We found an amazing deal through the Fleetway travel agency and we upgraded to the La Margherita Villa Giuseppina hotel. My husband and I have never been to Europe and we wanted a good first experience. I had mixed feelings for both the hotel and the restaurant, so I'll split the review into two parts.
Hotel rating: 2 stars
The hotel itself is definitely dated--I'm talking like it has not been renovated since it was built (from my perspective, probably around the 70's). We've both stayed at pretty dingy hotels and at ritzy 5-star hotels around the world, so we tried to give this a fair rating. We told the receptionist Francesca (who we really liked) that it was our honeymoon, and we still got a hotel room that faced the mountains. The inside of the room had old flooring, old furniture, and our queen bed was just two twin beds pushed together (it also wasn't very comfortable to sleep on). The bathroom was super small and had very little amenities (two small soap bars, one-time use shampoo packets, and very old towels that had seams coming undone).
We did have French doors that opened to a nice balcony, but then we found a hornet nest on the side of the roof. The walls were paper thin, so we heard every single conversation and footstep. There's also a huge church bell that rings every 15 minutes, which can be heard nice and loud across the town--say goodbye to sleep! There was an A/C unit in the room, but ours happened to be very loud.
Additionally, wifi is only in the lobby. The stairways smelled a bit of mold, and the rest of the hotel shared areas seemed like the inside of someone's home.
The only redeeming factor about the hotel was the service. Everyone from the receptionist to the housekeeper was all so wonderful and helpful. Oh, they have free parking.
Restaurant rating: 4 stars
The breakfast dining area was amazing! The food was delicious, so I'd highly recommend getting the room and board package if possible. We sat under a beautiful wisteria tree vine and enjoyed the views very much. We enjoyed fresh pastries (aside from the bread rolls), salami, cheese, cereal, yogurt, coffee, tea, and juice. They would change out the egg dish each day, so there was variety.
Lunch at the bar was phenomenal! I'd highly recommend getting the pizza or homemade pasta. Best Italian food I've had in a long time! The bar overlooked the ocean and the pool.
Dinner was good. They changed out their prix fix meal each night, and you can check the menu at the front desk, roughly 25 euros a person. We opted to eat a la cart so we ate veal, salad, and homemade pasta--all were fantastic. read more