Villino Caterina House: big terrace seaview

The interior of the apartment was fine.

The location is the major reason I am giving the apartment such a poor rating. Unless you are in your 20s and enjoy climbing mountains you will find the location an ordeal. The difficulty in getting to both the path upon which the house was located, and the exact apartment was entirely understated. We had never been to riomaggiore and one reason we chose this town was the availability of elevators. In addition, I used Google maps and the Google man to preview the walk from the train station, investigated the maintenance status of the public elevator, and we were aware of the availability of a luggage delivery man (who we used). However, two days before our visit we were informed by the apt manager that the elevator was out of service. When we contacted the luggage man we found the cost would be 15 euros per bag (we had 3) for the arrival (more sets of stairs at the train station), and 10 euros per bag on our departure. Thus we spent at extra 70 euros we had not anticipated. Once on the path, at the apartment's building we were forced to walk up and then down quite a number of flights of uneven stone steps. This was required every time we left the apt. Getting into downtown was a great exertion that resulted in us skipping dinner one night. There are no convenience stores at all on the side of the mountain, for us to even get a qt of milk. The physical demands of Riomaggiore, the building, and the apartment cannot be understated. Mosquitos prevented us from enjoying the terrace. In addition, the wifi instructions and password was obsolete resulting in several hours of trying to reach the manager and then getting it fixed. We should have stayed in the village center near the port.

Beautiful view! The town is lovely and the location is good. We really liked the washing machine and being able to dry our clothes on the clothesline with the sea breeze. The place is very quiet and peaceful. The host was very responsive via whatsapp when we had questions and also gave us very thoughtful instructions on how to find the home (with photos). The window was easy to open and let in cool air but the AC blew freezing cold when it was necessary. Despite no elevator and many stairs, we liked our stay and would definitely consider staying here again if we return to Riomaggiore

Only small nitpicky things to complain about. The lighting was very harsh. Bright pure white LED or pitch black - Hard on the eyes. The light above the steep stairs outside was broken so coming home in the evening was a bit dangerous. The bed is very basic with only 2 somewhat flat pillows. There is no real coffee maker (like a moka pot etc) and no microwave either. The kitchen is very basic. We tried using the pod coffee maker but there were only 2 or 3 pods and perhaps we used it wrong but the coffee was simply awful. After two tries we were almost out of coffee and no way to replenish it. I always enjoy staying at vacation rentals where people leave food and pantry staples to use but this condo is very bare bones. There are no special touches or anything to welcome you - which is fine but it makes for a very basic feeling bare bones stay compared to some I've stayed at previously. This is not a luxury experience in other words. Luckily the nearby restaurants and cafes were lovely! Lastly, do not consider staying here if you have mobility issues.

Gorgeous view. It has everything we needed and more. The owners were very helpful.

Great location and terrace with awesome views of town and the coastline. Amazing hosts that provided us with a ton of information and a city card allowing us free access to several amenities in town!

The only thing we didn’t like was having to leave! It was a great stay!

Perfect property to stay. Very comfortable. Clean. Host had great communication. View was incredible. Beautiful village. Everything close by. Washing machine was a bonus.

Nothing

Air con worked well, Full kitchen, washing machine and full clothes line

88 steps just from main pathway so was difficult to manage several times over our stay. Also didn’t realize Riomaggiore renowned for (loud) nightlife

Our stay at Villino Caterina House was wonderful! The highlight was definitely the stunning view from the terrace - we spent hours just enjoying it. The house itself was very comfortable and had everything we needed. Manuel was an excellent host, so friendly, responsive, and helpful with communication, which made everything easy. We absolutely loved our time here and would happily return. Highly recommend!

Amazing views over the stunning Riomaggiore. Comfortable stay with cooking facilities and washing machine. Communication with hosts was brilliant and an inconvenience was resolved with great care and consideration to us as their guests.

To get the stunning views there are of course many steps. We chose to use the local luggage service - Roberto for our bags.