6/10 Okay
Brioney S., UK
17 Sept 2019
Nice enough
Pro's and cons:
Pro's first: good location, a short drive from Luino, a good sized lakeside town. You can take ferries from Luino all round the lake, including to the Borromean islands. You'll have to spend some time aquainting yourself with the ferry timetable and a map of the lake.
Nothing much goes on in Dumenza itself. There's a small supermarket that we didn't actually have to use, as we shopped out and about in the bigger towns. There is somewhere to get a coffee in the morning if you want to.
The apartment itself was ok.
The bedroom was good. Big comfortable bed, plenty of storage.
Nice views from the front windows.
The kitchen was sufficiently equipped.
Cons: there are 6 flights of stairs, 3 short & 3 longer as the apartment is at the top of the building.
There must be someone who lives in the apartment below, as one evening we were moving things around in the bedroom and someone started banging on the ceiling.
The shower needs a new head.
There was water in the bottom of the fridge, and it was iced up on the back.
On close inspection, the kitchen and bath were a little grubby, and everything, apart from the bedroom, looked tired and old. I had to clean the cupboard fronts myself. (obviously this is the housekeepers responsibility and not the owners, as I don't believe the owners live locally. We only met the housekeeper, who was pleasant enough, but really she was there, and gone.)
The worst thing of all, that very nearly ruined our whole stay, were the bells! If you want to sleep at all you have to close all the shutters and windows to dampen the sound. They literally ring loudly every half an hour, 24 hours a day. In fact it's more than that. Say it's midnight. So the bell rings 12 times. For some reason 1minute later, they ring 12 times again! Just in case you lost count the first time. At half past 12 they ring 12 times again with an extra higher pitched dong for the half hour. This routine NEVER STOPS. We didn't sleep the first 3 nights, as it was hot and we had the windows open. It was better with all the windows shut, but hot and stuffy.
Don't forget to bring towels, tea towels, washing up liquid, toilet rolls, soap, everything really as these are not provided.
I chose this property for location, price and the fact that it is self catering, as I can't eat out for health reasons.
The oven is a microwave so didn't actually use that.
Overall it was a pleasant experience as there's so much to do around the lake.
Brioney S.
Stayed 8 nights in Aug 2019