Club Med

.../> Last June I visited Club Med in Otranto, Italy. I suppose I should mention that this wasn't the first time I had been to Club Med, but it was the first time I had been on my own.

My previous visits were at least 10 years ago, I went to Tunisia and to Greece with Club Med, with my Parents and my sister. The memories I have of those times were good, I remember the food being good, and the tennis lessons.

This time ...
...want to go on a Club 18-30 holiday as I don't feel that I am that outgoing, or rather, the TV programs painted a picture I didn't like.

I wanted to go on holiday and do lots of activities and meet people. This is exactly what I got.

Booking
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I called Club Med up and got them to send me a brochure. You can also book online but I didn't do this.
There were several deals going, but most of them ... more

WebSite (for those too lazy to read it all ;)
http://www.clubmed.co.uk

Last June I visited Club Med in Otranto, Italy. I suppose I should mention that this wasn't the first time I had been to Club Med, but it was the first time I had been on my own.

My previous visits were at least 10 years ago, I went to Tunisia and to Greece with Club Med, with my Parents and my sister. The memories I have of those times were good, I remember the food being good, and the tennis lessons.

This time I was faced with a quandry - what to do for my holiday - I was on my own and all of my other friends had their holiday plans sorted already.

I didn't want to go on a Club 18-30 holiday as I don't feel that I am that outgoing, or rather, the TV programs painted a picture I didn't like.

I wanted to go on holiday and do lots of activities and meet people. This is exactly what I got.

Booking
--------
I called Club Med up and got them to send me a brochure. You can also book online but I didn't do this.
There were several deals going, but most of them involved more than one person (the free flights and transfers deal being one of them).
After much decision making (I'm not very decisive), I chose which resort to go to and when and I decided that I could only afford 1 week.
I found the operators very helpful, although they did mostly seem to have foreign accents, but this helped give a certain charm to it all.

Flights
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Club Med do let you organise this yourself if you want to, otherwise they'll find a charter flight which is going. I needed to get to Brindisi and there are no scheduled flights I could find on the internet that went direct. Also the cost didn't seem to be cheaper. I can't remember which airline I flew with but I don't think it was one I knew and I didn't have any problems apart from the flight time (6:30 am - urgh)

Arrival
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Getting to Brindisi, and stepping out of the plane, I was greeted by typical mediterranean summer weather, I knew that my holiday had begun.
There was a slight amount of culture shock at the total lack of security at this airport, but I guess they knew we had passed the stringent security of Gatwick. Foot and Mouth was in full force and there was extra security measures which delayed us somewhat.
We boarded a coach which was thankfully air conditioned and set off for our short transfer to Otranto, this probably took about half an hour to 45 minutes, I don't recall because I had my nose in a book :).
When we got into the village we were greeted by several of the hosts and hostesses (called GO for Gentile Organisiteur - french) and given a cocktail to welcome us. On of the GOs gave us a welcome speech and explained how we would get to our rooms etc.
I then got escorted to my room by two very nice young lady GOs (I don't quite know why I managed to get two but there you go :)

The Village
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Club med resorts are called villages, and rightly so. They consist of a centre with most of the facilities surrounded by all the accomodation. Some facilities will be spread around - golf courses, tennis courts etc. But on the whole most of the things you want will be near the centre.
Club med has 4 different levels of comfort:
1. Straw Huts. - A concrete base with a thatched roof and walls on a wooden construction
"Polynesian-style straw huts offering a unique charm of their own to live in harmony with nature"
2. "Villages offering basic comfort and facilities at budget value prices"
3. "Villages offering the traditional Club Med values: beautiful locations and a wide range of activies"
4. "Club Med's finest Villages offering comfort of the highest standard"
Source: Club Med brochure Summer 2002
Otranto is at rated level 3 on this scale and I would agree, the room I stayed in had comfortable beds, with a separate shower room. The room was also air conditioned with the possibility of change the temperature (unlike some hotels) by means of a remote control.
I have stayed in the straw huts and found them quite acceptable, however washing facilities were communal and security might well be an issue - I seem to remember that we could lock the door with a small padlock but I think we brought it ourselves.
Also worthy of note is that Otranto is an adults only village, I chose it because of that, because I didn't want to have the annoyance of kids - they can be a big pain, I'm sure.

The food
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If you've heard anything about club med it is probably that the food is good. This is an understatement. The food is fantastic. The choice is varied, and the quality and quantity is impressive. In Otranto being an Italian location it had at every meal time a selection of pizzas and pastas. The pizzas were in very high demand due to the quality since they had a proper pizza oven, and a guy there making them fresh in front of your eyes. The pasta was also popular, probably due to the number of italians and italian food lovers who visited. (I'm hungry just remembering it)
In addition to this there was always (apart from 1 day I was there) a carvery with the butcher there ready to carve you a slice or two of the choice of roast meats - usually two sometimes three. 2 salad bars. Numerous savoury dishes as well as vegetables.
Just a small note, I'm not sure how well a vegetarian or other people with selective diets would fare as I always eat some of the meat on offer and the vegetables were adequate but not always cooked to perfection, partly due to them being kept warm.
Finally there was a very tempting selection of desserts and cakes and a very good fresh fruit selection.

