Villa Stari Grad

The walk up to the villa takes some effort. It's on a hill in the middle of the old town, and we climbed steps for 10-15 minutes, stopping a few times to catch our breath. Once there, we found a modern, clean room in a peaceful setting, and the host was a very nice, polite lady. We were with family, and the lovely shared terrace connected us with relatives staying next door. There were a few things the apartment could improve: the duvet had no cover, and there was no kettle or iron. The shower had a public-bathroom-style soap dispenser, and proper shower gel would have been nicer. The air conditioning struggled to cool the already small room, and in auto mode kept switching off and on every 5-10 minutes. Still, we had a good family holiday at Guesthouse Villa Stari Gradand, and with a few changes the stay could be more comfortable.

We stayed one night and really liked the quiet, cute balcony with its amazing sea view. We couldn't hear the neighbors. The parking situation was confusing, though: we bought a ticket from the guesthouse when we arrived late, then got fined in the morning. We hadn't understood that we needed another ticket if we left the car there after 7AM. There was no hot water, and the AC didn't cool the room very well, perhaps because it was an old model.

We left the next morning after being shown a small one-bedroom apartment around 8pm, even though we'd booked a two-bedroom place months in advance based on the booking site's photos and description. The living room had been turned into a second bedroom with no privacy, and we had to walk through one bedroom to reach the other. The balcony looked onto a concrete wall, not the sea. When I pointed out that this wasn't what we'd booked and the photos looked different, I was told, “pictures are pictures, this is what you get.” The property then tried to charge me 50% for one night, which I disputed with my bank. Terrible experience. Don't waste your time and energy, stay elsewhere.

Pack light, as it's a bit of a trek from the car, but the lovely room and its view over the bay made up for it. The staff were friendly and very helpful.