What People are saying

great, budget with sea view, nice service

ana_xxyyzzon 21/09/2016 21:45

Hotel was really good when you consider value for money. Service was nice, bathroom was ok, view on a sea- great, close to the port, located in the old town. Good AC, climatic, romantic, worth recommending.

This place was god awful with horrible food and horrible service. God Awful

csmichiganon 18/04/2016 18:12

I'm going to have to use some restraint here because, well, I could go off for hours on how bad it was. First the positives.

The room with the private balcony is great and relaxing, with million dollar views.

The positives end there. Upon arriving, there was no one available to check us in and we had to call and wait for someone to arrive. We were then met at our B&B by a super nice gentleman who clearly has no role in the negatives of this place. We communicated with the owner, not him, in booking our room and he's just doing the best that he can. He's just a cog in the terrible wheel that is this B&B. He's kind, smiley and the poor guy must get yelled at constantly for things that aren't his fault. The owner was invisible at best.

The bed is as hard as a rock and looks out directly to your neighbor. If you're going to lay in bed and enjoy the view, the neighboring balconies of the B&B may be enjoying a different view, if you know what I mean.

The shower and bathroom are disgusting. The toilet flushes so aggressively that toilet water comes splashing out and onto the floor. The shower is covered in a "pitina" from not being properly cleaned or cared for. The shower head doesn't stay up and slides down. God forbid you have to turn around, you won't be able to because it's the size of a shoebox.

They say there is wifi, but I promise you, there isn't. When I emailed the owner and asked, suddenly communication stopped. Apparently her wifi wasn't working either.

The breakfast is served up the aforementioned stairs, in the other B&B. Where do i start here. The eggs were cold and clearly microwaved. The cheese was kraft sliced cheese, supposedly "mozzarella". The "Parmigiano" was rock hard, stale and about the size of a q-tip. The pastries were all old and stale. They are actually kept under the buffet they are placed on. We saw this happening when we came back to pay upon checkout (more on that later). The cakes and rolls were dry and tasteless. The coffee was served from a thermos. The "juice" was Hi-C ... and on and on. My wife's "breakfast" on the second day was much like the previous, with a disgusting and cold offering, but this day she also had a huge piece of plastic in her food, presumably from the kraft slices placed on the plate.

Now, we just want to get the hell out of there at this point, so we attempt to pay. The credit card machine isn't working and we don't have enough cash. We have to hike all the way up to the city above the cliffs, tackling about 5 sets of stairs and numerous hills, to get to the bank. We finally succeed in escaping and are happy as hell to get out of Scilla and this B&B.

We travel extensively and have NEVER had an experience this bad. EVER. It's also not our general behavior to write extensive negative reviews because of the nature of a world of complainers, but this one is an exception. It was that bad.

We chose this place because our friend stayed here 6 years ago and enjoyed it. Clearly something has changed and its gone in the dumps. Do yourself a favor and book anywhere else in the city. Hell, you'd do better to sleep in one of the fishing boats down at the end of the road.

Dungeon!

Laurabelle987on 04/10/2015 00:42

This was most definitely the most depressing place I have stayed. We booked it through hotel.com and booked a room with a balcony or terrace. On arrival we were shown to a room in the sister b&b la lacandiera which is a street back from the front (uphill). It would appear that it doesn't matter which b&b you book the owner decides! The room could only fit the bed with no external windows never mind outside space! The only window was high on the wall and looked out on an internal staircase (which meant anyone could look in if they wanted as you will see from the picture there was no curtain). We asked to speak with the owner. The owner advised that his confirmation of the booking did not state balcony etc and at first refused to believe that the booking info I was showing him related to the stay. He then advised that hotel.com have a note of all his rooms and the specifications listed didn't apply to every room. He then advised us that the room at the going rate was double what we paid for it (which is irrelevant!!!!) Although we know this is also not true as my husband had called a few weeks prior to organise the free parking and was offered a room for less than he claimed!.. also free parking is just to abandon your car on the street. After much discussion he agreed to move us rooms the following day... which turned out not much better (but it was our last night). The building is extremely dark and you have to switch on the hall lights as you go!.. not easy to navigate when you can't see the light switches! We didn't eat the breakfast. We took one look at the stale offerings and decided against it. Check out was also a nightmare!. I don't understand why this place is in the guide books. I would avoid!

Superb location but quality and advertising of B&B questionable, misleading.

NewcastleFamily_11on 09/09/2015 19:43

We spent four nights at Le Piccole Grotte. We booked online via Hotels.com and booked the superior double room at 75 euro per night first week of September 2015.

The room that we received was on the ground floor, with a small balcony and narrow sea views. This is not the room shown on the website. So be aware all our comments pertain to this room only.

