only by the call to prayer, a crowing cock, the voices of the local children playing evening games on the square, or the sound of music from our patio…
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