Alimuri Sorrento

My husband and I have recently returned in the past couple of weeks from an extremely relaxing week's break at this hotel. As we still have a little way to go to our main holiday this year (October), we decided to treat ourselves to an extra week away. We'd been to Sorrento before, as well as many other parts of the country and loved it. This was the first trip we'd booked over the net with Expedia, and although I was a little wary at first, everything went like clockwork and I will certainly return to them again in the future. When you read this please bear in mind that this particular reviewer is pretty picky and I will try to make the following as accurate and fair an assessment as I can.

The hotel is beautiful, its true that it's not in a particularly pretty spot but you're staying INSIDE not OUT and once through the doors the decor and standards of cleanliness were of a high standard. I had read several reviews prior to going and already knew it was some way out of the main town, so no surprises there. The hotel has a courtesy bus which runs several times to and from Sorrento but if you need to use the local bus it costs only 1 Euro (Bus A) and runs about every 30 minutes. The stop is about a 3 or 4 minute walk away, if you've read elsewhere about a tunnel you have to walk through, please don't worry, it's well lit and has a pavement on both sides of the road. I felt it was perfectly safe, it only leads down to a cul-de-sac, so the traffic is minimal and the few youngsters around in the area were fine - much more likely to feel threatened in our local shopping mall in this country!

Our bedroom was perfectly situated, we had a sea facing room with lovely views. There were very few, if any, English visitors apart from ourselves there - I would say 99.9% were Italians, (no chips here), but that only added to the holiday. With the exception of the first night the hotel had entertainment every evening. We were on a bed and breakfast basis, the breakfast we found to be perfectly adequate, with a selection of fresh fruit, pastries and a couple of hot dishes. We did have two or three evening meals in the hotel and, although at Euros 30, it might seem a little expensive, that was for 3 courses plus a salad buffet. If you had the same in town it would have cost pretty much similar (but without the wonderful views). All the meals we had there were very nice and the salad buffet in particular was extensive. We also had a few lunches around the pool (not in the restaurant) and these also were excellent. For most of the days we stayed in we had the pool (and the picture postcard view from the terrace) more or less to ourselves as the other visitors seemed to prefer the beach and there were always plenty of deckchairs and loungers.

We think the best asset this area of Italy has is the coastline and wonderful views. This hotel certainly capitalises on those. If you want to be in the middle of things, or if you have young children, then maybe you should look elsewhere. But if you want beautiful surroundings, good service, and don't mind a bus ride in and out when you want a day's sightseeing, please give the Alimuri a chance. I'm sorry if you've had a bad experience at this hotel, I can only speak as I find, but I would certainly go back again.

My girlfirend of 19 and I stayed at the Alimuri for one week in mid September 2004 and had an unforgettable experience.

Overall, the hotel was faultless and the staff were friendly, personal and coped well with my broken Italian.

The hotel pool, bar, restaraunt, and general public areas were clean and of good service. The private beach is something special too.

Our room was of a good standard but was not the best in the hotel. We booked through an Internet agent and were given a normal room. The superior rooms were outstanding and well worth the extra money.

The only downside, for us, was the average age of the hotel residents. We felt too young and out of place as most residents were over 50. Not everyone, but most. this has an advantage though for younger guests as the pool and private beach are always deserted and you can do whatever you want.

Be aware too that this hotel is in Meta and NOT Sorrento. The hotel runs a regular/reliable shuttle bus service at convenient times throughout the day to Sorrento and the trip is about 1/2 an hour.

If you want to escape in style from the tourist hotspot of Sorrento, but be close enough to visit it, then this is the hotel.

Amazing food too..

David

Poor service, average and dirty rooms with rude/decepitful front reception. For a hotel that charges over £100 per night they should be ashamed of themself. Waited at reception 20mins before someone came to check us in after a late night flight (this included ringing the hotel for 5 mins straight whilst waiting). Booked a double room for my fiance and I - but put in a two single bed room. Asked to be changed then led into a room full of water (leaking doors) - had to go back to room with singles. Complained to reception but no compasion or help even though I demanded another room (reception person claimed they were booked out - this simply could have not been true considering how many guests we saw the next 2 days).

If it wasnt over £100 a night was seriously considering checking in someone where else. Next night they push the singles together to make a double. Mini bar prices were a joke and basically allround this is a very very poor value for money hotel.

To top off my stay their dirty linen gave me some form of rash all over my chest, arms and back.

Would highly recommend not staying here. I thought the bad reviews previous were not enough to sway me - guess I got conned by the photos they have posted on expedia for the hotel. Full marks to the photographer as he makes this place look like paradise - it simply is not.

We just stayed at this hotel in late August and I do understand why the reviews can be very different on this hotel. The view is outstanding -- the large and clean hotel rooms face the sea and feature a glass door/window which is all glass (no wall). It was great to sit in our air conditioned room after a long day touring and enjoy the view/sunset. The hotel is right on the beach (beach shoes helpful because of rocky beach typical in this area) and we had no trouble getting a place to sit/lie near the water. And this hotel does NOT charge to sit here as some other hotels in this area do. Towels provided.

The main problems are two: location and restaurant. The location is further out than we liked. The bus stops right outside the hotel every 20 minutes altho early or very late in the day you must walk a short distance thru a tunnel to get to the bus stop and its not marked, so you have to know this (we found this out when we returned from Sorrento and the bus stopped there). The shuttle is good but some of the times are odd and may not fit your schedule altho then you can take the bus. Bus can be long at 45 minutes if its rush hour, otherwise its about 20 minutes. The shuttle's stop is somewhat hard to find in Sorrento when you are trying to catch it going back to the hotel (the hotel should provide a map so you know exactly where to get it). But, most of the hotels in this area are further out and it can be hard to figure that out when you book! And we never could have afforded the view we got if we had been in a hotel in Sorrento, so all things considered we were satisfied with this hotel.