The balcony for this room is very small but pleasant with a small washing line to hang your towels and swimmers. Room has double glazed windows and shutters which means that although you are on the main thorough fare, closing up everything means there is little outdoor noise. However, You will hear all guests coming and going through the night. There is air-con which is very good. Mosquitos were not really as issue at all.

The Kitchenette - is in word only. Although most people staying would not cook whilst staying here, we tried to cook one night for fun. The two gas plates had no ignitor so had to find a lighter/matches in the village. There was one small pot without a lid, a strainer and two plastic plates, forks and knives for two but no spoons, no bowls, two glasses. We successfully managed to cook a pasta but then realised there was no dishwashing liquid, no tea towels and no hot water from the sink.

Bathroom- is small but functional. Shower for very small people with shower head holder broken so had to hold the shower head by hand. Water pressure good. There was a hairdryer but did not risk using it as the plug had been taped together.

WiFi - there is none! Do not be fooled, the owners said it needed technical service, but after four days, I am not sure this was the case and now reading recent comments guests over the past two months there is NO WiFi. Instead they recommended we use WiFi at the sister B&B owned by the same people at La Locandiera which is up the hill.

Breakfast - this is also served at the sister B&B La Locandiera which is a short steep walk of 41 steps up the hill. The breakfast was served from 7.30am to 10.30am and is okay if you have a sweet tooth. Unfortunately, the bread was stale every morning and you were only given a plate on arrival with one piece of processed ham, one slice of processed cheese from a plastic wrapper, one sun dried tomato and a small piece of salami. There was however lots of small commercial prepackaged cakes (apple, madiera, chocolate), a few plates of commercial packaged donuts, some commercial croissants. There was a plate of 10 nectarines for fruit. Coffee, milk (powdered) and hot water were all served from airpot push button dispensers. One guest at a neighbouring table asked for and received a nice machine espresso from out the back but when I asked for one, they told me it was not available anymore.

Extra fees on checkout - you will also have to pay local city tax of 1 euro per person per night - this has to be paid in cash. On Check out they prefer you pay in cash or via bank contact/debit card.

Shuttle bus service from Reggio Calabria Airport- we emailed the hotel prior to our visit but never received a reply - note email was in english and in Italian. Then we also called through Italian colleague to confirm shuttle service. On arrival there was no one waiting for our pick up. An hour later just whilst we were organising to catch a taxi or train to scilla we were suddenly met by a lady in a taxi who rushed us to Scilla. Our return to the airport was provided by a separate local and cost 35 euro for the two of us. So beware of communication issues with reception and triple check to ensure things are organised. Cleaning staff were very very helpful!

Take home message - Location great but superior double room is dated but would now be considered budget or standard at best. No WiFi!! Breakfast is average and bread stale. Worth reading all latest reviews (use google translate for italian reviews) which with hindsight are spot on to give you idea of how things really are here. Wish we had.

An alternative B&B’s worth checking out is “Casa Vela” although we did not see the rooms. We drank and ate here twice as it boasts an excellent wine bar and local produce with the owner keen to explain each. We recommend the excellent seafood platter for 10 Euro provided in partnership with a local fish restaurant and the smoked cheese which owner cooks up. Both divine and would stay here next time instead of Le Piccole Grotte

Otherwise, Scilla/Chianalea is a wonderful fishing village and small beach separated by a castle. The beach side is pebbles , half the beach cordoned off with umbrellas at 10 euro/two chairs. Snorkelling is a must with a good array of fish to be seen. The Chianalea side is very nice mix of old and renovated fishing houses, small paved alleyways, cosy nooks and glimpses of boats between houses. In one evening we saw 8 separate bridal parties walking through the paved streets taking photos proving how picturesque Chianalea village is.

Good conveniently located hotel

DmitryZagrivnyon 20/08/2015 09:06

Good conveniently located hotel. In the middle between two beaches of Scilla.
Conditioner, big rooms. Around there are a lot of restaurants, bars.
Features:
1. The reception in hotel isn't present, it in La Locanderia (up a ladder on the neighboring street)
2. A breakfast also in La Locanderia.
There are 2 remarks to the hotel:
1. The mini-kitchen is not in all numbers. At least, in one number it isn't present.
2. There was no Internet access. WiFi was, but there were problems with WAN port on a router. It was necessary to use the Internet at breakfast in La Locanderia.

Location. Don't hope to sleep with an open window, especially during a high season. It is noisy because of cafe and restaurants in the evening, in the morning approximately in 5 on the narrow street motor scooters, around 6 - municipal cars start going. With the closed window and the switched-on conditioner quite tolerantly.
And so - remarkable, very beautiful and original place.