La Petrara Resort — Hotel in Avola

We arrived at La Petrara "Resort" which we were able to find very easily, as directions on the roadway are clearly marked, however, at reception, sort of a "room" cluttered with a child's swing, ironing board, toys as well as a Great Dane who slobbers all over my husband's clothes, we met the hosts. Their reception desk is a plastic table littered with papers. We were immediately told that there was no food, and this was one of the reasons we had booked here for their "incredible" Sicilian cuisine which other reviewers raved about. ||||They did finally agree to make us a croissant and coffee, but no offer of dinner. Pool was closed, grounds were all closed up and we were told to keep our doors closed because of mosquitoes. Olives littering all of the walkways.||||Room was clean, but bare bones, no tv, no phone, no glasses for water, and unlike every other B and B, Agriturismo! or manor house we have stayed in no offer of a beverage. Host also said we had to speak quietly because his daughter was sleeping.||||I stated that we could not stay here and the host immediately turned defensive and said that we had to pay and cancel through booking. We did... However, we should not have stayed even one night.||||also, I was not happy with their cavalier attitude to our Canadian passports, left out on their desk for all to see. I value my passport as my legal identification, it should not be left out in the open for anyone to take.||||I read the reviews on both Trip advisor and booking.com and this resort did not live up to expectations at all. I don't understand who could be happy to stay here,...

The Petrara Resort is a charming agriturismo resort in Avola. During our stay there, there were no wandering farm animals except for a couple of cats. The pool is really big and kept clean and kids have plenty of room to wander about and play. We had a quadruple room which was quite spacious and very clean with quite comfortable beds. It was cleaned every day during our stay and the beds made accordingly. The parking spaces are numbered matching the room number so each guest has his own parking space, so no matter at what time the return, it is always available. We ate at the resort on our first day and the tourist menu on offer is a good value for money. You must notify the host in advance of your intention to have dinner there in the evening. The hosts are courteous and even if they have a small child, they alternate to accomplish their tasks in the kitchen. They make heavenly peanut and chocolate cookies which are served at breakfast together with watermelon, omelette, cornflakes, yoghurt, jam and nutella, fresh bread and bread rusks and a homemade cake and jam tart. Cappuccino and hot chocolate are available on request. Overall breakfast is a little sparse compared to other places. Orange juice, whilst very good, comes from packets rather than freshly squeezed. No ham or cheese are served, something which Sicily is renowned for. The shower cubicle was quite small compared to the size of the bathroom, but nonetheless the bathroom had all the amenities. Another disadvantage was that the shaver socket was a bit too far...

The good : ||||- Clean rooms ||- Family oriented.||- Peaceful and quiet area||- convenient parking.||- potentially beautiful resort||- good value for money||- Room cleaned every morning (except for last 2 days see below)||- Fresh towels every morning (except for last 2 days see below)||||The bad :||||- Slightly neglected and shabby looking ||- Reception was non existing - there were times when we tried to contact the hosts and they were not available...||- No internet throughout the whole week we stayed there and no attempt or interest to remedy this||- Being low season all amenities such as pool, restaurant bbq area were not operational||- According to our hosts, we were not entitled to a breakfast because we paid low season fares (but the lady host offered us coffees, croissants and cakes daily)||- Credit Card was not accepted when we wanted to settle the bill||- During the last two days it felt as if we were on the resort completely on our own. No one tried to clean our room or get us fresh towels. ||- For the last night we had to ask for clean towels which the host gave us, however we were reminded that usually fresh towels are only distributed once every three days.||- The room has no tv, telephone, glasses, fridge, or any other amenity. It is best that you get your own phone and internet connection otherwise you will...