Overall
A vibrant apartment in the heart of the Navigli area. Perfect for a couple for a short stay. The apartment is located on the first floor of a busy street so not for the faint hearted: expect rumbling from passing tramways and the local bars / bakery downstairs. Ideal for 4 or 5 people max. (not 6)
What went well / Pros
- Location is amazing, close to local amenities, restaurants, parks, public transport, and a hop from the city center.
- The terrace is very special and must be ideal in the spring/summer.
- The house is very warm despite freezing temperatures outside.
- Very cosy decoration.
- A truly fantastic & generous selection of books in Italian.
- The staff was extremely responsive and delivered when we asked them for things missing.
- Pet friendly which was a super bonus!
What didn’t go well / Cons
- The apartment faces the busy street and the tramways shake the house (literally) and are quite loud despite the double glazing at almost every moment of the day. We couldn’t sleep on the first night but then eventually got used to it.
- The bakery downstairs has its kitchen right underneath one of the two rooms: the machinery and workers are quite loud and do work into the early hours.
- The check-in process online was an unnecessary burden considering we were travelling and had to compile 6 very long forms while on the move: impossible. The staff was benevolent and allowed us to submit the passports via an email and skip the pain of going through a super long (and frankly unnecessary) questionnaire.
- We had requested a child’s bed/cot 10+ days our stay but didn’t receive a confirmation that the agency couldn’t find one, so we had to scramble at the last minute to find something in Milan. Knowing we had an infant (through the booking) it would have been a nice touch to make this happen.
- The house is advertised for 6 people but the sofa bed in the living room isn’t comfortable for 2 people (and isn’t comfortable in general). It should be advertised for 5 people MAX. The Bedroom 1 bed is not a double bed (two single beds next to each other). The pictures on Airbnb make it seem bigger than it actually is.
- The house was not cleaned thoroughly when we got there. Dust was found on most surfaces as if the house hadn’t been cleaned in a while. Some linen was found with dirt stains. The oven, pans and cutlery were found dirty. The staff agreed to forfeit the cleaning fee to make up for this, which we appreciated.
-Basic kitchen utensils were missing, such as a microwave, a cooking spoon, a bread toaster. We had to request a new toilet brush which was broken.
- No washing machine