Was the location great? Yes! We walked many places. Was the room cute? Yes! It was spacious and cozy all at once. Were the hosts clear and communicative? Absolutely!!! They made a wonderful little book of suggestions and were very thoughtful throughout the whole process. I can see why they have such high ratings.
Unfortunately, our experience was not as peaceful as some of the previous guests’ reviews suggest. As mentioned in the listing, the hosts have children. However, the listing (and subsequent private messages) downplayed their noise level. It was less “pitter patter of little feet” and more onslaught of stomping and banging. On our first day, it began early in the morning and it woke us up, I assume before they went to school. I waited for it to stop, thinking that I would go back to sleep, but it went on and on and eventually we just got up and started our day sooner than we had planned.
Around 4pm, exhausted, we went back to the room for a rest before dinner. Just as I was closing my eyes the kids came down to play in the garage, which shares a wall with the room. They were playing some kind of game where they were literally banging against the wall, the mirrors and pictures were shaking as we tried to nap. Again I though it would eventually stop, but it did not. There was also quite a bit of shouting and crying. JUST on the other side of our door. Finally, we just left. It was all too much. The beds were also hard and not easy to sleep in to begin with. It was an EXHAUSTING weekend.
I completely understand why it’s important to make sure your kids have a normal childhood, have time to play, etc. But as someone who spent quite a chunk of change to stay I would have appreciated having that info up front (I messaged the host in advance to ask about the noise) because I would have made another choice.
To future guests: if you are the kind of person who wants to get up early and stay out exploring the city all day, this place will probably be perfect for you. But if you would like to lounge around and have a relaxing vacation that includes sleeping in, I would make another choice. I’m really not trying to be mean, the hosts are very nice people and the room is very clean and centrally located. This was just my experience.