Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Great location . |
| Disadvantages: |
Doesn't really cater for young children |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
We booked this hotel through first choice as a package holiday - it worked out at just over £2000 for 2 adults and a 1 year old for 2 weeks half board. You can book this hotel privately and while we were there they were advertising rooms starting at £79 per room per night.
The hotel is situated just outside Sorrento centre. It's on the main road and is within easy walking distance to the centre (about 800 metres) but far enough away for it not to be too busy or polluted. I personally think it's a great location, you have a wonderful view, it's easy to get to the centre and it's quiet enough at night. You will need to cross the main road to get to the centre as there is only a pavement on one side of the road. You really do need to cross at the pedestrain crossing but don't take it for granted that the traffic will stop - you could be stood there for a while.
The first impression of the
hotel is when you pull up the drive in the coach, it's cut into the mountain and benefits from complimentary lighting- it does look very impressive at night. You won 't appreciate the size of the hotel until you see it form a distance, or if like me and my family you decide to walk up the road that meanders round the back of the hotel (it doesn't lead to much but we did for something to do when the weather was a bit overcast).
This hotel is beautiful, there is an abundance of marble, the rooms are well decorated and light and airy, the gardens are lovely, but the hotel is very expensive , but to be honest they probably all are in Sorrento.
You don't pay for anything at the time, you sign for things and pay at the end , so it's very easy to get carried away. They will let you settle your bill every couple of days though if you are like me and want to know where you are up to.
The drinks at the bar are expensive, it's 8 euros for a large beer (more or less a pint), gin and tonic worked out at 10 euros. There is a mini bar in the room but the prices are similar. As I said we had our little boy with us so after our meal we spent a lot of our evenings in the room so we chose to buy our own drinks from the supermarket (you are not supposed to but no-one said anything to us).
The food was lovely, always a good range of starters, seafood, risotto, pasta, cold meats etc and you could choose your own salad as well. The main courses were as varied most times, generally a fish dish and then various meat dishes and a veggie option. However, at the end of the two weeks you started to realise that they rotated the menu quite a lot. There was one night where my sister in law starved as the choice was veal escalope, veal stew, veal livers, rabbit and fish (honestly) - not good if you like good British food. I on the other hand am happy to try anything once and the rabbit was lovely. On a Monday night they had a gala buffet - it was heaven, freshly cooked pasta, every kind of salad ingredient you could ask for, three choices of hot meat dishes, a fish course, various vegetables and homemade puddings to die for. It was very popular though so you need to either
get there for 7 when the restaurant opens or leave it till after 8. Breakfast was also good, there was cereal and fresh fruit, an omlete man who would also make you fried or scrambled, bacon sausage etc, and then continental selections. If you decided to go out for the day they would let you have a packed lunch rather than an evening meal as long as you ordered it the night before. Be prepared for a wait some nights for your meal - service times do vary some nights you can be in and out in less than an hour, sometimes you can wait nearly that for your main course.
I have to say I don't think the hotel was geared up for our 1 year old, the staff are great with kids, they all knew my sons name and made a fuss of him over meal times etc, but they don't seem to cater for them, for example there are no kids selections on the menu - having said that he loved the pasta and the pizza so was fine. They also charge a 15 euro supplement per night for a cot, that I personally don't feel it well advertised, it's apprently a European thing it's the hotel that charges direct - First Choice claimed it is in the terms and conditions (all it says is some hotels may charge a supplement) but if you don't read them thoroughly it may come as a bit of a shock.
There are a lot of stairs at the front of the hotel and the lifts (at the front only) must be entered at your own risk - the doors close very quickly so if you have a buggy to get out it can start to close before you have made it. Many a time I stayed in the lift as the doors closed before I could get out.
We were given a room at the front of the hotel so we had 2 flights of stairs to carry the pram up and down and that was after we had got out of the lift on our floor - it was a split floor. My advice would be if you do have children ask for a room at the back of the hotel, it's away from the main road most of the areas are accessible by ramp and there aren't as many stairs to carry a pram up and down.
Our room was nice, very clean, quite a decent size, the bed was huge and we had a bath (and a shower) which was good for our little boy. There was ample drawer space and a big double wardrobe. There were two large armchairs and of course we had a cot. We had a television that had BBC prime so it meant when our little boy was alseep we could watch re-runs of silent witness and judge john deed - this apprently isn't common throughout the hotel our relatives only had BBC news. We only had a juliet balcony so we couldn't sit out which would have been useful, but having said that being on the main road side I suspect it would have been quite noisy. Although we paid for a partial sea view we could see all the bay with versuvius in the distance, which was quite impressive.
The pool is also very impressive although if you go at the start of the season it's very cold, they wait for the sun to heat it. There is a choice of a few pools - they all interconnect and all have areas for sunbathing. They also run into one another twice a day, try not to get caught underneath the waterfall. They do charge you 5 Euros a day for the sunbeds but there are deck chairs that are free. The gardens that surround the pool are nice and colourful and are tended almost every day, the pool itself is surrounded by lemon and olive trees, but there are lots of lizards about that are quite tame. There is a bar/restaurant by the pool with a waiter service. Lunchtimes get busy and again you may have a short wait for you meal. They serve sandwiches, pizza, pasta and a BBQ meal.
I would go back to this hotel but perhaps only for a week and when our little boy is not so little, or if we ever get the chance to go on holiday on our own. Overall though a lovely hotel.
Featured merchant
