Carmel Apartments

Carmel Apartments is a brilliant place to stay. We were seriously impressed by the attention to detail, the cleanliness and the quality of our apartment, with only one issue that can be rectified quite easily. We stayed for two nights in the final week of July, in apartment 170, which has a double bedroom and a sofa bed that can fit two people. When we first arrived, we had a problem - we could not find the key in the key safe. However, the owner was quick to drive out, and when he arrived, we quickly realised it was our mistake and not his. Nevertheless, the owner was very quick to help us. We had arrived a day too early for our booking, so he researched nearby hotels with availability, and thanks to him we found somewhere in minutes. When we actually started our stay, we were really happy with the apartment. It has basically everything you think you'd need. We bought shower stuff, our own toilet paper, washing up liquid etc only to find it had all been provided. It felt like home. The TV was huge, the apartment itself decently spacious, and everything decorated beautifully. The single problem we had came the next morning. We wanted to cook some breakfast. We had the window wide open, but the fire alarm went off - twice! It was a bit of a shock and early in the morning, waking one of my family member's up, and all we did was scramble some eggs and fry off some sausage for no more than about 3 minutes. The kitchen was not smoky at all and nothing had been burnt so we were really confused about the sensitivity of the fire alarms. I would really recommend having an extractor fan placed in the kitchen, because cooking on the stove seems an impossibility without it. This is the only reason I don't give a rating of five stars. Everything else was perfect. The hospitality and amount of amenities made available is brilliant. We were so pleased with our stay. I would absolutely recommend this place if you are going to Falkirk at any point. It is very close to town, supermarkets, and The Kelpies. Wifi signal is brilliant and there is everything you would need. Well done, management and co.

Overall, this is a very nice apartment with nice owners/managers. We briefly met them when we first arrived and they were very polite and helpful. The apartment was in great condition with a few minor issues with the condition (peeling paint in one small spot by the door, floorboards sinking down creating a small tripping hazard), but overall it was excellent. The location is very good for restaurants, the Kelpies, and other local attractions. The main reason I’m not providing the 5th star is because I slept on the sofa bed, which was nice, but had the typical issue with the bar being uncomfortable and a rodent that got into one of suitcases and made noises all night yielding less than 3 hours of sleep that night. I thought I was going crazy for a while as I heard the noise, tried to pinpoint it, and it went quite. Again, and again, again - all night. I called my family member out from the bedroom to sit and listen for a while. Go figure, it stayed silent. We moved the suitcase we thought it might have been in and then was no more noise. In the morning, we took everything out of the suitcase to find bags chewed through as well as a chocolate bar with tons of little bite marks. Even with this unfortunate incident, I still recommend this place as everything else was top notch and the owners/managers seem to really care about their guests.

We have used these apartments many times, and there is always excellent customer service from Jamie and his team. The apartments are well appointed and cleaned to a high standard. If you’re looking for a base to explore central Scotland these are perfect.