Marinedda Hotel

We stayed in the Marinedda for 1 week and our stay was fantastic, the food is brilliant, there are 3 resturants, buffet, and the other two were table service. The staff are extremly helpful and polite. The rooms was very spacious, the only thing is the beds are very hard. The pools are very cool and refreshing after being out in the sun all day but we tended to stay by the beach most of the day where u can use the pedalos and canoes etc for a small fee! I would recommend that you hire a car as the locatin is quite remote, Isola Rossa is about 5/10 minute walk away with a nice port and a few shops and cafes. We hired a car for 3 days, we managed to explore most of the northen part of the island and the roads are very quiet. Watch out for the italian drivers they like to drive at you and over take on corners!! If we went again we would hire a car on the internet as it was slightly more expensive when you get out there. The hotel beautifully set out its not a high rise hotel, its small apartments spread over the edge of a hill with fantastic views. The walk down to the beach is all downhill but there are golf buggys which you can catch if u dont fancy the walk! Perfect place for those looking for a quiet relaxing holiday. I would defenitly go back here.

The hotel is located on N.W. coast of Sardinia, about 1.30 hours from Alghero airport, it sits on a hillside overlooking Isola Rossa, a very small town about 1km away down a steep hill. The town has one small supermarket, a couple of smaller shops selling groceries and a few small shops selling beach items. There are a couple of small cafes/bars. Thank goodness, no theme bars, no sports bars and no "all day breakfast establishments". Shops close during the afternoons, nearest chemist is 6km away. From the hotel the most direct route to town is down a steep hill; no footpath, uneven verge, fast traffic, no lighting. During the day the safest route is along the coastal footpath. Nearest beach to hotel is about 400metres from the accomodation areas. We were told there are no local buses and no taxis in the town. Being built on a hillside the site is not suitable for wheelchair users or those who struggle walking. The whole site is beautifully landscaped and is very peaceful. We found the staff very friendly and helpful, when we checked in there were a couple of minor problems with the room, they were instantly resolved. Service was faultless throughout, staff are very attentive. Breakfast is buffet style in a poolside, split level room. There was no variation in food, very small cooked food section but there was a big selection of continental style breakfast food, including plenty of fruit. Dinner - one buffet restaurant and two a la carte restaurants. We chose the buffet every night, plenty of choice, well presented, good service, relaxed atmoshere. Drinks are expensive, as all hotels. What is wrong is their monopoly on drinking water. The small on site shop sells no food or drinks; the hotel charges 3 Euro for a litre of water; in the town they charge 1 Euro for 5 litres. The Italians and French of course use their cars to get water, the Brits have to struggle up the hill. Sun loungers are free, plenty of them. There was no competition to reserve loungers. We and others thought there should be better parasol provision. Whole site is kept immaculately clean. Hotel uses a cash free system for buying drinks etc, customers top up a cash card, system worked well. A couple of nights the outside entertainment started at 2200 and went on to 2300; it was very loud and we were farthest away, it might be disruptive to families with young children. Rooms are large, nicely decorated, well laid out, we had a great view, they are very clean, bathrooms are good, big patios, plenty of storage space and contain all you need. Air conditioning is self set and very effective. Bed is wide, a bit short and was the hardest we have ever slept on. Room had a tiled floor - it was lethally slippery when wet. Room has 14 channel satellite tv, don't get excited, only two channels are in English - CNN and BBC World - so just CNN worth watching then. Room does not have tea/coffee making facilities, we took a travel kettle. There is a mini bar in the fridge, safe is free. We visited Bonifacio, Corsica; left hotel 0830, 40 minutes on coach, hour on car ferry, guided tour and return. Cost about 85 Euro. We thought it pricey but the trip is worth doing and the guide was brilliant. If you stay in Alghero add 3 hours to the trip time - long day. We also went to Castelsardo - half day, worth doing, again we felt it was expensive. Overal - it is a very nice hotel, we felt the Thomson 5T rating was too high, 4T's would be fairer. The hotel is isolated and there is nothing to do in the town if the weather is poor. The plus side though is - we saw no sports bars, no football shirts at meals or round the pool, there were no all day breakfasts, no loud teenagers and the best bit - the area has hardly been discovered by the British and Germans. The Italians are lovely to be on holiday with, the atmosphere was relaxed and very friendly. We probably won't go back to the hotel because we felt we had captured the main elements of the area but we will definately be looking to return to Sardinia.

