Relais & Chateaux Locanda Don Serafino

DO NOT STAY IN THE CAVE ROOMS. First the good - the hotel staff is amazing. The location in Ragusa is wonderful. The breakfast is superb. My brother-in-law stayed in one of the traditional rooms and had a wonderful experience. The cave rooms are a nightmare. You are told in an email the following: This typology of the room is not appropriate for the guests who suffer from allergies or respiratory distress. The rooms have a dehumidifier to preserve the peculiarity of the structure, which is subject to natural atmospheric factors.

That did not prepare us for what we experienced. The entire room is wet. All the time. Our clothes were wet. Our sheets were wet. They offer a service to change the sheets multiple times a day because of how wet they get. A window is required to stay open at all times. The musky smell of the cave and wetness is overpowering. We had to stop taking showers after the first day because if you showered, the bath floor NEVER got dry. Ever. (side note - it took about 7-10 minutes for hot water - pics are two days apart water on floor). And this was all with a dehumidifier running at "turbo" speed the entire time. The number on the dehumidifier never got below 70 - when the door was shut for any length of time it was at 80 (see pic) (40-50 I believe is the aim on most dehumidifiers). Because we had to leave the door open any time we were in the room due to the wetness, it was also either freezing or like a sauna depending on the weather of the day. I am not super picky. I like unique stays and experiences. This was 400 Euro a night and I got a suitcase full of wet clothes and a head cold. I'm writing this review to warn others. Just book the normal room and you'll have the best stay.

Staff was very kind and tried to help us out. There were no other rooms to switch to. I appreciate all the ways they tried to fix the situation, but just want to warn anyone considering booking a place here not to book the cave room.