The bottom line: a wonderful place to spend a relaxing vacation by the beach

The place is a vacation apartment in a building of about 8 similar units, across a small road from the beach. The apartments are perfectly equipped for a family of up to 4 or for two couples, very well maintained and cleaned. Adjacent to the apartments is a pizzeria-restaurant, where it is very pleasant to sit for coffee, lunch or for late dinner. The beach is part of the complex, meaning that at no extra charge the guests can use the sun beds and the umbrellas, or even borrow a kayak, and indeed it is so close to the apartments that there's wi-fi reception there. The beach is excellent for swimming, in the mornings the water were usually as flat as a mirror, and I haven't seen any real waves there. While the first 15 meters of the water are rather stony, the beach itself has nice sand, good for kids, and there are no boats or traffic to disturb the peace. We stayed there for several days during the second week of September, a few days after the high season, and at this time it was quiet and the beach was occupied with only a handful of people.

The place is family-managed in the good sense of the term. Innocenzo was very communicative, friendly, and helpful, and so were his family members and the other workers. Not everyone speaks fluent English, but at no point was it a problem, and the general feeling was that they were always gladly accommodating to the guests needs.

Location: The apartments are at the outskirts of Balestrate, a small beach town in the middle of the beautiful Castelammare golf which I suppose is sleepy during the rest of the year and bustling during summer. It has several restaurants, cafes, grocery shops, etc. The distance from the center of the town means, on the one hand, that the place is very quiet, but on the other hand, that it is hard to get around without a car. With a car, it is an excellent base to see some of Sicily's most beautiful landmarks in Palermo, Monreale, Scopello, Castellammare del Golfo, and the Zingaro nature reserve.

In short, we had a great stay, we would recommend the place to anyone who is going on a beach vacation in Sicily, and we would love to come back again.