The Marinedda has a unique location on a hillside over a beautiful bay. There are two pools one sea water and one fresh water on separate levels. No kiddies pools by the large pools. A shuttle service takes you to the beach, or a 3 minute stroll. Great buffet restaurant. Kids club for english, italian, french, german speaking children, with kids dancing every night. Staff is extremely service minded and speak many languages. The rooms are large and very well kept and clean. We had the Relax rooms, with an extra outdoor shower, which was a definite hit with our two small children of 4 and 8. Breakfast restaurant by one of the pools serves great breakfast of high quality, and dinner can be eaten at one of three restaurants. All with spectacular views of the bay.

This is a lovely 'hotel' (reception area and chalets dotted on the hillside) and most staff are only too helpful including the wonderful Thomson rep Graziella. There is a buffet restaurant and two others with waiter service (one with a supplement)....the food is repetitive but fairly good although where were the genuine Italian pizza dishes instead of endless pasta and squid! The buffet restaurant we found extremely noisy (see later). When we went in early July the hotel was besieged by Italian families every one of which included at least one baby/toddler so mealtimes were not relaxing. The entertainment each evening was ,unfailingly, kids discos and the adults were not well catered for.....why????. You can have too much of 'hokey cokey' every night until 10.30! Isola Rossa town is 10-15 mins walk away from the hotel (no taxis or buses and steep hill on way back) and has a couple of pleasant places to eat and a charming harbour and atmosphere. If you dont like wind then avoid Sardinia because it is renowned for its wind and we had a boat trip cancelled because of this. It is also a very expensive place to visit and some of the guests seemed to be in a nightly fashion competition and even at breakfast...we wondered if this is where Italian soccer teams and their wives stay? The hotel is supposedly 'cashless' because you are given a card to invest money on when you check in...this is not true! You have to pay for treatments at the lovely spa and for sun beds on the beach even if you are hotel guests. We agree with a previous reviewer that the beds and pillows are very hard...we asked for an extra mattress but no luck. The hotel attracts a contradiction....mainly inhabited by middle aged British folks with no kids and the other Europeans with bambinos galore..we asked the manager (who is a sweetie) about this and he didnt know why this should be. However, we did hear that the chefs were fed up with being asked for special kids meals. Sardinia is beautiful and largely unspoilt and we would recommend it but would not stay at the Marinedda hotel again.

Had a lovely relaxing week in this hotel. The location is very quiet and this early in the year Isola Rossa is still a sleepy little fishing village with a couple of cafes and supermarkets. It is easy to walk to and although the climb back is a little steep it still only takes 10 - 15mins from the centre. The hotel is very well set out on the side of the hill down to the Marinedda Beach with natural gardens throughout. The accomodation is arranged in blocks with plenty of space between them. We paid the extra for a suite and were very pleased with it, particularly as on several days the weather was not really warm enough to sit by the pools. The view over the bay from the balcony was beautiful. We ate virtually all our meals in the waiter service restaurant and although some of the choices were unusual the food was enjoyable and excellently presented. There is little entertainment in the hotel at this time of year, a singer in the main bar only, however this was not a drawback for us.The staff were consistently helpful, polite and cheerful. The beach is easy to get to and while we were there varied from beautiful placid turquoise blue sea to hugley impressive rollers driven by a strong wind! It's a good idea, particularly at this time of year, to hire a car for when the weather is not too good. The coast line is stunning and the countryside in the hills is very pretty.