The restaurant staff are really nice and try very hard to please -- but 30 Euros is a lot per person! And it is all they offer. We ate for less than half that at a hotel restaurant in Rome and the meal was better. There's not much around this hotel, so at the end of the day we were too tired to go back into Sorrento. If the hotel would just be more helpful on adding a couple of more times for the shuttle service, add a map to find it, and get the restaurant to offer an alternative meal for less (pizza?) this hotel would truly be very good.

My husband and I spent our belated honeymoon at the Alimuri hotel for one week in August and had a fantastic time at this typically Italian hotel. On first impressions it is rather grand with attractive decor and a refreshing airy feel throughout. We were lucky to have a balcony suite with a breathtaking view of the Sorrentine penninsula - many a night was spent watching the sunset on the beautiful island of Capri! Yes, the swimming pool was small but was never packed and the hotel also offers use of a private beach with plenty of reclining sun beds for its guests. We never found it crowded as previous reviews suggest but thoroughly enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere of what must be one of the most attractive penninsulas in Europe if not the world! Although the reception staff were not as welcoming as one may hope for, the restaurant staff (in particular the Manager) made up for this. They spoke excellent English and were extremely helpful and friendly at all times. The food seemed to improve as the week progressed. DO NOT EXPECT PIZZA. This is a 4 Star hotel with authentic Italian cuisine. Expect varied courses, a legumi (vegetable) buffet and some really gorgeous Italian torte (cakes and pastries). For the health conscious amongst you there is always an abbundance of fresh melon, pineapple and other exotic fruit.

The only drawback is that it is a distance from Sorrento however the hotel does offer a complimentary coach service to and from this exquisite town.

If like my husband and I, you are looking for a romantic break in an idyllic and peaceful location, then this is the place for you. Although a couple in our late twenties (we were probably the youngest there) we found it by no means dull. If anything it was nice to find somewhere that was different from other package holidays. Yes, the hotel's limited evening entertainment is restricted to a one man band showing off his synthesiser skills but we found it quite amusing! The older guests loved it! When we wanted more nightlife it was easy to catch the coach into Sorrento and sit at Fauno Bar (highly recommended) on Piazza Tasso eating pizza and gelati and drinking limoncello.

On our last night from our balcony we were treated to a spectacular and inpromptu firework display from around the bay heralding the start of the September Festival.

We both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at the Hotel Alimuri. We wanted a week in a relaxing atmosphere with hot, sunny weather and no pressures and that is what we got. If you love the Italian culture and way of life you will love it here. This is not a British hotel, it is Italian through and through and we absolutely loved it!!!

We stayed at the Mar Hotel for three nights after being upgraded from a 2 star hotel, as they had over booked. We thought being a four star hotel we were in for a real treat. There were various problems during our stay here:

* almost without fail the staff were extemely rude

* there is not much to do, apart from sit on the small overcrowded, rocky beach

*the restaurant charged 30 euros for an awful, unsatisfactory and unimaginative evening meal

*the breakfast was worse than any of the two stars we stayed in on our trip.

*the swimming pool was tiny.

*any chance of a peaceful evening was ruined by the unbelievably substandard and tacky keyboard player, who bashed away until 11.30pm.

In summation we had a very bad experience at this hotel paying 2 star prices, if we had paid the full price we would have asked for our money back. Sorrento isn't the nicest place in the world either so in all honesty i'd suggest staying somewhere else in Italy.

We spent 3 nights at the MarAlimuri, in August 2004. It is right on the beach out of central Sorrento. The hotel is nicely decorated and clean with a lovely deck area. You could walk right down to the beach without any hassles. The beach is very small and is next to a very crowded public beach. Since it was August a lot of people are in the area because many Italians are off work in August. There is a free shuttle service right into Sorrento, but check for the scheduled times that it runs. We were told by staff that it was a 15 minute walk from the train station, but it is much longer and walking through that tunnel and the streets in the area is anything but safe. People driving both cars and Vespa's do not observe any rules of the road especially those regarding pedestrians. Coming from Canada, the land of safety rules and enforced speed limits, this was a shock to us.

We were very tired and hungry when we arrived as we had travelled all day, and decided to have dinner at the hotel since it was convenient. It was a very average buffet which cost us 30 Euro each. My kids are still talking about it. On check out though, they did adjust the price to 20 Euro for each of the kids, after voicing our concerns. There is a little restaurant which is well reviewed next to the hotel called "La Conca". We had an excellent meal there at a reasonable price. Antonio, the owner, was extremely accomodating. The menu is written all in Italian but he was quite capable of explaining what everything on it was like. He even prepared simple dishes for our children. La Conca is not opened Mondays, so keep that in mind.

Staying outside of the centre of Sorrento proved to be a good choice for us as it was very busy.

Clean and very comfortable rooms in this hotel however it is quite out of the way and it is horrendous trying to get into Sorrento even on the free shuttle bus provided. A private beach is advertised but its very small and overran with the locals at the weekend. Food in the hotel is very expensive as are the few local restaurants. We found the staff on the front desk very unhelpful at times and a female member of our party felt uncomfortable at the persistent unwelcomed attention from one of the bar staff. The hotel is ok but is overrated at four stars. The hotel is safe but the area has many undesirables especially at the municipal centre.