Essaouira Vacation Rental house: Essaouira

It was a trip organized by me for my mother and her friends. They loved their stay in this beautiful city and this great house. The house is very comfortable and clean. It is spacious. The three of the visitor were given each a separate room with the bathroom. Dar Doughri is very close to the beach and Medina. My mother and her friends were met at the airport upon arrival and taken to the airport upon departure and it was organized by Fiona. Thank you very much, Fiona! Everything went very smooth, in spite of the fact that neither my mother nor her friends speak English or any other foreign language. Food was fantastic. Karima is an angel. I am planning to visit Essouria myself next year.

The Dar Doughri was a real treat. We never imagined it to be that huge! It's well maintained, well equipped and very homely. Furthermore the location is perfect, just a short walk to the Medina. It's nice to be away from the hustle and bustle of the Medina especially after spending the whole day there and come back to
a very peaceful Dar Doughri. We especially love the rooftop terrace,
so much privacy as there are no other buildings over looking it. We
had all out breakfast prepared by Karima up there. We absolutely love the Dar Doughri and have recommended it to all our friends. Karima was very pleasant to have around and we thoroughly enjoyed her cooking. Though a little shy, she is ever so polite and cheerful. Foaud was very helpful too and often offered a brief history and cultural information about Morocco whenever he pops by. Excellent value for money and we would not hesitate to stay there again should we find ourselves heading that way.

I had visited Essaouira 7 years ago and was looking forward to returning for the World Music Festival.

Dar Doughri did not disappoint. It's a great house, comfortable,clean and well-equipped. Stairs (4 flights to the roof terrace) might be challenging for elderly or disabled visitors.
The Staff were great; helped to organise excursions and the (optional) breakfasts and evening meals were a real bargain.

So much for the good news....

I appreciate that this is supposed to be a review of the Dar, but for me, it's not possible to separate my experiences there from my experiences in the town during the Festival. I have no wish to be negative or put anyone off, but feel compelled to offer some observations on the effect the Festival has on the town.

Essaouira has a population of 80,000. This apparently expanded to over 200,000 for the Festival period. Not everyone was there for the music. I had my pocket picked on the first night and nearly suffered the same fate a couple of days later.

The Festival itself was professional in terms of staging, lighting & sound but policing and crowd control were totally inadequate.

At several of the concerts, the atmosphere was just not conducive to enjoying the music. Groups of young boys were constantly passing through the crowd in 'conga lines' and clearly had no interest in anything happening on the stage. There were outbreaks of trouble in the crowd at another concert and the atmosphere became quite intimidating - and I speak as a veteran of such events.

In these circumstances, Dar Doughri became a bit of a refuge. This was good, but if I'd just wanted to sit on a roof terrace in the sun, I could have gone to Torremolinos.

It's a shame that the atmosphere at the concerts was not more relaxed because it has the potential to be a great Festival.

To sum up, Dar Doughri is a great house and the Staff could not have been more helpful. Essaouira is still a beautiful and atmospheric place, but there are logistical problems with the Festival which need to be resolved - largely in terms of crowd control and policing. I would happily visit Dar Doughri and Essaouira again - just not while the Festival is on.