We stayed here for our honeymoon and it was just perfect. The room was spotless we had an amazing view overlooking the pool and the cove. The staff were always very friendly, the food in the buffet resturant wasn't always hot but then you had the chance to dine in the waiter sevice resturant 4 courses every night ! We hired a car for ten days this is a must as the hotel is a little isolated,we visited some amazing places. The trip to Corsica was a bit rushed,we booked this through the travel rep at the hotel. If you hire a car i would drive down to the ferry terminal and go by yourselves. We both ahd a fantastic honeymoon and would definately visit Sardinia again, it is a much larger country than we expected. We would visit the south of the island as we never got that far. trip advisor from Kent p.s if you do visit this hotel do treat yourselves in the spa

Very relaxing stay in super seaview room with full length balcony. Contacted hotel direct by e-mial week before departure to request seaview room which was allocated without additional charge. Pleasant beach although a bit soft and gritty to walk on, we preferred to use pool areas. The lower sea-water pool has plenty of loungers and large umbrellas plus pool bar serving drinks & snacks. Buffet food was always very plentiful and of a high standard. We booked a la carte resturant 3/4 nights purely for more relaxed style of dining - food again plentiful and of a high standard. Full body massage for him and her in spa very good although other guests reported 3 oriental girls regularly worked the beach offering similar treatments at half the cost. Only minor criticism is location a bit remote (an advantage for some) but this made it impossible to enjoy an after dinner stroll (too dark down unlit road) unless prepared to drive to nearby village. All hotel staff very friendly and helpful. We would certainly visit Sardinia and this hotel again.

Our stay at the Marinedda was wonderfully relaxing. The beach was beautiful and you could have your own little bit amongst the rocks. We enjoyed all aspects of the holiday, only thing lacking was entertainment for adults and it was a fair walk to Isola Rossa for any bars. The only thing that I could complain about was the extremely hard bed. I ended up with bruises on my hips. The views were magnificent, the pools beautifully clean, the spa area second to none. We would definitely go again.

we took our three year old with us on a 'family honeymoon' and found the whole experience to be wondefully relaxing and enjoyable. The rooms are spacious and exceptionally clean,clean sheets and towels every day and our room cleaned whilst we had a sumptuous breakfast around the pool. Our daughter was fully entertained and looked after so well by the mini club staff whilst my husband and I had a day at the hotel spa. Up to cocktails on the terrace overlooking the sea before a wonderful buffet dinner. I do appreciate you need to get there early to make the most out of the food -it goes down quickly,but the cooking is of an extremely high standard, we were having at least five different courses per night and never the same. The staff and service we received you could not fault. Our three year old fell in love with the waiter who served our cocktails -Tizianno who was the perfect host. I am a little reluctant to write this review as I dont want to contribute in turning this wonderful haven into a ' brits abroad' place. This hotel is very european,very classy and well worth the money.

Prior to visiting Sardinia we read a bad review of this Hotel, especially regarding the food. It's amazing what can change in a week or maybe some people do not appreciate exquisite professionally prepared and presented a la carte food. Although we are more than happy to agree that the buffet selection was limited unless arriving promptly when the restaurant opened. As you have the choice of dining in either the buffet restaurant or the a la carte at no additional cost we could not understand why people even bothered with the buffet. All you needed to do was book during breakfast! We found the hotel room to be exceptional in terms of space, cleanliness and attention to detail. The room was in fact better than many alledgedly superior hotels we have stayed in. Ask for and pay the bit extra for the sea view, normally we would not bother but in the hotels prime location above the bay it was lovely to sit on the large patio area and look out to a very pleasant view of the famous Isola Rossa rocks and beach. The type of people who would appreciate this hotel would be looking for a peaceful break away from the crowds, shops, bars and noise. The evening entertainment was very limited but after having such wonderful meals each evening we were more than happy to sit and finish our drinks on the roof top terrace overlooking the sea. You can walk to the town (10 mins) but at night this is not advised as there is no path or street lights. We did hire a car and spent 1 evening in the town which held an evening market, this was ok and made a change, there are a few bars and restaurants. All in all we loved Sardinia because it was not overly comercialised, the scenery was magnificent, very natural and unspoilt. We would definitely return to this hotel if just looking for a quiet relaxing break. We did virtually the whole of the North and the North East of the island in two days in the car, it was quite a bit of driving but definitely well worth it. We visited during the last week of June and the beaches were just starting to get crowded with Italian visitors from the mainland, we also notice the hotel was much busier towards the end of our stay but still comfortable.