Karmens House Apartment

We stayed in Apartment 1 overlooking the harbour. We had planned to stay for a week but ended up staying for 9 days because of the volcanic ash cloud - couldn't think of a better place to be marooned and wished we could have stayed longer. The apartment is really homely and comfortable - plenty of room for a couple. The location couldn't have been better - very close to the heart of the old city but tucked away behind the harbour walls.The owners were great. Marc was always ready to give advice and was genuinely concerned and helpful in solving our problems of returning home by alternative means. Dubrovnik is a lovely city and we'll be back.

The apartments are lovely; very comfortable, furnished with taste and equipped with everything you need, and the location, right by the old harbour, is unbeatable. Ask for one on the upper floors for an amazing view. The hosts are friendly and knowledgeable and go out of their way to be helpful.

The location of the apartments is probably the best thing about Karmendu. They are within a lovely old building right in the centre of the old town - no more than a 5 min walk to restaurants, bars, cafes, the old harbour. We spent many hours sitting in the sunshine watching boats come into the harbour and sipping on a coffee/beer. We stayed in Apartment 1 - lovely but a little small for three adults. For a long weekend it was just right but for a longer trip we would have been a bit on top of each other - there's a lack of 'living' space i.e. no sofa, just a table and bed to sit at/on. The owner, Marc (and his wife too), were lovely and helpful hosts... there if we needed them otherwise we didn't see them much. Only other caution is Apartment 1 was a little noisy - with a bar beneath it. Fine off-season but would probably get louder in summer months. However, there is a small bedroom to the side of the apartment which is much quieter if staying with kids.

It's so difficult to find confortable good value accommodation within Dubrovnik's City Walls but here you have everything. There are four different apartments on two floors and I stayed in two different ones, both on the first floor, as I was in Dubrovnik on two separate occasions. Both were enormous with kitchen facilities, dining table, big double bed and a separate single room. Heating, satellite TV, modern bathrooms, and free wifi were all part of the service but it was the extra touches that made a difference - a full fruit bowl, a toaster, a plant, a bookcase full of all kinds of books, and great pictures and photos, for example one of George Bernard Shaw visiting Dubrovnik. The apartment I stayed in at the beginning of my trip had a small balcony and the one I was in at the end of the trip had a great view of the city walls and the Old Town. On top of all that, the owners are delightful and always there to help if you need them. If you really want to soak up the atmosphere of Dubrovnik Old Town but need your comforts, space and mod cons at a reasonable price, then it's very hard to beat Karmen Apartments.

We were very grateful to have stumbled across a review of Karmen apartments as it was a truly special location. We stayed in Apartment 1 for several nights - it was fantastic to have a separate small bedroom for our baby. Our queen bed was in the living room but this was fine - it had windows looking across the city wall and over the harbour, an absolutely spectacular view. The shuttered windows with double glazing worked well to keep the room quiet despite its bustling location. The room was cutely decorated and very homely. We were very happy with the set-up. In addition to the great view, we liked the way you could walk downstairs and pop out of the wall into the inner harbour, and the apartment's proximity to lots of restaurants. Marc was very obliging and helpful, and we appreciated him being able to provide a cot and highchair. A minor point was that it was a little annoying to not be able to pay by credit card - the international bank transfer was expensive and time consuming for us to organise.

The Karmen Apartments are perfectly located inside the walls of the old city of Dubrovnik yet tucked into a corner away from the crowds of daytrippers who descend on the city when the cruise ships dock for the day. The apartments are small but have everything needed for a comfortable stay. There is a certain charm to the old building and it was wonderful to open the windows and shutters and look down onto the old cobblestone streets and laneways. The owner of the apartments is so friendly, helpful and welcoming that it enhanced our stay listening to his tales and hints on where to go and what to do.

This was our second visit to Dubrovnik the first being in 2005 we stayed at the Bellevue Hotel it was a 3 star hotel then but a 5 star now and very expensive to stay there. But we wanted to stay in the old town this time to be near to all we wanted to see and do and also to enjoy the atmosphere and stunning views. A big thanks to Andyh from Portsmouth for recommending we stay there. Marc and Silva two of the nicest people you will ever meet and they also arranged for a taxi to pick us up at the airport and back on our return journey home. It was also a nice gesture that they allowed us the use of the larger ground apartment for the first 3 days of our 7 day holiday until Marc's brother arrived for a visit. Take a pleasant sail to nearby Cavtat rather than by road takes about 45 mins and will cost 10 kunas return . Another sail to the Elafiti Islands stopping off at Kolocep , Lopud and Sipan which was our favourite island. Some amazing sea food right at your door step Ribar at the bottom of the stairs sells an amazing sea food platter but as far as the original Bosnian restaurant goes sorry we did not share the same enthusiasm everyone else seems to have for it our bland food was not cooked properly when we tried to complain about it all we got was a shrug of the shoulders from the waiter basically he could not care less but it does have a following and people que to get in and even book in advance maybe we were just unlucky on the night with the food but surely the waiter could have made more of an effort to sort out our problem. Just one other thing I should mention Marc had said that the only thing that he missess and craves for from the UK was Heinz baked beans so pack one in the suitcase if you have room and the weight allowance.

The apartment is lovely, if a bit small (but that hardly matters when you're there to see the sights!). We stayed in the apartment on the first floor which has a double bed in the living area, a bathroom with a shower, a small kitchen area with a little balcony off from it, and another room with a single bed (we had another mattress put on the floor in here for my sister) The location is fantastic, you can really experience the old town. The owner was wonderful, giving us maps and pointing out good places to eat. When we accidentally left a bag on the bus he'd organised everything and had it outside our door in a few hours! We were here for a few days and loved every moment of it.

Karmen Apartments worked perfectly for our visit, which was a short vacation over the Easter holiday. The location was central just inside the old city walls. We were about a five minute walk from everything, which is easy to achieve since the old town is fairly small. Mark was very personable. He arranged for a taxi to pick us up at the airport then waited for us at the city gate to walk us to the apartments. I thought it was advantageous that he is bilingual - English/ Croatian - because not everyone there speaks English, and I've had problems with hotel reservations in other countries where English is not widely spoken. The room had a lot of character and, most importantly, it was very clean. The only downside was that it was a bit pricey - about the price I would expect for a room in a modern business hotel.

There are hundreds of hotels in Dubrovnik - we've stayed in a lot of them! Most of them are outside the city walls though which can be a pain. The Karmen Apartments is one of only a handful of places in the old town which provides decent accommodation. Of course you also have the Pucic Palace but this will be out of reach price wise for some. There are four apartments here - we have seen three of them. Each has a double bed, fully equipped kitchen, table and chairs, bookcase stuffed with books and a bathroom. Some even have another bedroom so they are ideal for couples travelling with kids. The apartments are beatifully decorated and furnished to a high standard - truly a home away from home. We stay here because there is something magical about waking up in the morning and going out to the old market square just 100m away to buy what you need for a fresh breakfast. You can also return to the apartment for lunch and dinner if you so wish because the kitchens are so well equipped. AND you are only 20 feet away from the medieval city walls - from the large first floor apartment you can look out over the harbour... it doesn't get any better than this. If you're going to Dubrovnik you would be MAD not to stay here.