Le Meridien Chia Laguna Hotel

Had very high expectations of first visit to Sardinia, but totallly disappointed. Our stay was from early September, but by the end of a week there, everything was closing down around us - even in the hotel restaurants. Heaven help anyone staying at the end of September or October. It left us with a feeling of being in the Klondyke after the Gold Rush. Hotel is geared to those with very young children - anyone looking for some life outside the hotel in the evening would have come to the wrong place; the hotels's in the middle of nowhere well back from the beach. On arrival, hotel reception feels like grim shopping mall - this lack of a holiday atmosphere pervades the whole place - the restaurants are grim canteens with staff attitudes to match. Le Meridien usually do better than this - you certainly paying for better. We were initially shown to one of the "hillside cottages" - sound quaint? They're not. Ending up paying extra for a sparsely furnished room in the main building - at least it had a view of the lagoon (the other side of the main road, beyond the karaoke bar). Over-priced and over-rated. To be avoided.

I would like to highly recommend Le Meridien Chia Laguna, a Resort in a great location close to some of the most beautiful beaches in Sardinia. My family really appreciated the well furnished (suggest you ask for the cottage with garden) and adequately sized cottages. Chia laguna is the perfect spot for a family vacation. The Hotel offers a special children programme where the staff guarantee to return your kids to you good and tuckered out at the end of the day. 4 swimming pools, tennis courts, restaurants, bars, shops…there’s so many to choose from! The staff extremely friendly and helpful. They are always glad to give help and advise on some of the best places to visit. My daughters enjoyed the delicious pizzas and cakes served daily in the lovely setting of the restaurants. A pleasant stay…would recommend to anyone.

If you are looking for a family-oriented hotel, this is your place. For younger guests Le Meridien Chia Laguna boasts a wide range of facilities: a mini club, a nursery, a children restaurant, a children’s pool...the staff go out of their way to welcome and entertain the children. My wife and I enjoyed the food served: excellent freshly cooked breakfast in the morning and gorgeous dinners (a Sardinian buffet to die for!). The à la carte dinner was really excellent and reasonably priced considering the standard of the food. Overall a very pleasant experience!

Nestled in the hillside, this peaceful hotel is ideal if you are looking for a complete retreat from the world. It takes about an hour to drive from the airport to the hotel. The taxi costs around 95 euros each way so, we opted to hire a cheap car and found the journey straightforward. The hotel is run much like a small village. There is a main hotel, and then a more open plan 'chalet' style accommodation available. We stayed in one of the chalets, which can be reached along well-maintained landscape paths. The room was very comfortable with a much welcomed air-conditioning system. Everything was extremely clean: sheets and towels were changed daily. The bathroom was a good size with shower only. There was only one small wardrobe with three drawers which was fine for two people. In terms of activities, we found plenty of things to do. The beach was lovely. Very nice soft sand and plenty of sun-loungers with shade. The waters edge is quite steep but the sea is beautifully clear. As people have mentioned, you do need to take a 'train' to get to the beach which is a little further than expected. But, the train runs every 15mins and there is never a problem. The pool is also wonderful. It is very well designed and filled with non-chlorinated water. There is a very nice poolside bar serving fresh food every lunchtime, including sandwiches and salads. We spent a most enjoyable morning in the beauty spa getting a relaxing massage, and there is also a well-equiped gym on site. You can hire bikes and organise diving trips if you like. Nightimes are also very relaxing. We were on half board which included an evening meal in a choice of two restaurants: a buffet style restaurant with plenty of fresh fish, pasta, salads and fruit, or a pizzeria restaurant with freshly prepared pizzas and calzones. There is an easy-listening band in the evening in the main square and you can sit and have a drink at the same time. There is also a small shopping area with an ice cream parlour, a pharmacy, a jewellers and some clothes shops - all quite expensive but nice to browse around. The service throughout our stay was attentive and very friendly. We would recommend this hotel to couples of all ages who just want to chill out. There really is nothing to do in the surrounding area, but we didn't find this to be a problem - in fact it was a really welcome break!

Definitely overpriced and not in line with Le Meridien Group standards. First of all note that the hotel is way far from the seaside and between the hotel and the beach (which anyway is nice) you have to cross local road which is very jammed (and this is nowhere mentioned in the hotel brochure). Therefore you need to take the little train which reminds a lot of Disneyland. Accomodation and food are quite poor for the price asked: rooms are small and poorly furnished and food well is way far from a 4 star food. In addition forget to move from the hotel: a taxi to somewhere near costs you around 100 € because basically there is nothing near. So either you like the place and food or you like it as well. Again this is not acceptable for a 400 € per night hotel !!!

