Santa Maria 24 Guest House

We stayed for six nights and really enjoyed having a flat close to the center, a short walk from the sea, but in a fairly quiet part of Monopoli. The team made it a great stay. Breakfast was amazing, with lots of choices, and the restaurant serves high-quality food. Room service is available for a small fee. We'd recommend this place to anyone.

The staff were superb, professional, helpful, and keen to make sure we were comfortable. We also got picked up by the hotel's classic Citroen, which was very cool. The hotel is a large apartment property in the heart of Monopoli's harbour, with four floors reached by stairs and no elevator. Our apartment was clean, bright, and well stocked, overlooking either the harbour or town center. Many units have a view and some kind of balcony, though in some cases the Juliet balcony is just an open door and is in the bedroom rather than the living room. Room 6 is like that; room 7 has one in each area. Some apartments have a small balcony you can stand on. The living room couch wasn't very comfortable or lined up with the television, which has only a limited set of Italian channels and no English news or shows. Breakfast is buffet style in the hotel restaurant, with plenty of high-quality sweet and savory items, vegetarian options, and gluten- and lactose-free foods. The coffee was great. It starts at 8am, a bit late for us on days out. We had dinner there once, and while the decor and atmosphere impressed us, the food did not.

The service was fantastic, from the driver to the restaurant staff. We enjoyed the daily chats and getting to know everyone, and they were always available with advice and answers. We stayed five days in a spacious, clean, bright third-floor suite, which was a good way to work off some of the calories from all the food. The location was perfect, and the accommodation exceeded what I expected. As a curly girl, I was glad to find a diffuser with the hair dryer, plus slippers and a robe. The morning breakfast was phenomenal, and I'm still dreaming about it. There's a restaurant on site too. We rented a car for our travels; private garage parking is a 15-minute walk away. Sometimes a driver could take us there, but that needs to be scheduled, so don't count on it otherwise. My husband and I visited Monopoli a few weeks ago and would gladly stay here again. They have several units to suit different needs.

The location was incredible, right by the sea and in the old town, with everything close at hand. The rooms were spacious and comfortable, and the beds were extremely comfortable too. Housekeeping was wonderful, and both the front desk and breakfast staff were incredible. The buffet was amazing. When we had an electrical problem one evening, Rocco arrived within five minutes and worked on it for about half an hour. He couldn't fix it, so we assumed it would have to wait until the next day, but they had an expert there within another half hour and got everything working quickly. The team helped with everything, from arranging transport and suggesting places to eat to making boxed breakfasts for our early mornings. I can't say enough good things about Santa Maria 24.