Villa Zara

We regret every penny spent for this property. We were shocked and disappointed as no any hygiene standards applied to this property! It was disgustingly dirty everywhere (I wish I could post all pictures). Bugs, spiderwebs everywhere and horrible smell! It’s self catering- we knew that. We’ve done shopping on the way from airport, but we couldn’t cook in this kitchen. No cooking or dining equipment and whatever was there, honestly was impossible to use for hygiene reasons! I have all in pictures. The bathroom was even worse! Dirty and old. We couldn’t use it due to hygiene reasons! Owner was aware that we were a family with 3 kids 2to7 years old as he accepted booking request. Property was totally not ready for us! Kids were expected to sleep is another wing of the house. It’s not suitable for our family at all! Air conditioning was constantly down. We complained to the person who was looking after this place! They washed floors and kitchen sink after we’ve checked in! It didn’t make much difference! After four day air conditioning was still down! Someone was constantly upstairs for the first days of our stay and was using the pool as well! And the pool with opaque water! We felt offended and not safe! I don’t know what we’ve paid for! Please avoid this place

Hi, thought Id add a review as no one has yet. If youre expecting european standards of accomodation, or a village enviroment where you can interact with the locals, I would guess you may be dissappointed. If you want a base to explore the atlas mountains, with no traffic noise, a nice pool, and enough space to accomodate a large family very easily - Villa Zara is a good choice. Brahim, who looks after the place, is a lovely guy who is a phone call away and very accomodating. The main lounge is huge and has good air conditioning, a must in mid-summer. The bedrooms are all a good size, with fans to keep you cool. The kitchin is also a good size, though there is no oven, just a two ring gas stove.
The village itself is pretty baron, mid-summer people are indoors during the day, and there are no shops. Theres quite a lot of rubbish lying around and the occasional dog for company ! The local town has a couple of places to eat and has some basic supplies, but for a supermarket youll need to travel into Marrakech, around 45 minutes away. I would strongly advise you to avoid this villa without the use of a hire car to get around in.
If youre looking for a more tourist orientated enviroment Id suggest you head to Essaouira, where we spent a couple of nights. The sea breeze and cooler temperatures were a great relief, as was the chance to meet and interact with the locals.
If you are going to arrive at Villa Zara in the dark, youll struggle to find the place - make sure you have the right number for Brahim and good directions. If I can help with directions or more details I will, if the site will provide my contact details youre free to email.

Villa Zara is beautiful, unfortunately the location does it no justice.
The pool is a good size and the villa is very spacious.
It is siutated in a very remote area, where you will see no tourists or English speaking people.
Brahim is a lovely chap, who will help and accomodate where possible, however, he speaks no english, which made communication very difficult.
The surrounding area outside the villa is very dirty, with alot of visable rubbish and the road up to the villa is very narrow and bumpy, its quite a difficult drive and there are no signs making the villa hard to find.
My biggest disappointment would be that there was no welcome pack in the villa.
We have been renting villas around the world for over 10 years and this is the first time that I have come across this.
With the villa situated where it is, a welcome pack should be a must. There are no local shops, restaurants or site-seeing information, in order to get any off these you will need a car to drive 45 minutes to Marrakech.
Overall I would recommend this villa, but you should consider the above comments before renting.