Palazzo Mediterraneo

The room had a kitchen, air conditioning, and a private bathroom, all presented in a welcoming, elegant style. It was cleaned every day, and the location is excellent, just a short walk from the old town and the sea. Spiaggia della Purità is lovely and only about five minutes away on foot. The staff were extremely kind and friendly. I’d definitely recommend staying here, it’s worth a try!

Getting to Baia Verde was a big part of our trip, but the website said it was about 3 km away and it turned out to be much farther, around 9-10 km. The hotel’s location is also inconvenient and hard to spot. We’d noticed a lovely little terrace on the website for breakfast, then found out it didn’t exist. The apartment looked nothing like the photos. We’d requested two double beds, but one was a sofa bed, and the “living room” was also the kitchen and bedroom. It was gloomy, with no windows apart from the main one, which was the entrance door. Half the things were broken or moldy, including the pots and pans. There didn’t seem to be hotel staff, just an owner who apparently handles everything herself, and she did very little and wasn’t especially polite. Each morning she woke us with a loud voice, apparently arguing with someone, or by banging things around. Breakfast was included and not bad, although the pastries were often burnt. If you want to enjoy Gallipoli’s historic center without being woken up or dealing with things constantly being broken, I’d strongly advise against this hotel.

Getting around was a struggle from the start. The building is in a restricted traffic area, so you can only reach it on foot. Parking is far away and paid if you can find a spot. There’s no phone or Wi-Fi coverage, and unless someone kind happens to give you directions, finding the place in the historic maze is hard. The room was up one flight of old stairs, with no lift, and getting suitcases up was risky. It’s not accessible for disabled guests. The room looked new but had no wardrobe, just chairs for luggage. The shower didn’t work, the TV had no signal, and all the taps only trickled because of limescale. It felt more like camping than staying in a room. Hanging towels was difficult too, since water rained inside from the air conditioners upstairs, which had no drain pipes. That is, when the air conditioners worked. Breakfast was served at the entrance to a condominium building, where you ate alongside the courier, postman, and whoever else passed by, for 6 euros per person. Reception was basically nonexistent. A woman waited for check-in, then disappeared; if you needed something urgently, you had to call and wait for an answer if and when she felt like giving one. For checkout they called loudly under the window at eight in the morning, otherwise you had to check out the same day you arrived. Never again. One star is generous.

The listing says “parking,” but the place is in the port area and access is on foot through an extremely narrow alley that gets tighter as you go. I wasn’t warned, and wrecked half my car trying to get there. People passing by helped me maneuver back out and warned that it’s a restricted traffic zone, so I could get a fine. Nobody had mentioned that either. Disastrous. Poor quality catches up with you sooner or later.