Hotel Details
Lalla Mira
| Region: | The Atlantic Coast |
| Location: | Essaouira |
| Season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accomodation Type | Low | Mid | High | |
| Standard Single |
Single bed
|
n/a | 38 € | n/a |
| Standard Double |
Double bed
|
n/a | 60 € | n/a |
| Mini-suite |
Mezzanine floor
|
n/a | 67 € | n/a |
| Superior Suite Lalla Mira | n/a | 80 € | n/a | |
| Please note: All prices are per room per night | ||||
Check Availability
Facilities
Swimming pool
Air-conditioning
Spa on site
Sunbathing area
Internet connection
Disabled friendly
Vegetarian food
Smoking
Child-friendly
Bar and drinks
In-house restaurant
OtherEach room is en-suite and includes a television, safe and hairdryer.
Laundry service on request.
Description
Lalla Mira is a relatively new hotel for the old town of Essaouira on the Atlantic coastal, built in 2002 but incorporating the city’s oldest bathhouse. It is Morocco’s first eco hotel and the lengths to which Lalla Mira has gone to conserve tradition and sustainable development are impressive. Not only is the food organic,but the bed linen is too, and Lalla Mira sources its under-floor heating from solar-power. Lalla Mira also has a healthy attitude in the kitchen. The hotel grows its own organic fruit and vegetables wherever possible. Meals encompass traditional Moroccan dishes as well as Mediterreanean cuisine, and vegetarian dishes are readily available on request. It is also reassuring to know that the fish served in the hotel is freshly caught from the Atlantic as indeed is the case in the many restaurants and cafes which line the harbour and shores of Essaouira.
The rooms range from the single room to the larger Lalla Mira suite and with thirteen rooms in total, Lalla Mira has a range of options to suit most budgets and tastes. All rooms benefit from en-suite facilities, telephone and television. Although many guests expect air conditioning, Lalla Mira’s location means this isn’t necessary as the coast supplies a naturally cool climate. Since the hotel is situated above this historic bathhouse there is little in the way of terraces although there is a first floor patio and guests can sunbathe on the third floor.
With a town centre location, Lalla Mira it is only a short walk to the city walls and the beach, which is Blue Flag certified and a favourite location for windsurfers and surfers alike. Additionally, guests may catch the Andalusian and Gnawa music festival is held annually in Essaouira. Trips can also be organised by the hotel allowing guests to visit Marrakesh, the Atlas Mountains and the desert. However if guests want to relax and stay closer to Lalla Mira then the bathhouse below is free to guests, offering hammam in genuine Moroccan style.
The hotel is popular with older travellers but is very welcoming to families with young children as well as women travelling alone and vegetarians. Lalla Mira even offers to arrange a marriage service for visiting couples,as long as guests can inform the manager at least a month in advance.
Where is it?
20 minute drive from Essaouira airport, 2.5 hour drive from Marrakech, and under a 10 minute walk to the centre of Essaouira.
Travel Times
| Airport | 20 minutes from Essaouira airport |
| City | Less than 10 minutes |
| Beach | 7 minute walk |
Other useful information
The mini-suite can be noisy (even with windows closed) due to the small street it overlooks.
Lalla Mira is located within a 5 minute walk to the Supratours Bus Station for coach travel to Marrakesh (up to four times a day) and other destinations. A one-way ticket to Marrakech costs around €6 per person. Other trips can be arranged to the Atlas Mountains and the desert.
Lalla Mira recommends attractions such as the Cape Sim port, originally a Portuguese fishing village and a bird sanctuary on the nearby Purple Islands.
Ecological details are also important to Lalla Mira where even water is recycled from the hammam to flush toilets in guestrooms!
Products from women’s cooperatives such as argan oils and soaps are available to buy from Lalla Mira.The hotel scores are aggregated individual user scores which have been audited as authentic and accurate through due enquiry by Morocco Gateway.
Morocco Gateway reserves the right to exclude any reviews submitted by users which cannot be validated as authentic and accurate. Equally we will resist any request from any hotel to delist any negative review.
| Condition of rooms and the hotel | 6.5 | Food and drink | 6.0 | |
| Overall cleanliness | 7.5 | Relaxation | 7.0 | |
| Pool and facilities | 8.0 | Value for money | 8.5 | |
| Quality of staff | 7.0 | Overall rating | 7.3 | |
| out of 10 | out of 10 | |||
User Reviews on Lalla Mira
Below you'll find reviews written by our users, that have stayed in this hotel. The reviews are vetted and verified by us and may have been summarised by our editor to give you a meaningful summary.
The Editor's Summary
We are particularly impressed with the intentions of this Moroccan hotel. Its eco-friendly attitude is a success and it is likely Lalla Mira will become more and more popular as travelers become more conscious of their carbon footprint.
Reviewers have commented on the room range Lalla Mira offers, which is beneficial to those with a small budget or travelers wishing to splash out. Although some rooms may be described as "fairly basic" the standard suite and the superior "Lalla Mira Suite" provide something a little more special. Guests have felt welcomed by the staff at Lalla Mira but have commented that it might be of use to brush up on a little French before your stay, as the fluency of the staff cannot be guaranteed.
Recent reviews of Lalla Mira have praised the Hammam bathhouse below the hotel. This really is a special feature of Lalla Mira as it provides typical Moroccan spa treatments absolutely free to guests staying at the hotel. 
Stayed here in July for a short period and really enjoyed it. The room we stayed in was fairly basic, the rest of the hotel (not a lot of Moroccan decoration like traditional riads) was also quite simple which made us feel less like living in a museum!
We were aware of the hotel's offer of various excursions but decided to go it alone, we had some great trips mostly round the coastal areas. Neither of us surf but we found watching the surfers entertainment enough! The best thing about Lalla Mira was the hammam below the hotel which was free (!) for guests, a great way of feeling pampered, perfect for a proper holiday.
| Condition of rooms and the hotel | 7.0 | Food and drink | 5.0 | |
| Overall cleanliness | 8.0 | Relaxation | 8.0 | |
| Pool and facilities | 9.0 | Value for money | 9.0 | |
| Quality of staff | 7.0 | Overall rating | 7.6 | |
| out of 10 | out of 10 | |||
Lalla Mira is based in the old part of Essaouira and this made staying here with my daughter feel safer than other hotel experiences I've had in Morocco. The hotel was also fascinating in its determination to be environmentally friendly - something I really admired, though the eco-friendly beds were a little harder than I would have liked..
There was a bit of noise in the room we had but it wasn't enough to ask to move rooms but the staff were friendly enough to make me feel like I could if necessary. However the language fluency of the staff was a bit hit and miss and I ended up relying my scraps of french now and again.
I was really surprised at the value for money Lalla Mira offered, which was something that had attracted me to begin with. It seems a good hotel for any type of traveller and serves up some nice simple meals, light lunches and traditional tagines and fish meals (more expensive) for dinner. Breakfasts were great to wake up to, they were in buffet style which allowed more choice for myself and my daughter.
Overall I can really see myself coming back here in a few years, I'd be interested to see how the hotel's eco-friendly style develops, I would expect it to be very popular.
| Condition of rooms and the hotel | 6.0 | Food and drink | 7.0 | |
| Overall cleanliness | 7.0 | Relaxation | 6.0 | |
| Pool and facilities | 7.0 | Value for money | 8.0 | |
| Quality of staff | 7.0 | Overall rating | 7.0 | |
| out of 10 | out of 10 | |||
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