Taryn R.
Yelp
We had the most amazing stay at the Aquatio cave hotel! No stone is left unturned here. See what I did there? Cave hotel. No stone. Get it? Ok, moving on...
Although the hotel is located in a ZTL, you are allowed to drive into the center twice -- once to drop off luggage at the beginning of your stay and again at the end to pick up your bags and depart. The hotel reports your license plate to the city so that you don't get a ticket in the mail for your two journeys into the ZTL. We opted for the valet parking. At just €20 per day to not have to deal with finding parking, it was well worth it to us!
Our room was in a cave, as promised. Surprisingly, Aquatio makes cave dwelling super comfortable and modern. Our bed provided an excellent night sleep, and the room was super dark and quiet because, well, it's in a cave. The shower had great water pressure. There was even climate control in the room that kept the temperature comfortable and the humidity down.
All of the property's amenities and "extras" were just as wonderful as the room. Front desk staff were incredibly friendly and accommodating! Schlepping our luggage to our room, bringing a bottle opener to our door within minutes of calling the front desk, providing tons of helpful info about what to see and do in the area, etc. Breakfast was included in the room rate and was ample/delicious. An hour in their spa was also included and was by far the highlight of the stay! They have an incredible heated pool (in a cave, obviously) that I could have seriously floated in all day if only we weren't butting up against our noon checkout deadline. There is also a relaxation area with wonderful hot tea, a sauna and a hammam (steam room) below the pool. Everything you need to enjoy your time at the spa -- shower cap (for the pool), flip flops, towel, robes -- is provided. Seriously, heaven on earth. Or, heaven in a cave. Whatever. You catch my drift.
As if all that wasn't glorious enough, when we lingered a little too long at the spa on our last day and weren't quite ready to check out at noon, they didn't even bat an eye when we asked for 30 extra minutes.
We can't wait to visit beautiful Matera again and will most certainly stay at Aquatio when we do!m