Mahara Hotel & Wellness

The hotel room I had here was nice enough, but they blast loud rock music from speakers in the courtyard day and night. They told me it’s for bar patrons, of which they had very few. I would think after enduring this for five hours, I thought it would stop at 9 pm, but I had to call after that to try to get it shut off. I would not recommend this hotel.

Hotel has no wi fi as stated on website. The breakfast is poor. Juice machine broken. One coffee machine. Air conditioning was good. Staff friendly but just a so-so place. On seawall but in very poor part of town . Many buildings deserted and run down. The casbah is about a 20 minute walk away.

Mahara sits at the edge of the Mediterranean, along Lungomare Mazzini, a quite busy seawalk promenade. It's a large compound, with a large courtyard, used for the open air restuarant-bar. You had to walk 10 minutes before reaching Piazza Mokarta, the Norman Arch, the Basilica Cathedral, and Piazza dela Republic, arguably the busy center of the old town. The Hopps Hotel, also along Mazzini, is a bit closer. The hotel does not turn on it's ac! That was the first thing the reception person told us when we were checking in, possibly to give the guests a chance to back out. Good thing it was late April and it was still ok - we just left the sliding door that led to a very narrow balcony open. But I can't imagine not having the ac in June - maybe they finally turn it on. We were also bothered by the thin walls, so we could hear people in the next room or when the staff (presumably) were moving around furniture in the floor above us. The guest room is quite large, with a floor to ceiling sliding door-window that opens to a very narrow but appreciated balcony. The balcony gave a good view of the Mediterranean. The sliding door has both lace and blackout curtains. The floor is red tile. Furniture is basic wood painted in white. There were two wall lamps and that was it in terms of decor. A small TV sits on one side of the work desk - but no English language channels. There is also a hot water kettle. There's a minibar but it didn't make the drinks cold. The bathroom is serviceable, with a bidet and half-covered shower stall. We appreciated having the full set of body, hand and face towels. The washbasin drain wasn't draining well so we just took it off. Breakfast is on the ground floor. Fare is adequate, with decent hot food - sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs - but limited veggies and not fresh juice drinks from a dispenser.

I agree with the other reviews that this is 3-star hotel, not a 4-star. The hallways and rooms are OK, but not stellar. The elevators need maintenance - the growling noise they make is disturbing so we didn't use them. The hallways are utilitarian, not attractive. The room was OK but the bathroom plumbing was not maintained - showerhead corroded and squirting all over, sink stopper control missing. The real complaint is breakfast. You sit in a vast ballroom with little to no decoration. The overall feeling is sterility. The food is OK, just OK. The juice machine puts put some kind of over-sweetened KoolAid. It's horrible. It was citrus season in Sicily, so this is not about availability but saving money. Most fruit was canned - no other hotel on our visit had canned fruit. The overall quality and variety of the buffet was poor to middling.

Honestly a great hotel. Just checking out after 3 nights and it’s been a lovely stay. Hotel a bit dated but clean and well equipped. Food has been plentiful and authentic - we ate here twice in the evening and there’s also a world class pizza restaurant next door. Staff everywhere have been so charming and helpful. Our fridge wasn’t working and it was quickly replaced. Waiting staff so friendly, especially Marco. Heating/AC was controllable in room. Huge balcony overlooking a serine courtyard was the highlight!

Uncomfortable bed and pillows, very bad breakfast, not fresh, worst I’ve had in Europe, very noisy and music from a wedding piped into courtyard until after 1:00 am not mitigated by sound machine and ear plugs. The pool was nice. Basically a two star hotel in US. Will recommend travel company Overseas Adventure Travel use alternate hotel.