If you’ve been following my blog for a while now you will know I am a huge fan of holiday home rental sites like Airbnb. As much as I love a nice a hotel, there’s something satisfying about going back to an apartment full of character after a busy day of exploring a new city.
I’d say at least 75% of the time I will choose to stay in an apartment rather than a hotel, which is why I am so pleased to have discovered Altovita, a definite contender to rival the ever popular Airbnb.
Altovita is a holiday home rental site that specially curate each and every home they list by visiting them personally. They have apartments in a variety of major cities including Prague, Marbella, Budapest, Lisbon and of course Vienna.
A couple of months ago they invited me to stay in one of their apartments and as I had plans to visit Vienna in March, I decided it would be the best destination choice. I was so so so so so right.
The Location
When looking for accommodation there are usually two things I look out for – the location and the price. When it comes to it I tend to pick the best priced place in somewhere that is near to central, or easily accessible by the Metro or buses. It means that at times I’ve stayed in some pretty questionable places, but as a result I’ve saved money and been able to travel even more. That’s what is important, right?
When it comes to Altovita and browsing their site, I noticed that a lot of the gorgeous apartments that are centrally located are priced so reasonably – and that’s exactly where we stayed.
Our studio apartment was located a three minute walk from the Dom (Cathedral) in the heart of the city and around four or five minutes from the Metro station. We ended up walking quite a bit while we were staying in this particular area as it was so easy to get around, once I’d figured out how to read our map. We were able to get to the Opera, Sacher Hotel, Karlsplatz, Albertina, the river front and much more – all in walking distance of the apartment.
The Space
We stayed in one of Christian’s apartments (he has 9 on Altovita all together) and although he told us it was the smallest one, it was still an incredible size for just two people, especially when you consider what a standard smallest size hotel room is like.
As you walked through the door there was a little ‘office’ area with a desk and a chair (not that I was planning on doing any work while there). To the right of that cute little area was the bathroom and separate toilet. Although the toilet was a little small, especially for me at the size I am, the bathroom was a pretty decent size and the shower was huge!
Through an archway was the kitchen which was such a good size for an apartment for two people. There were stocked cupboards (plates and utensils, not food), a fridge, an oven and plenty of space for us to sit and enjoy a meal. We ended up using the kitchen on the first night for a frozen pizza as after being awake for almost 40 hours all we could think about was Netflix, food and bed. Oh, and mimosas 😉
Through the kitchen was the door into the bedroom/living room area. As the apartment is labelled as a studio it was unusual to have the kitchen separate from everything else, but it did make the apartment feel much bigger. The living room/bedroom area had the comfiest big double bed, a two seater sofa and a smaller sofa bed on the corner. There was lots of cupboard space for us to unpack if we wanted to (we didn’t) and the room was so nice to sit in after a busy day out and about.
The Decor
Despite being in Vienna, the apartment itself had a very modern set-up. I’m normally a fan of places with a lot of colour and character but as it was a reasonably small place the modern decor was a perfect fit. Too much could have really over done it.
I think my favourite room in the apartment was definitely the living room/bed room area as I loved the giant clock on the wall as well as the massive window with lace viol.
Checking In and Out
When we arrived we called Christian, our host, and said we were a little lost (are you surprised though? It’s me…). Luckily we were able to pin point our location and send it to him and within minutes he was walking us to the front door.
We were given a full tour of the apartment and then Christian kindly answered any questions we had about Vienna as it was our first time visiting. I always love when people go the extra mile like this and his tips really helped, especially when it came to getting to the tourism board where I needed to pick up a few bits.
Overall, I’m super impressed with Altovita. From looking at the site it’s easy to see that all of the properties are of incredible quality (all super instagramable too) and such reasonable prices!
There are a range of different properties available, meaning they cater for just about anyone and with stunning places in the heart of some of Europe’s prettiest cities, what more could you want?
Kirsty Leanne
xoxo
