Our family of 4 really enjoyed our Sai Kung staycation. Zara's place is in the heart of the town, with restaurants, cafes, bakeries, supermarkets and shops all a short stroll away. Despite its central location, you hear very little street noise from within the apartment (though you do hear the upstairs dog pacing above the master bedroom), as the windows seem to have an excellent seal and is double paned. The temperature inside the apartment was very comfortable. On cooler days it still stayed a cozy temperature and on warmer days, the ceiling fan instantly cooled the place down. We really appreciated the black out shades in the bedrooms...so may airbnbs don't have this, and it definitely allowed us to sleep in a bit longer. Zara was very easy to communicate with throughout our stay, which is much appreciated. The place was very clean, and the pictures online were very accurate to how the place looks like in person. The upholstery on the couch could probably use a cleaning though, as you can see the wear on it. My kids (age 6 and 9) enjoyed some of the picture books in the bedroom, and they also watched one of the movies from the collection in the family room.
Some things to know about the property:
- As the listing states, this property is a walk up. It wasn't until we arrived though that we realized that it was 7 flights of stairs due to the high ceilings per floor. This is probably not a problem for most, but just thought it may be helpful to know this for those with mobility issues. I have bad knees so it definitely took some time getting up and down.
- I think many of the reviews said the kitchen/pantry was well stocked, but we found it was quite sparse. For example, we bought eggs but then realized when we went to cook it that there was no cooking oil. Again, no biggie, but it did discourage us from cooking because we realized we would have to buy a lot of sauces/condiments etc that we would just use a teeny bit of.
- The biggest issues for us (which is why we gave 4 stars instead of 5) were the shower and the master bed. The water pressure for warm water was very very low...hard to wash shampoo out of your hair low. A decent shower is kind of a basic expectation that we have of any place we stay at, so this was definitely a disappointment. By the second shower, my kids started saying they couldn't wait til we got back home to shower. We told Zara about it and she said she would get a plumber to look at it, so we hope this issue won't stay for long. The other problem for us is the bounciness of the bed - I could feel every single movement that my husband made and it woke me a few times. Just something to know if you are a light sleeper and would be bothered by something like this.
- Lastly, the foot portion of the bed frame in the master sticks out considerably, and I ran into it several times on the first day, as I think there's only a 14-15" clearance between that and the closet. After a big bruise, my husband switched sides with me and he also kept running into it! So just be careful and not clumsy like us. I think it would help if they can shift the bed over a bit to allow for more walking space.
All in all thought, it was still a great stay for a few nights and we look forward to going back when more things are open after COVID restrictions are lifted.