La Margherita Apartment

The one clear plus was that the apartment itself was clean and had air conditioning. During our six-day stay, a cleaner came once with fresh towels and did a superficial clean. The landlord was always reachable on WhatsApp. A private driver arranged our airport transfer from Castellammare di Stabia to Naples Airport for €80. They were friendly, punctual, and helpful. The location is handy for excursions, since Castellammare di Stabia is central, but I wouldn't recommend this for a beach holiday. In July, the price felt too high for what we got. The beach, about five minutes away on foot, and the water were very dirty, with rubbish everywhere and plastic in the water, so swimming with the children wasn't possible. The train station was about three minutes away, but it was run-down, with rubbish and graffiti. The apartment is on the third floor of a building with an elevator, and its hallways and stairwell were very dirty and worn. Inside, street noise and constant scooter honking came through loudly. It only got quiet after midnight, with all the windows shut. We booked a four-person room with a double bed, bunk beds, a bathroom, and a small kitchenette. The booking photos made it appear to have two separate rooms, but everything was in one, and it felt cramped for four. Many details didn't match the description or photos, which were significantly enhanced. The wallpaper by the bunks was ripped, stained, and damaged, a problem someone had already mentioned in a review a year earlier. The shower rod was held in place with electrical tape to stop the showerhead holder falling off, and heavy limescale on the tracks kept the shower door from closing properly. There wasn't enough cutlery or crockery, just two mugs for four people and one knife for everyone. The dishes and cupboard smelled so strongly that cooking for ourselves was difficult. The kettle was heavily scaled, and there was no coffee maker. The beds were so hard we could feel the springs against our hips. Breakfast was included in the listing, but getting it meant walking about 100 meters up a narrow, busy, noisy street to a bar. You got a pastry and juice or coffee in a pavilion right beside the traffic. Depending on when you went, breakfast might still be available, or it might have run out. On Sunday the bar wasn't open by 8 a.m. Finally, they tried to raise the tourist tax from the €18 confirmed in the booking to €36, without explanation. The landlord said the city had increased the fees, but I checked and found that wasn't true.

I forgot to leave the city tax because we checked in late, but the apartment owner didn't make any trouble about it. Everything was very clean and the location very good. For a clean sleep that feels like home, I recommend this place 100%.

The only thing that worked well for us was the air conditioning, which we appreciated during our 10 days there. We had to pay as much as €20 to park on the street overnight, from 10:00 PM to 10:00 AM, so this place doesn't suit you if you've rented a car. The listing promised a fully equipped kitchen, but a lot of crockery was missing. It also said king-size bed, 200x180, but ours was only 180x160. The apartment needs serious maintenance: wallpaper peeling throughout, a broken shower, and doors that sometimes took four or five tries to shut. The shower head had only four jets left and was taped up to keep it from dropping. One blind had no hook and wouldn't stay closed, letting in plenty of light. The other windows couldn't be shaded at all, so we were awake by 7 a.m. Getting in touch with the landlord was nearly impossible. We asked for another set of blankets on day one because we prefer separate blankets, but got no reply until halfway through day two. The request had apparently been passed to housekeeping, who wouldn't arrive until day three. The place was dirty, and I don't think the shower had ever been cleaned. During our 10-day stay, we checked in on a Monday and saw cleaning once, on the first Wednesday. They only made the bed and did nothing else, changing neither linens nor towels. No one came again for the rest of the stay. That confirmed our concerns about the apartment's hygiene.

The welcome was warm and very friendly, with that neighborhood feel, and breakfast was decent: sweets, a good cappuccino in regular or decaf, and several pastries. If you’re into pastries, get the pistachio croissant. Pizzeria Regina Margherita is well worth a visit, too. It’s a small, family-run B&B in a pretty ordinary town, so it suits you if you want to stay among locals. The apartment is a bit tight for four, but fine for one night. It was well located and had air conditioning. I did notice some cleaning issues, though it seemed better than other places I saw nearby. The beach isn’t worth much, and for a Pompeii-focused visit I’d stay in Pompeii for meals and everything else. If you’re also going to Herculaneum and Stabi, this could make more sense.