Overall I would recommend this modern and romantic apartment to solo travellers or couples who want to be right in the thick of things and who aren’t light/early sleepers, but I would enquire as to whether construction will be going on next door during your stay before booking as it was very loud from 8am every morning.
The good:
- Amazing central location in the vibrant old town Kalsa neighbourhood, leading right out onto the bustling Piazza Maggione and with many good restaurants and cafes within a just couple of minutes on foot. We didn’t have to walk more than 25 minutes to get to anywhere we were going in Palermo from here, and it was usually more like 10-15 if that. Via Roma is around 10 minutes away on foot, with a big Lidl which was useful.
- Beautiful newly renovated apartment with classy interior. It felt cosy and romantic and it did start feeling like home after a couple of days. Lovely lighting, you can easily set the mood you want. TV, air con, heating, good WiFi (you’ll need it!). Perfect amount of space for a solo traveller or a couple.
- Responsive people managing this property. Was a little confused as we seemed to be communicating with three separate people but they were all polite and responsive.
The not-so-good:
- The noise at night. Noise at night is to be expected in a busy neighbourhood in Palermo but there’s a restaurant literally outside the front door as well as the Piazza where fireworks are often set off and it is VERY loud until around 3am, I’m taking you can hear people’s conversations easily from the couch lol. When you go into the bedroom and close the door it blocks the vast majority of the noise out, unless a motorbike hurtles by or something. I think that overall it would be fine for people who are not light sleepers. If you are, though, you may struggle.
- The noise in the morning… there was construction going on next door for the entirety of our stay and loud drilling, etc. began from 8am. It was VERY loud. We usually just went out for breakfast to avoid it but it did put a dampener on things.
- The oven didn’t work and to be fair the owner came out to have a look at it and fix it the morning after we reported it, however after the owner left it still didn’t work and seemed to blow the fuse in the apartment whenever we tried to turn it on. We gave up on it in the end and just cooked on the stove. Also there were no kitchen knives and we ended up having to cut onions and chop herbs with butter knives lol! We also had to buy washing up liquid and a sponge.