Appartamento La Terrazza

Apartment number 8 was clean, welcoming, and roomy, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. It’s modern and tastefully furnished, and the terrace is lovely and well kept. The only downside was the few stairs to reach it.

The apartment and the location were nice, with a lovely view, but the management let the stay down. After our two-hour trip to Piombino, an hour on the ferry, then 30 minutes in traffic from Portoferraio to Marciana, all we wanted was to get inside and relax. Instead, we had to collect the keys from the management office in Portoferraio. They had mentioned this in an email the day before, but it got lost among all the messages about tickets and swab tests. It would’ve been so difficult to let us know two or three days earlier? Once we got back, nobody had given us the automatic gate code, and another guest had to tell us. The gate to our apartment was broken, and the laundry bag from the previous guests was still there. There wasn’t any soap or toilet paper, and the bathroom rugs were missing. My brother was asked for a €150 deposit, even though the reservation didn’t say anything about it and the house guide says €50. When we asked whether we could leave the key inside, one colleague said that was fine, but another said we couldn’t. Nice apartment and setting, less nice management.

The view was lovely, and we kept seeing the neighborhood peacock. No need to worry, he’s harmless. Sadly, the apartment wasn’t very clean. The shower grout, shower curtain, and strip behind the kitchen sink were all moldy. I’d expect towels and bed linen to be provided these days. The mattress was so worn that my body ended up curled into a banana shape.

The listing doesn’t match what you get. It’s a small basement apartment with a window that won’t open and a broken bunk bed. The road is dirt, and the place isn’t 700 meters from the sea. From the road, you have to climb about 300 steps up to another road, then walk 1 km to the sea. The fridge seal is broken, and the TV plug is right up against the gas stove.