Giardini Mon Plaisir

When you are looking for an authentic experience in Sicily, there's no better place I could imagine. A wonderful garden around a historic Pallazo, a spotlessly clean room, fresh and well served breakfast and great hospitality by Agostino, whose family owns this place for generations. When this is your base for a tour through the delights this area of Sicily has to offer - and there are quite a lot - you'll be in best hands and no doubt, you'll enjoy it.

The moment we entered the gates of Giardini Mon Plaisir was a feeling of peace and tranquility. The warm welcome and attention we received from Alessandro was beyond exceptional. The property itself including the gardens and pool are beautiful. We were fascinated to hear Agostino speak so passionately about his family’s history of the villa. It is certainly a true gem! Agostino was a gracious host and he and his team went above and beyond to make our stay a most enjoyable one. His restaurant recommendations were most appreciated. Lastly, we enjoyed taking the bikes through the old town, it was a great way to explore Trapani. Grazie for a wonderful experience.

Beautiful, elegant and with outstanding attention to detail, this hotel was an oasis in a busy city. We looked forward to coming back after a morning of sightseeing to relax by the pool in the afternoon. The owner was extremely helpful and provided useful information. He even kindly gave us a lift into town when we were waiting at the bus stop. The hotel is a good 30 minute walk into town, but that was fine by us, helped along with an ice cream. The breakfast was presented like an afternoon tea and was a nice change to a buffet format. The waiters were very pleasant and nothing was too much trouble. The whole hotel was immaculately clean and with a traditional Italian garden.

Our pre-stay interactions with Giardini Mon Plaisir were excellent - prompt, meaningful emailed responses and some helpful tailored emails on what to do in Trapani and its surrounds. On arrival at the gate of Giardini Mon Plaisir you do have a sense of disquiet, it being surrounded by high rise apartments in a nondescript street , but once you enter its grounds that sense disappears as you see the beautiful building before you. Check in with the owner, Agostino, was prompt and friendly. Our daughters were in the studio room on the ground floor and my wife and I were up the stairs in the Levante room on the first floor. The accommodation was spotless, very tastefully furnished and of more than adequate size (although the shower was a bit on the small side). As we had travelled from south eastern Sicily that day, rather than go out for a meal we had pre-arranged and pre-ordered dinner at Giardini Mon Plaisir - we were glad we did; the food was excellent, as was the service. It was very quiet, both at night and during the day. The breakfast was excellent - friendly table service, good coffee, cold meats, pastries, croissants, scrambled eggs and bacon, that kind of thing. We liked that it was a 15 minute walk (mainly uphill, but not steep, primarily along a main street) to the cable way that takes you up to Erice. Would definitely recommend a visit to Erice, the views alone make it worthwhile. Having adopted Agostinho's excellent suggestion of having dinner in Erice (he kindly booked for us), we walked back from the cableway late at night - the walk was well lit and felt very safe, enhanced by there being a police presence at the base of the cableway. Giardini Mon Plaisir is about a 15 - 20 minute drive to the old town (in the context that we drove there on a Saturday morning so there was lots of Saturday morning shopping traffic). There was plenty of meter paid parking (coins only), adjacent to the sea, at what is the start of the pedestrianized shopping street. Definitely worth a visit of a few hours, plenty of places to have lunch. Check out was easy and friendly. We really enjoyed our stay, definitely the place for us should we return to Trapani.

It's hard to put this hotel into words - it's just different than anywhere I've ever stayed. It beats any 5 star hotel I've stayed in easily. The hotel itself is beautifully restored and is genuinely a peaceful oasis in the middle of the city. I couldn't believe how quiet it was by the pool, I haven't felt so relaxed in ages. The breakfast was fantastic - all fresh and local, with a daily savoury special that let us try a lot of traditional Trapanese food. The room was great, modern but with some touches of tradition. The AC was the best - not visible and so quiet. The bed was great and even the hairdryer was good which is very unusual for a hotel! It's a good walk to town but we did it a good few times and it was grand. It's about 30 minutes to the edge of the Centro Storico and probably another 15/20 to get to the other end. You can be at the beach in 25 minutes walking. The bus is really handy though, just around the corner and comes bang on time every time. Into town in 10 minutes for €1.20. And Uber is between €15 and €20. The benefit of being outside of town is that it's only a 10 minute walk to the cable car to Erice which meant we were able to visit it a few times and even go for dinner. It's such a beautiful town so being so close was a real bonus! Really though, the standout feature of this hotel is the people. Agostino, Alessandro and the whole team are fantastic. So friendly and genuinely interested in what you're doing and how they can help. We got lots of tips and advice from everyone and Agostino even booked most of our restaurants - all of which were excellent. We also did a wine tasting which was brilliant. They really just couldn't do enough for you. If I could transport the hotel and the team to everywhere I travel in the future I'd be happy!