Riad Salam Fes

My family, friends and I had a short stay at this beautiful Riad. We wish our stay here could have been longer but we had many cities to visit in Morocco. This Riad's architecture and decor were so elegant. Our breakfast set-up was exceptional. The hospitality was marvelous. What a beautiful ambiance. I would love to stay here again when I return to visit the rest of Morocco.

As always in Morocco, the exterior and interior of a building exist in different universes. When one enters the Riad Salam Fes, one steps into a different world. The riad - it's actually five riads that have been joined together into one amazing complex - is located down a gritty pedestrian (and motorcycle) alleyway. You either drag your luggage in yourself, or have it brought in by handcart from the nearest vehicle road. My wife and I stayed here for 2 nights while on a guided Moroccan tour. We entered and were stunned by the beauty of this place. It's best to look at the pictures here on Tripadvisor to get a sense of what it looks like, but the experience of actually being there is better. There are just so many spaces, and each beautifully and differently decorated, that it's impossible to do justice in words. We stayed in room 38, up two floors in a small but fantastically decorated elevator. Behind the ornate door of room 38 is a balcony / seating area looking over one of the riads (open areas). Following that is a small but serviceable bedroom and bath. The bedroom has a TV, sofa, closet, and safe. A refrigerator is in a cabinet on the balcony area. The bathroom was small, but had a decent-sized shower. Hot water was sometimes available quickly (if someone in a nearby room had summoned it), but could take a few minutes to start running hot if you were the first to turn on your tap. Speaking of taps, one curious thing about our sink was that the cold water tap did nothing. I looked in the cabinet under the sink, and as far as I could see, only the hot water tap was connected to anything. That meant that you might only get cold water (at first) or hot water at the sink. There is one restaurant, although you can choose to either be served in one of riads at ground level (next to a gorgeous pool), or at a rooftop seating area. Wine and beer are also available if you want to relax on the rooftop with a nice view overlooking the city of Fes. One of the waiters warned us that service in the rooftop area could be a bit slow since they have to bring food up by elevator, but we had quick and excellent service when we had dinner there. Service was terrific. The staff were all very friendly and helpful.

Came here to stay for 2 nights on a group trip to Fez. The GOOD: Beautiful common areas, pool, and terrace. The breakfast was a feast and the food at the restaurant is decent. The BAD: Very dated rooms. It took 10-15 minutes to run the water before it got hot. Some members of our group had no water flowing from the hot water line. After the room was serviced by staff, it appears that my bags were opened, luckily I read about this as a common occurrence before hand so I left no valuables in the room. The hotel location is very isolated so there’s not much to do around it. No bar in the hotel and they only serve beer and wine as alcohol choices. All in all, I would not choose to stay here, but since we had no choice as a group trip, nothing we could do about it