La Perla

Monte Isola itself is beautiful, but this was a very bad residence experience. Nobody came to collect us from the harbor, so we had to squeeze onto a crowded bus with heavy luggage. The caretaker, Pietro, wasn’t there on the day we arrived, and the apartment hadn’t been cleaned. He sent us a text with another apartment, which was okay. There were no other guests, and the locals knew it. They used the pool and made a lot of noise.

We had a good time here. The apartments were clean and had everything we needed, the staff were friendly and helpful, and the pool was really nice.

I stayed here for one night with a group of friends on November 4. We emailed and called the day before but got no answer. On such a small island, it was uncomfortable not knowing whether we’d have somewhere to sleep. When we arrived, nobody was at the hotel. Our rooms were unlocked, but there was no one to talk to or show us how things worked. We couldn’t figure out the pull-out sofa, so we slept on a mattress on the floor. The bed linen was dirty. When we called the owner to ask for clean linen, he sent a child who didn’t speak any English to handle it. It was very cold inside, and we spent two hours trying to warm the rooms because the AC was as confusing as the sofa. There were spiders and webs all over, as if the hotel hadn’t been used for a long time. Then we were charged 30 euros per apartment for cleaning. Why pay that fee when the rooms are dirty?

We were a group of 20 staying overnight at La Perla, and it went like this: we didn’t hear back from the accommodation until an hour before we arrived, and nobody was there to meet us. The rooms were dirty and full of spiders, and they were cold. With nobody around, we had no idea how to turn on the heat. We couldn’t work out how to extend the sofa properly, so two adults had to share one single bed. The linen was dirty too. We showed the owner photos of the dirt, and he agreed we shouldn’t pay the cleaning fee, but a week later he took 100 euros from our credit card. This was the worst accommodation experience we’ve ever had, and we’re world travelers. I don’t recommend this place.