I took my family to this hotel for a week and found it thoughly enjoyable. There was lots of things for my daughter to do, I often didn't see her for hours on end. The weather was great except for one day when it was a little cloudly. The evening entertainment for the adults was OK but the kids entertainment was fantastic, Team Chia were well organised and entertaining. The staff at the hotel were extremly helpful and pleasent, and are willing to help in any way possible. In answer to some of the previous reviews, there is a supermarket 5 minutes walk away, and you can get a paper in the shop in the piatezza (the previous days, like many European resorts). The pool was slightly cold early in the morning but was extremly pleasent by lunchtime. The only complaint I have, as a parent is the food on Sardinian night wasn't suitable for kids and we ended up taking our daughter for a pizza, as she only ate, like the other kids, the fruit and bread on offer. Great trip deffinatly going again next year

My husband and I have just returned from a stay at Le Meridien Chia Sardinia,Laguna, the location is perfect wonderfull beaches & warm turquoise seas. Having only visited the West of Sardinia this was our first visit to the south and it has certainly left me wanting to see more of Sardinia. The food at the hotel was very good a different menu every evening and well cooked, lots of fish dishes steaks, & pasta, we ate at Le Terraza resturant. The staff made you feel very welcome and always had a smile, our room was keeped very clean with change of towels twice a day. The hotel grounds and the general location always looked so clean, no rubbish to be seen. The views are great from the hotel, and you can see the Flamingos in the lagoon, The hotel provides good entertainment for children and there is an open air theatre for the adults providing entertainment & music, followed by a Jazz band in the square, at the time we went this was not very well attended, I guess due to children's bedtime, as it did not start until 10pm, musicians were excellant. We were shown the rooms that they had refurbished and they informed us that they would all be re-furbished in October, they were very luxurious. Would I go back a yes!!!!

Returned from a week at Chia Laguna yesterday and felt compelled to post something of our experience. Whilst I wouldn't argue that the setting is beautiful the views don't keep two boisterous boys entertained! The brochures promised kid's activities but unless your children were under 6years this just didn't happen. On arrival things started well with a free drink and baggage being taken to the room but from then on it was down hill. We had 2 adjoining cottage rooms which were reasonably spacious but very sparsely furnished and nowhere near enough storage for 2 adults and 2 children, hence we lived out of suitcases for the week.My husbands eyes lit up at the sight of a minibar but this was soon replaced by disbelief at the prices and the ridiculous prices weren't just for the minibar - 7euros for a gin and tonic is steep by anybodies standards so we couldn't even drown our sorrows! The food you ask? maybe better if you didn't! Monotonous and badly prepared, greasy and cold. I hate McDonalds but by Tuesday we drove into Cagliari to get one just to feel as if we had eaten! The staff in the main were friendly and helpful but they couldn't make up for what the hotel lacked otherwise. During our stay there were 2 conferences with large numbers of delegates and their needs seemed to take priority over those of we holiday makers, infact at breakfast one morning the sheer numbers of delegates was quite intimidating and the food was disappearing as if a cloud of locusts had descended. The hotel is also extremely isolated and Pula some 20 minute away by car was the nearest place with any shops/bars/cafes. We ventured into Cagliari twice expecting something akin to Palma Majorca (a city that we love) but faced more disappointment as most of the older architecturally interesting buildings were covered in graffiti. I guess all in all Sardinia wasn't for us! I hate to be so negative, after all we work hard to afford our holidays and hope to enjoy them, but we couldn't wait to get home yesterday.