Drinks
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At meal times drinks are provided, a full height fridge full with white and rose wine, a table full of red wine, a beer dispenser, water dispenser and finally fruit juice dispenser means that no one goes thirsty.
Out side of meal times the bar is the place to go for drinks and these will cost you. This is the only down side to clubmed. They refuse to deal in local currency insisting instead on a ticket book system - you buy a book worth so much (measured in local currency, and this has 3 colours of ticket in it - green, red and blue. I forget how much they were worth, but it seems to be aimed at fleecing you, or at least tricking you into not thinking about how much the drinks were. I never bought many drinks from the bar during the day (only large bottles of water) However I did fall victim during the evening.
We found the secret very quickly however - arrive early for the meal and drink all the way through the meal, near the end of the meal take some more wine back to the table and sit and drink it until they kick you out. By which time you either want to go to bed or you've had quite a lot to drink already and don't need too much more. Also it is later on in the evening than it might be had you left the table as soon as you'd finished your meal.

Friends
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Some of you might be wondering how I got on as I went on my own, well at the time of booking I stated that I didn't mind sharing, which had the bonus that it was cheaper and if they couldn't find someone to put me with then they would have to put me on my own but I wouldn't have to pay a single supplement - or something like that. Anyway as I arrived at my room I found that I did indeed have a room mate, and he was very friendly he had come with 2 of his friends and very quickly we became a group of 4. This did mean I didn't manage to do some of the things I might have wanted to do on my own but I felt it was worth it for the companionship during the stay. Very quickly the four of us (all English) had met the entire complement of about 20 or so english guests. This in a resort with about 400 people. We became friends with a pair of sisters who had come with their parents.
As well as making friends with the other english people we also befriend three of the GOs. Whilst all of the GOs were friendly and attentive, something about these three italians (two female one male) seemed to click with our group, whilst we didn't quite monopolise them, we did spend a lot of their time.

Activities
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Most activities are free a club med. On my visit I sampled the following: Tennis lessons, Football tournament - our team came second! And we got free t-shirts., Table Tennis, boules and Kayaking. There were however many more activities available, such as - Golf: The was a driving range and I think a small course, gym - something I never do. Swimming pool - this was someway out so I never bothered with it. Sea, I did do a little sea swimming, I even did some snorkelling as I'd dragged my gear all the way there, I was determined to do it at least once only to find that my mask leaked - good job I only did it on the last day.
Other than that I read my book, sun bathed, siestad, and eat and slept. I seemed busy all the time.
The one activity I did pay for was a trip to Otranto town - it would have been very easy to miss this as it involved getting up very early - but I'm glad I did as I would have been disappointed not to have ventured out at least once for the duration of my stay. It was a half day trip and cost about 10 pounds I think, and this involved the coach both ways as well as a tour of the village for an hour or two and then we were free for another hour to shop in the market or the town. I didn't buy anything as I was simply too hot so all of my attention was on finding some shade whilst the others made their purchases.

Language
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The primary language of all GOs at all villages is French, however a large percentage are fluent or near fluent in English, the rest can probably help you. I myself can speak some french but didn't have to most of the time. I speak a little Italian but used this even less. If you truly cannot speak a word of french then mention this at booking time so that they can tell you whether the village has many English speakers.

Entertainment
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Every night (without fail) there will be some form of entertainment. One night it was odd games things, another night it was a spectacular show by almost all of the GOs. Also every night they have the Crazy Signs, this involves everybody standing up and dancing and waving your arms about for about 10 minutes. initially you refuse, then gradually get more and more involved until you've learned all the dances. All of the entertainment is optional and starts shortly after dinner. I recommend that if you visit you at least try to see one of the shows as they put a lot of effort in.

Wheelchair users and others
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I mentioned about food and whilst I am not a vegetarian I thought it might be prudent to mention, I believe my self to be fully functioning, so mostly wouldn't notice if facilities were available. I do remember a few of points however:

1. The steps were very steep and narrow up to my room and whilst I didn't fall (that I remember) it could have happened
2. Friends of my roommate had a ground floor room however the outside gate was very narrow and there were still steps involved.
3. On the plus side I did notice some ramps were in evidence nearer the centre of the village. Overall though it didn't seem to be 100% wheelchair friendly.

Overall
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Many people have never heard of club med in this country, this is mainly because it doesn't advertise here and neither do you find the brochures in your local travel agents. They seem to get their business from repeat trade and word of mouth, they also seem to do very well from it.
Club Med is not your typical package holiday, it is light years away from the typical all inclusive holiday being popularised of late.
I would recommend Club Med to people of all age groups and especially those with children (and a bit more money) Most club med villages have childrens facilities and all but 6 welcome children without providing facilities for them. The childrens clubs are either "from 4 months" or "from 2 years"
I will go back just as soon as I know I can afford it. :)

 

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