Case Vacanze Damarete

If you are looking for a hotel, with hotel facilities and services, this is not for you. If you imagine that "sea view terrace" means you can sit and look at the sea from your room, it does not. As the Residence Damarete is not a hotel, there is no lobby, nor any communal space. There are no phones in the rooms, mobile signal is unreliable and the street outside is a pedestrian alley, meaning taxis cannot get to the door. Rooms are accessed from the pedestrian alley via a locked gate leading to a very narrow passageway. To get out you have to unlock the passageway door from inside. Lights in passage did not work. I dread to imagine trying to find the keyhole in the event of a fire. Towels were changed just once in the 5 days we were there, bedding not at all. We had a cleaner once. Toilet paper went in a bin by the toilet. We are used to this practice in Greece, but in Greece bins are emptied on a daily basis. Here we put out rubbish in an outside bin ourselves. The apartment was cold, without any heating and with nowhere comfortable to sit (only kitchen chairs or bed settees). The outlook from windows was onto other properties, some of which were very close. The apartment had a decent kitchen, bedroom and bathroom but the so called "living room" was a bed settee and wardrobe in a very dark space, less a room than a wide passageway between kitchen and bathroom. There was no outside sitting area directly accessible from the apartment. The so called "sea view terrace" was accessed by a communal staircase, two flights up. The terrace - a rooftop- was unattractive so we never had company on the few occasions we went up there, sharing it only with the owner's washing. There was no shade. The staircase ended in a wooden and glass structure over the stairwell, with the terrace on the landward side, meaning the distant sea view across rooftops was from the staircase window or through two staircase windows if viewed from the terrace itself. If you sat down there was no view at all. The person checking us in described it as a "small sea view". With the above caveats, I would recommend this apartment to people who wished to use as a base from which to explore, as its well located for sightseeing, but not as somewhere to relax at the end of the day.

Second stay at this property. It is a perfect hotel/apartment in historic Ortigia. Large/modern rooms with kitchens. Everything is within walking distance. The manager Raffaelle is very nice and accomodating. Pricing is very reasonable, would highly recommend.

In a perfect part of town near the water and in the old section with narrow walkways. Our room was the least expensive at the place with a kitchen and lots of room. It was a little cave like with small windows but great for sleeping. The manager was very helpful.