Villa Hapero

The owners charged us €30 for a replacement coffee filter holder from a machine that was over 15 years old. It was worth €16, and after paying €2,815 for a week, we found that lack of generosity surprising. The cottage itself is lovely, well equipped and set beside a pristine lake, with a sauna house and wood oven. But the advertised private beach is no longer usable: the path is overgrown with shrubs and reeds have taken over the shore, though you can tell there used to be one. More seriously, the passive-house design made the stay uncomfortable. Even when it was under 15°C outside, the bedrooms stayed at 22°C or warmer, and the windows couldn't be opened. The ventilation couldn't cope with the heat from guests simply being there. The owner's suggestion was to cool the living room below 18°C with the AC, then use a fan to blow that air into one bedroom at a time. That means leaving all the doors open and making the living room very cold, which isn't practical or energy efficient. The wood stove heats the living room quickly, but then you'd need the AC to cool things down for bed. Opening doors makes the bedroom issue worse, since the central ventilation stops as soon as one or more doors are open, so the rooms get warmer and the air quality drops. It's a hard review to write: a beautiful cottage in a lovely setting, but with serious comfort problems and an unexpected lack of generosity.