Baia Degli Ulivi Apartments

The resort is a bit removed from restaurants and Cefalu itself, but having a car makes it easy to get around. There’s parking, two pools, and space to have a BBQ, and the beach is quite close. The houses are spacious, all the rooms have AC, and there’s everything you need to cook. The staff were really nice: each lady received a rose, and we were given cold drinks while waiting for the administrative tasks. It was an amazing stay, and I’d recommend it to bigger groups and families too.

The apartments were less than a ten-minute drive from the beach, but you need a car to get anywhere. The nearest grocery store is 2 km away, and there’s no sidewalk, including by the restaurants. Aside from that, the place itself was really nice: clean rooms, a polite and helpful manager, two pools, AC, and an umbrella you can borrow to take to the beach. We really liked our stay. 9/10.

The apartment had what we needed, and we especially liked having a private grill and an outdoor kitchen area. The pool was free to use and well cared for, and both the rooms and the green surroundings were clean. The rooms had air conditioning and good Wi-Fi. There were a few drawbacks: hot water was inconsistent, the door between the rooms wouldn't close, the sofa beds felt flimsy, and there were no mosquito nets. The campsite next door was loud on Saturday night. The beach is nearby, though getting to Cefalù requires a car. The man at reception was helpful with tourists and communicated well through Booking, sending detailed directions before we arrived. We'd come back if we were in the area again.

The rooms were quite basic and had hardly any amenities. We had to ask for matches to light the stove. The owner wasn't there, and the person on site spent 20 minutes looking while I waited outside in the rain, then asked the housekeeper to help. They found them after another 10 minutes. Both were smoking, but neither thought to offer me a lighter. The day we arrived, a huge fire was burning in the mountains nearby. That wasn't something they could control, but the owners had left all the windows open, so ash was all over the place. The smell was awful for two days, until rain came and washed it away. We stayed three nights and nobody even considered cleaning the room. We ended up spending two hours doing it ourselves, which was unacceptable.