A gorgeous apartment in Taormina, perfect for families, couples and anyone looking for a quite, green oasis to rest in one of the most beautiful towns in Sicily. This is our review of Mon Repos Avenir Taormina apartment.
The last Easter holidays saw us exploring wonderful Taormina, in Sicily.
We had been planning a trip to Sicily for a long time, since we first visited Scopello, and the opportunity to go ended up presenting itself: earlier this year we got invited to check out a new family friendly apartment in Taormina and the request was so lovely and the apartment so promising, it didn’t take us long to say yes!
We went to Taormina at the end of March and spent a few days as guests of the apartment Mon Repos Avenir: this is our review of our stay.
Disclaimer: we were guests of this apartment in exchange for an honest review on the blog. This post contains affiliate links and if you make a purchase though them we might make a small commission at no extra cost to you. As always, all opinions expressed in this review are our own and reflect our experience of the place.
Mon Repos Avenir Apartment Taormina: accommodation overview
Mon Repos Avenir is located on the ground floor of a small apartment complex in the town of Taormina and it is a lovely, bright space.
The apartment consists of a main living area with kitchen, a double bedroom and a good sized bathroom and it can host up to 2 adults and 2 children. Adult accommodation is the master bedroom and the kids’ is the (very comfortable) large sofa bed in the living room.
The first thing you notice on walking in is how bright the place is. We got to Taormina on an unusually grey and rainy morning and even on that day, once you walk in you are flooded with light.
The living area of Mon Repos Avenir, Taormina with the lovely view over the garden and pool
The apartment overlooks the well tended private lawn and a small balcony gives you a view over the swimming pool, trees and the sparkling sea just in front.
Mon Repos Apartment is modern and furnished in a clean, functional way: the white kitchen and light coloured walls make it bright and clean and lovely touches such as fluffy pillows on the sofa give a homely and welcoming feel.
The kitchen is furnished with all you need to make a family meal: basics such as fridge, oven and electric hobs are complemented by a generous sized dishwasher and a full set of crockery including corkscrew, pasta drainer and good knives.
Kitchen and living area in Taormina apartment
The master bedroom is a lovely space, with a comfortable bed and good storage space. The closet had space for our things but also came equipped with extra pillows and covers.
Mon Repos Avenir Taormina bedroom
Mon Repos Avenir Taormina, bathroom
In terms of facilities, the Mon Repos Avenir Apartment has:
- Double bedroom with generous storage and pool view
- Living room / kitchen with large sofa bed for up to 2 people
- Balcony overlooking the garden, pool and sea with outdoor dining table and chairs
- Fully equipped kitchen with oven, dishwasher and washing machine
- Air conditioning for summer and heating for winter
- Wi-fi
- Flat screen TV
- Cleaning kit / ironing board / clothes horse
- Welcome booklet with information about the apartment and the town, restaurant recommendations, local excursions tips
- Private, secure parking
- Child friendly swimming pool
How to book: you can book your stay at Mon Repos Avenir on Booking . com or you can get in touch with me to be introduced directly to Gaetano, the owner. Just send me an email with ‘Mon Repos Avenir’ in the subject line and I’ll connect you straight away!
Garden and pool
The Mon Repos apartment is part of a small complex surrounded by parking space on one side and a nice lawn overlooking the sea on the other.
The lawn is well tended and has a lovely pool with sun loungers and a gorgeous view over Isola bella, just in front. Since we were visiting in March and during a week of unusually grey weather, we didn’t use it but both our kids and the kids of other families in the complex made extensive use of the lawn.
Gaetano told me there are plans to do up the swimming pool and make even more of the space with new decking. The work hasn’t started yet but it is in the pipeline and while the pool is great the way it is, I think it will add an extra touch to the beautiful yet simple current layout.
The place is secluded and quiet and perfect to have the kids let off some steam: you can even keep an eye on them from the kitchen since the pool side of the garden is visible form the apartment balcony.
Our kids longing for a splash in the pool
Mon Repos Aparment: welcome
We arranged our trip to Taormina by email and the communication with Gaetano, the owner was always pleasant and efficient.
Gaetano is the owner of the apartment and while he now rents it out periodically to visitors, he acquired it for him and his family, as a place to relax and retire when the time is right.
You can see that the place is home to them in many ways. The apartment is functional but they have given a lot of thought to it and he is really hands on with it.
Just before we arrived they had some work done to the internet connection and he was worried we may find it unreliable: to make sure we didn’t, he came up personally to check once we were in and left us a portable wifi point in case we needed an extra boost.
As it turned out, the connection was actually OK but I thought it was lovely to have him worrying about it first hand and going the extra mile to make us feel at home.
He also gave the kids two Easter eggs which, as you can imagine, made him a very popular figure in our household!
As well as Gaetano, we met two other ladies who help him: Chiara, who also gave us the name of a couple of good restaurants in Taormina, and the woman who helps clean the apartment, who was so accommodating she even agreed to clean while we were inside, just to let the kids sleep after the long night in the train!
All in all, they were the most gracious guests and a large reason why I feel like writing such a positive review about the whole experience.
Location and practical considerations
Taormina is located on top of a hill overlooking the Mediterranean. Access to the town is by car or bus along a long, winding, scenic road called Via Pirandello.
Our review of the lovely Holiday apartment in Taormina Sicily: Mon Repos Avenir, our recommended family accommodation in Sicily
The apartment is located on this road and you access it by an electronic gate opening over onto a car park and the apartment complex.
The apartment is not far from the city centre of Taormina but not in it and to reach it requires a short drive or walk.
The easiest way to reach Taormina town centre is indeed by car: with a vehicle, the short distance won’t take more than 5 minutes and you can leave the car in one of the several parking spaces available at its entrance.
As an alternative, it is possible to get the bus or to walk. Since we didn’t have the car, we tried both this options and it both cases had no problems although we did sometimes feel unsafe on the main road.
The bus stop is only a couple of minutes up the road from the house but the road is bendy and has no pavement so even the short walk made us feel a little uneasy and would have not attempted it in the evening.
It is very much a driving road so I would stress how important it is not to have to count on getting out on foot after dark especially but not only with small kids.
If you can, I would recommend to have a car: this would allow you easy access to the town, with the option of walking there during the day, and would also allow you yo explore the area.
Taormina is lovely and one of its main attractions is how close it it to attractions such as mount Etna, the Alcantara Gorges, Catania and Siracusa, all very easy to explore with your own car!
Final thoughts
We had a lovely stay in Mon Repos Avenir apartment in Taormina and feel confident recommending it to other families with young kids and couples.
Hopefully our next time there the weather will play ball and we can make the most of the pool too!
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