Just returned from a weeks break at Chia Laguna. You have to pass a number of chemical works and oil refineries for the first 10 kms or so after the airport but then the scenery improves. Reception at main hotel on arrival excellent with free drinks for all & gifts for the children. Reception staff explain where everything is & what is going on. We had 2 cottage rooms which were not connected as requested. The rooms are very basic compared to 4* hotels elsewhere in Europe. Hardly any storage space for 1 in a room never mind 3. We lived out of suitcases. Sparsely furnished patio's but with nice gardens if on ground floor. Cleaning and maid service very good. The main buffet restaurant excellent for evening dinner with lots of local as well as international dishes on offer. Get there early though as tables seem to go very quickly outside or on outer balcony & inside tables not great. Waiters in the evening very good. Breakfast the complete opposite. Not much choice, poor quality cold buffet, disgusting cooked food included green slimey scrambled eggs. Not enough waiters to clear tables. Coffee never available etc etc. Food at the swimming pool reasonable but limited choice & slow service. Beach Restaurant much better bet at lunchtime with food nicely presented and reasonable service. The facilities for children are excellent from the club right through to football and evening entertainment 9.15-10.00 every night. After 10pm the entertainment goes downhill. Brilliant stage and lightshow let down by the boring singer and compare (not bad the 1st night but after 7 nights of the same aaaaaaaaaaaaah). Most went to bed halfway through the act. A dads 5 a side match is organised most evenings at 6pm. The main swimming pool area is nice but very few sunbeds. The beach is excellent & clean with plenty of sunbeds, and watersports on offer. The only downside being the constant pestering by beach sales people selling tacky goods. Excellent Pitch & Put golf course and a driving range. A very well equipped Gym. Good Tennis Courts. The shopping plaza in the complex sells mainly clothes & a pharmacy is open 9am-12 noon every day. No english newspapers available within 15 miles and then only 2-3 days old. If you like exploring this hotel is not for you. No nice villages for miles & the nearest town worth looking around is Pula a 20 minute drive away. The local village has one shop and bar. This is also a large conference hotel used by various organisations & at times made you unsure what the hotel was trying to be. A business hotel or Holiday Resort? We are not sure if we would return to this Hotel but the beaches in the area are excellent.

Have just returned from a week at the Le Meridien Chia Laguna. Really impressed with it. They greeted us with a drink and gifts as we arrived, while our suitcases were taken to our rooms, and the service was excellent from then on. We had a superior cottage room with our 18-month-old and there was plenty of room, even with a travel cot they gave us in there. Room was cleaned every day and was always spotless. There are small garden areas outside most of the cottages, which are perfect for sunbathing if you have children asleep during the day for a couple of hours, as we did. Otherwise, head for the beach, which is gorgeous. Plenty of free beds, watersports, a small drinks cabin and an excellent restaurant just off the beach with fantastic pasta and pizza, where the little 'train' - it actually goes on the road - from the hotel drops guests off every 15 minutes. Head off to your right from the walkway to the beach and over the dunes to find an even more stunning beach. And if you like golf, the little pitch and putt course on the way to the beach is great, if a little tricky for beginners. The hotel complex was spotless all the time we were there and there are always loads of people around cleaning and pruning the endless gardens and flowers. We were upgraded to La Terraza restaurant, which is usually reserved for the guests in the hotel building proper. That was because there was a big conference in and they wanted to keep the holiday guests away from them. Can't say what the Bouganville restaurant was like where cottage guests normally eat but the buffet in La Terraza for breakfast and dinner was excellent every night we ate there, with loads of choice and everything well presented and beautifully cooked. It's very Italian though so don't expect roast beef and yorkshire pudding or steak and chips - yet another plus in my view. We also ate at the Club House a la carte one night - supplement of 35 euros plus drinks. Probably worth it but only if you are prepared to try something a little different. And because they messed up our booking on the first night we went, they invited us back and we got it for free anyway!! There's also a really good childrens' club at the top of the complex with really friendly staff. And it has its own pool attached, with different depths for different age groups. Away from the kids, there are three other pools, two joined by a short slide and the main one by the pool bar and lunch restaurant. They were all a bit cold while we were there but the general view was that they were warming up every day as it got hotter and that they'd be fine by June through to September. If you have the chance of upgrading to the hotel proper, do it. The rooms are bigger, have a little extra in terms of luxury and some have views of the lagoon which gives the hotel its name. Worth the extra - and it guarantees you a table in La Terraza. Having read some of the other comments, I have to say that if you want somewhere totally remote and cut-off just to relax and forget everything, this is for you. If you want the English papers and a full English breakfast, then forget it. It IS very Italian but what do you expect in Italy?? Having the Italians around us really made it feel more authentic, though as some were from conferences, that might be something else that puts people off. It's also a good 30 minutes walk from the village, where there's very little anyway, and there are only a few shops on the complex, none of them selling much of use so take what you need with you. Learn some Italian before you go and you'll find the staff respond even better to you. But even if you can't speak a word, you'll still find them attentive and helpful. I'd recommend it anyone as long as they bear that in mind and just enjoy hearing and eating Italian and relaxing, as we did.