Garden Resort Hotel

Am amazed by some of the comments I have read. We were in Bulgaria the month before so we know what we are talking about!
Spotless hotel, spaciously laid out in beautiful gardens. Every member of staff from maid - waiter - hotel manager were friendly, smiling and polite. It was obvious that they appreciated a greeting in Italian, or ordering drinks etc, instead of the usual expecting everyone to be super-fluent in English.
The food was great every meal, breakfasts were a bit boring with just one cereal though. We never experienced anything running out, bearing in mind we have just returned from the height of the season, with lots of Italians holidaying at this time.
We never experienced any problems with a lack of loungers or umbrellas either. My only complaint would be that the evening entertainment was a bit dull. Our rep was lovely, very helpful.
We went on the trips to Sicily and Stromboli, which were both brilliant. There was quite a lot of queuing to get on the ferry, which made it a long day. A word of warning on the Stromboli trip - the outward journey had a lot of people suffering sea-sickness, but coming back was fine. Well worth it for the views of the volcano by night.
Don't be put off by some of the reviews - I really don't think you could find much wrong with this beautiful part of the world!
Ciao x

Overall we had a very nice holiday at The Garden Resort having booked before seeing reviews and having arrived with some trepidation since seeing the first few on this site just prior to leaving home.
I would agree with most reviewers in that the resort and especially rooms are very clean and we had no problems at all with room’s facilities.
At first sight all the communal facilities seem great too but after a few days I think I found the root of the problem. The number of people in the accommodation blocks is too many for the other facilities. Pools are fine but sunbeds and especially umbrella's are in short supply when the blocks are full.
This comment also applies to the restaurant, everyone could be seated but we had occasions when glasses, coffee cups and even soft drinks ran out and were some time being replaced. At peak times the numbers involved also meant queuing for up to 15 mins for popular food items such as steak, chips and pizza.
Our preferred drink is Bacardi and despite this being mentioned in the Thomson information there was no sign of it at the one bar where it was supposed to be served between 7 and 11pm.
This all sounds terrible but they are more niggles that spoil the holiday rather than ruin it.
We took a 4 year old and she met lovely friends, had fun at the mini disco and loved the pool (after I queued at 8.30 for a brollie).
We found the reps pretty average.
Entertainment staff were OK but were geared up for German and Italian speaking guests. We did get one announcement in English...."there is now an on site hairdresser open". Entertainment in the evening did dry up a little due to the World Cup and changes to timetables were badly communicated.
Not perfect and could be improved but I'm sure kids will enjoy it.

Cannot believe some of the reviews that I have just read, think they went to a different place. We have just had the most wonderful week at the garden resort where we celebrated our silver wedding. Giuseppe the head waiter set us a special table with our new friends that we had met and who organised it, brought us flowers and had the chef make us the most fabulous cake with happy 25th anniversary iced across the top. The food was great and you did have a choice of the grill, the pizza and pasta bar plus the main restaurant to choose from in the evening plus the beach bar which had pizza and the German beer garden which had bratwurst and half chickens on the barbecue during the day, so I really don't see how anyone can complain at that. Oh yes there was also the Asian tea house for a nice cuppa and cake of an afternoon if that’s what floats your boat.
The rooms were spotlessly clean and serviced every day without fail and towels were available fresh daily for round the pool. We were at the garden resort a week and never once didn't manage to get a sunbed but believe me I did not queue up at 8.30 with the Germans or the English, who to be quite honest are getting nearly as bad, to get one in a particular spot. We instead sat and had yet another free coffee and took the Mickey out of them.
We went on two trips whilst on holiday, one to Sicily and the other was Stromboli by night. The Sicily trip was nice and I am glad that we saw it but the place was very expensive as expected so no shopping there!! The Stromboli by night trip was fantastic, dolphins swimming at the side of the boat for about half an hour and the eruptions of the volcano were spectacular. Well worth the money.
My only negative is the reps who were absolutely useless, sold us the trips but had never been on them so hadn't a clue and even asked us if the boat had turned up!!!! Could only speak approximately 15 words of Italian to include please and thank you which she taught us on the bus back to the airport to come home - not a lot of use I thought. My husband had need to see the doctor whilst in the resort and unfortunately the doctor couldn't speak a word of English and the rep couldn't speak a word of Italian but luckily the garden resort have its own reps who were marvellous and some of whom could speak 5 languages.
Went to Pizzo a couple of times, sampled the famous tartuffo ice cream and explored the little side streets where you will be amazed at little entrances which open up into fabulous churches. Shops also fab but you have to actually go inside as they seem just little shops from outside but once inside open up and have some really nice clothes, handbags etc.
Thomson’s have a fantastic place in the garden resort which is just being spoiled by the incompetence of the reps.

Totally agree with Miss T Jones on every point. This was the first holiday I shared with my new partner and I was very disappointed. I paid alot of money for the holiday (+ extra for the trips) as a surprise for him and felt embarrassed by my choice.
I am a well travelled person but this certainly wasn't for me.

