Casa Elena

The garden has plenty of shady spots where you can sit with a meal, coffee, or snack, and the place is quiet and cool, which made it really relaxing. Everything was clean and looked lovely. Kids can visit the rabbits, dog, cat, chickens, ducks, turkeys, chicks, and fish, then play on the slide, swings, trampoline, climbing rope, or in the sandpit. We had a great time, and I'd recommend it.

We were about a 12-minute walk from the beach, with two small shops nearby for essentials. For bigger grocery or other shopping, the city is roughly 7 km away. The shared garden has shaded seating under the grapevines and a brick grill for cooking your own food, while the common room is big enough for plenty of guests if the weather turns bad. The rooms aren't especially large, but they have enough space to sleep, a wardrobe, air conditioning, a toilet, a shower, and an insect screen on the door. There's also a furnished shared kitchen. If you're happy to skip an all-inclusive hotel, this place has what you need for a seaside holiday. A clear yes from us, and thanks to the hosts for their hospitality and the pleasant setting.

The rooms are extremely small, and there's barely room to turn around in the bathroom. The bathroom setup falls short in both function and basic technical details: there's no shelf for a toothbrush, toothpaste, or comb, and no outlet by the mirror for a hair dryer. There are lots of outlets in the bedroom, but no mirror there, so they're not much use for that. Storage in the room is just a little alcove with two or three shelves, one of which is almost entirely taken up by a safe. The place is clean and tidy throughout, but the room facilities leave a lot to be desired. It feels like the layout was planned against what would make sense.

The rooms are cramped, especially the bathrooms, and the hosts made us feel like paying guests who weren't wanted. On a quiet summer evening, there were threats and pointless shouting. Casa Elena may just scrape a pass as a guesthouse, but I can't give the hosts any grade low enough for this embarrassing circus.