Arriving in Erfoud in the evening, we headed straight to our hotel, Kasbah Hotel Xaluca Maadid. This posh boutique hotel is located just outside Erfoud, Morocco. The entrance features a typical kasbah wall and gate style. The hotel is geared towards tourists, immersing visitors in local culture with live performances and traditional garments. The arrival of guests almost has a circus-like feel.
Kasbah Hotel Xaluca Maadid has a resort-style layout with a reception building leading to a central courtyard. The courtyard has a large pool area with dining facilities, billeting, a bar, and a spa. An indoor swimming pool, hot tub, and fitness facilities are to the left, a bit beyond the guest rooms. The hotel offers an oasis atmosphere that really set the tone for our visit to the desert. The room was amazing, capturing the essence and atmosphere of Morocco.
To appreciate this room, you have to appreciate the details. The large sink and countertop are made of fossilized stone. The fossils, estimated to be 500 million years old, are embedded in the sink and countertop. The large fossils in the countertop are even contoured to show the full shape of the fossil.
Kasbah Hotel Xaluca Maadid only has 144 rooms, which are spacious, and the grounds are spread out. The dining room can accommodate several large groups at the same time. Dinner and breakfast were included with our stay, served buffet-style. Drinks (other than coffee and juice) are not included, so expect to pay extra for water, soda, or beer.
The pool area in the middle of the hotel grounds has a lush, tropical feel. Carpets are laid out throughout the outdoor area and into the exposed areas of the guest rooms. This gives the area an opulent feel, but also seems a bit out of place. Enjoy some more photos of the common areas of the hotel.
Off the hotel lobby is a small gift shop. I found this hotel gift shop to be very reasonable, as cheap as one might find in the medina. The gift shop has a variety of scarves, postcards, fossils, and more. The fossils are mined at a nearby quarry and are reasonably priced. If you wait to purchase fossils elsewhere, you are going to pay more. The price difference was more than double in Marrakesh. I ended up purchasing several postcards at the gift shop as they were the cheapest I found in Morocco.
The staff at the Kasbah Hotel Xaluca Maadid were friendly and helpful. In the dining room, they ensured you had a drink with your meal, if needed. The front desk staff were friendly. The cultural performers seemed to genuinely enjoy interacting with guests. Overall, the hotel has great customer service to go along with the luxurious atmosphere. According to Hotels.com, this hotel is less than two hundred dollars per night, which is money well spent given the level of luxury.
If I were booking my own hotels for a trip to Morocco, Kasbah Hotel Xaluca Maadid is definitely the hotel I would book near Erfoud. While I can’t say that about all the hotels we stayed at in Morocco, this one stands apart. It was our favorite hotel. If only the wifi worked in the guest rooms (something we experienced at all the hotels in Morocco), this would have been flawless. The wifi is a minor point. Overall, this hotel delivered in every area a guest could expect.
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