Let me start with the good - LOCATION! Definitely a 5 star on location. There was one night a bluegrass band played in the alley in front of the restaurant just below us and we really enjoyed it! Walking places was easy and catching an Uber was just around the corner. The views of the city are amazing! Communication was good and we were able to leave our bags at 3pm for our check in at 4. Nobody had been to clean yet.
Which leads me to the first issue - cleanliness. There were a few stains on the pull out bed. There were a few hairs in my daughters bed. There was a rag left tucked under the cushion of the couch. The place just did not feel that clean. Knowing at 3 they hadn’t been there yet and by 4 it was ready also makes me wonder how much time was actually spent cleaning. Maybe they were just fast though. Overall the rental is much smaller than it appears in the pictures. To me it was misleading, but ok. The worse part was the heat. I knew there was no AC and with a really bad heat wave I had contacted the host to ask about fans. Her response was yes there was 2 adequate fans and the heat would not be a problem. Well the 2 fans were the size of my hand and did absolutely nothing unless you stood right in front of them. It was miserably hot. With the windows open and two tiny desk fans in front of the window, I did not think we’d be able to stay there. I contacted the host and asked her for another adequate fan. Her response was that it was extreme heat, they’d never had the problem before, and night would be fine. So we left in search of someplace cooler - outside. Night was not better. Had I been able to pull the mattress to in front of the windows, I would have. It was not possible though. The only windows besides the two big doors with the views (and noise) were tiny ones in the bathroom (that has to be closed for privacy issues), kitchen, and a small window in the trundle bedroom. The double bedroom is in the middle of the apartment and has no windows or air flow. It was HOT! A big fan in the bedroom doorway would have gone a long way to move some of the barely cooler air into the room. We looked for a fan to purchase but with little knowledge of the city had no luck. We stayed in Porto with no AC but 2 fans just days before in similar temps and it was fine there because they had adequate fans. The trundle bed room is tiny if the other bed is pulled out. And in you can not really walk around it at all. My daughter would trip and fall on the bed just trying to get to the window to open it. The loft area at the top was not useable at all because of the heat. I would say this apartment should really only accommodate 3 people. I should add, we’ve stayed at a lot of European older buildings with small, narrow, and winding steps, but these were probably the worse. My fit 45 yr old husband really struggled and I was really worried about him falling. The steps were no bigger than my hand and SUPER steep. I would not rent here again for that reason alone.
The host seemed pleasant and responded quickly, but it was really one of my most disappointing stays. I rarely leave this type of review and LOVE leaving more positive ones, but I believe people need to have a better idea of the actuality of staying here.