La Vue D'or Hotel

We only booked our holiday to Sorrento one week before we went, so it was a real last minute thing and having never been on a package holiday and never having been to Italy before we did not know quite what to expect, but I have to say we were pleasantly surprised.
Although there were various excursions available (A different one everyday, Pompei, Vesuvius, Capri, Rome weekend visit etc) we did not indulge as we really just wanted to relax for the week we were there. We were very happy with the accommodation, our hotel staff were very friendly and helped alot with improving my Italian which was non-existent before we went.
The hotel is about a 15-minute drive from Sorrento and is set up in the surrounding hills, the views from the pool area and sun terrace are simply amazing. It is worth paying the extra for a sea view room, we didn’t and wished we had. The hotel has a mix of clients but mostly couples, which makes for a nice relaxing place were you can either make friends or keep yourself to yourself. Unless your feeling very brave, don’t bother hiring a car or scooter, the Italian driving, especially in the narrow hilly roads around Sorrento is enough to frighten anyone.
The hotel lays on a free courtesy bus which goes back and forth from Sorrento to the hotel around six times a day and this is very handy. You can walk down to Sorrento which we did, not down the road but via a very beautiful shortcut down through olive & lemon groves, this will take around 45 minutes and you probably won’t see another person until you get down to the town, the views are well the walk down but one thing I would say is that it’s a good idea to time it so that you can catch the courtesy bus back up, we didn’t and it’s pretty steep walking all the way back.
The food at the hotel was ok, there was certainly plenty of it, but there was a lack of fresh fruit (The fresh fruit on the menu didn’t seem very fresh to me and it seems the only fruit they could get were nectarines) although you can buy any fruit you might want in Sorrento including giant watermelon for 50 cents! We ate out a couple of nights while we were there and the food was superb and not too expensive either. The town is lovely just to walk around of an evening, very safe but very busy little ally’s packed with shops bars and street side restaurants, the shops seem to be open until around ten and the bars will stay open as long as your in them, we had several offers to stay much later and get a lift back to the hotel with the bar owners.
The only real issue we had with the hotel was with regard to a courtesy room on our leaving day, you have to check out of your room at 10am (Seemed very early to me) we then had to wait until 3pm to be picked up by the tour operator, at first I was told there may not be a courtesy room available for showering etc. But after a bit more pestering we were told there would be a courtesy room available from 1.30pm which was great but there were eight people wanting to use it at the same time so it was pretty rushed. This though is the only real complaint we had.
All in all we had a fantastic time and if we ever went back to Sorrento we would happily stay at the same hotel. It is close enough to the town but far enough away to make a very restful holiday.