The Garden Resort is perfect if you are looking for a relaxing holiday in a lovely climate. The resort itself was very clean, with 2 fantastic pools.
We were about the fourth week of English to go out there. We found the staff very friendly and funny, even those who didn't speak much English!
We paid for the upgrade to the 'Pineta' block, which was well worth it. The room had a fridge with a mini bar that was filled daily for free, and the upgrade allowed us to eat and drink in all bars and restaurants. So, we ate in the A La Carte restaurant every night, which had a different menu every day, and a pianist playing classic Italian songs, with some fantastic singing waiters.
All of the restaurants had a good quality of food. You could eat pizza all day if wanted, and ice-creams and milkshakes round the pool.
We found that if we got up early then getting a sun bed round the pool was no problem, and if we fancied a lay-in then we would go to the beach where there was always plenty of room. On the beach you could have 'pizza cones' - look like ice-creams but are made of pizza - delicious.
There was plenty to do there - aqua aerobics, tennis, football, table tennis, boule, volleyball etc, etc!
The evening entertainment in the amphitheatre was always interesting and if you fancy partying on, there was an open air disco at the beach bar - a short walk through the pine forest, so it couldn’t be heard from the resort.
The reps there were friendly, and very interested in our feedback, as it is new for Brits this year so they're learning too.
The resort was surrounded by mountains on all sides, so it gave a stunning back drop to look at.
We didn't do any excursions, as we wanted a relaxing holiday, which is exactly what the garden resort offered for us. This is definitely an up and coming resort, well laid out, clean, friendly, lovely weather, great wine/beer, great food, and only 2 1/2 hours from Gatwick!

We went on a 2 week family holiday to this resort having been encouraged by the brochure and hotel web site about facilities for children. Our children were 4 yrs and 11 months old at the time of traveling.
On arrival we were impressed, the resort is beautiful all based around 2 large pools and we had a great lunch. The staff all loved the children and made a real fuss of them.
However, once we had spent a day we realised that the hotel was not very children friendly at all.
There was no children's menu in May, the early suppers were not suitable for young children. The beach is totally unsuitable for children (dirty gravel sand and a very dangerous slope at the waters edge), so we didn't use this. The same sand is used around the children's play area, so you cannot play here in the evenings because the children are dirty. The children's pool is only accessible through the children's club and in May it was dirty and out of use. The main pools had a very slippery surface and the children and adults slipped, so take a pool shoe for children. There are no baby changing facilities.
If you are taking babies, take a kettle for bottles, there are fridges in the room, take some porridge/Weetabix (no soft cereal). Get fruit the night before from the restaurant, as no fresh fruit is served in the mornings try and take a few jars of food as the soups and pasta dishes are quite salty. You can ask for plain veggies for children, but this took some time to come through.
This is a great resort for adults, especially if you plan to take trips out. During May it was fairly quiet, but towards the end of our holiday, the competition started in trying to get loungers, tables etc. Our 4 year old found it fun racing a German to a sun lounger.
Go prepared to hire a car or book a few trips. You cannot walk anywhere from the hotel and most definitely need to see Calabria. Pizzo is pretty, but the walk to the beach is not suitable for pushchairs, we tried it in desperation to get on a nice sandy beach. Try the local ice creams, they are heaven and the locals were friendly. We were told of nice beaches in Tropea, but there is no shuttle service to this resort.

My friend and I went here toward the end of June and overall we had a great time. Yes the resort caters mainly for Germans, but it has only been open for two years and was built by a German Company for German Guests and it’s the first year it’s been marketed to UK Guests. However it may have been nice to have been made aware of this information before we’d booked here!
One of the main gripes I have was flying with Jet2 from Manchester to Italy instead of one of the usual Thomson flight companies. The standard of the aircraft and service on the flights were appalling and when you have paid for a 4* holiday you’d expect to get Tea and Coffee with your meal of a Cold Cheese & Ham Croissants.
Also as mentioned in one of the other reviews on here the Thomson Holiday reps were next to useless. They were both lovely ladies and very friendly but they were possibly two of the worse reps I’ve ever come across. If you did have to raise anything with them they would listen, nod and smile but you just knew they weren’t really getting it. They did their best but I think maybe Thomson were at fault putting a brand new rep into a brand new resort, perhaps a rep with a little more experience would have been advisable.
The food was OK (in a mass catered holiday food kind of way) but the large main restaurant was a free for all at times and it would have been so much easier if they had labeled the food. We paid the extra 19.50 euros and dined in the A La Catre Restaurant for one evening and it was well worth the money as it was really nice in there.
The bedroom was spotlessly clean and had great facilities including Air con, Fridge, Free Safety Deposit Box, TV, Telephone, fresh good quality clean towels and a Balcony.
I’m not going to go into having to queue every morning to get a sun lounger and the running battle with the Germans, all I’ll say it that they totally lived up to their stereotype. Both of the pools were lovely and like the rest of the resort very clean and I did find it good that you could use the resorts free beach towels so you don’t have to use your own if you didn’t want to.
Few Top Tips for the resort:
You can get the Air con to stay on all the time in you leave a Nectar Card in the slot instead of your room key.
Beware on the balcony as the door locks automatically when it is pulled two so do not close it fully if you are outside or you can’t get back it.
Take the TV remote back with you when you check out and leave, or you will have to trek back to your room to get it.
Three hours is a lot of time to spend in Pizzo and you may struggle to find things to do for the full three hours.
Overall the Holiday was great but if you want to see “Real” Italy you will need to go on a trip (I’d recommend Stromboli by night or Sicily) or Hire a Car because whilst you are on the resort you could be anywhere.

I agree with previous comments the main problem was the hotel was all geared up for German tourists, miles from anywhere, the restaurant was so large and noisy it felt like a 1960's Butlins camp. I would think it would be a nightmare at the height of the season. The Thomson rep was useless she had no local knowledge whatsoever and just wanted you to go on the organised and expensive tours.
We hired a car, you take your life in your hands with the Italian drivers and some of the roads are pretty hairy!
On the plus side every where was spotless the beer and wine was of a decent quality.
There is no entertainment for children between the age of 6-16 and the entertainment for adults is dire.
A week was more than enough I think we'd be tearing our hair out if we'd stayed any longer due to being unable to go anywhere else unless you had a car for the whole stay.