Al-Mouna Resort ⭐️
Created by Sage Absinthe-Oatsmill, the Al-Mouna is a (loosely) North / West African themed Hotel, which in turn forms part of the larger Teranga City complex.
We booked a suite as soon as it opened, as after going to a succession of beach places over the Summer, we were keen to see something a little different.
Ever since the closure of Wadi Musa and the Ishtar Hotel, Second Life has needed a North African / Middle Eastern themed resort. Al-Mouna certainly didn’t disappoint as we very much enjoyed our stay there
All photos by Aria Christen, rights reserved
Overall look and feel
Replicating RL in SL is not always easy, but the Al-Mouna does a pretty good job in achieving a Moroccan-like look and feel. It does have echoes of some five star resorts you’ll find in places like Marrakech (Morocco).
The Hotel is spread over quite a large area and there’s also a small beach - though for us this wasn’t the main attraction, after all, SL has plenty of beaches.
Instead, what we liked is that it’s nicely laid out with courtyards, fountains, garden paths and lots of sitting areas. It’s well decorated and with good attention to detail.
The main Hotel building also has an elevator taking you to four floors of amenities, ranging from a bath house to a spa and pool. These are located in the main Hotel building itself, meaning that you can sit in the indoor pool on the fourth floor and look down over the hotel grounds.
Overall - 5 / 5
The rooms
We stayed in the Riad Salma, which is the most expensive suite at 2250L a night.
This has a bedroom, living area, a private outdoor pool, and an outdoor terrace with dining areas and an outdoor Moroccan shower.
We felt that this is one of the best Hotel suites we’ve seen in SL.
Other options include the slightly cheaper and slightly smaller Riad Basma and Riad Israa at 1950L and the Deluxe Suites at 1200L.
All looked great, and whatever you choose, you won’t go wrong
Overall - 4.5 / 5
The facilities
These include a lovely outdoor pool on the ground floor, a bar, restaurant, courtyard with table and chairs, and the beach.
The elevator will take you to an indoor pool and wellness area (which we liked a lot) and a bathhouse.
One of the highlights for us though was simply exploring the grounds, which includes the gardens, natural hot springs, and a cave with a pool.
Everything is self service, which doesn’t bother us. But we are aware that some people in SL who are willing to pay 1000+ for a room, expect some kind of RP element, or excursions / planned activities.
Finding good RP staff is of course easier said than done, and we’ve encountered lots of situations where it was done wrong. However, this might be something the resort should look at in future.
Having said that, we noticed that after we stayed, there had been a performance of the Layali Troupe of Belly Dancers, and possibly a regular schedule of live events is one way to go.
The Al Mouna is connected to Teranga City, which is a wider city sim.
This includes a restaurant, bar / lounge, an African Arts Centre, a Souk and Sage Absinthe-Oatsmill’s “Mura” store. This a variety of Afrocentric hairstyles, African and Middle Eastern food, and home décor inspired by contemporary art culture in Africa.
Our comment about Teranga City, is that we’d suggest incorporating it into the Al-Mouna resort, as opposed to the other way around, which would then create one larger resort experience.
Overall - 4 / 5
The animations
Our suite had a Fourth Wall bed, a Zaker Comfy Sofa and Dreams Bathtub. We own a Fourth Wall bed ourselves, it’s one of the better ones in SL and it is MM and FF friendly.
The other rooms seemed to have Ruckus beds. As we’ve said before, we are not Ruckus fans ourselves, but from talking to resort owners we understand that lots of people are, and guests ask for this.
Ruckus is not same sex couple friendly, but according to the room descriptions on the Al Mouna website, there are MM and FF anims in the rooms.
Overall - 4 / 5
Other considerations
Lag was not bad in the Al-Mouna resort, it was a bit worse in Teranga City. However, we were there over the opening weekend, with various events going on.
The suites are in skyboxes, so privacy is good
Prices start at 1250L a night, you get a prim allowance so you can rez photo poses and so on
As mentioned, there are plenty of adult animations in the rooms
Teranga City is open to the public, most of the Al Mouna resort is restricted to guests