Hotel Saline

Staff were excellent, very friendly, good service. Lady on reception very good in helping us with our plans for the day. Food, was excellent, good quality. Buffet salad to start, then choice for the remaining of your meal. As we arrived late, and missed our evening meal (HB option) they gave us a lunch next day, which was delicious. Breakfast was a bit of a downside, cold buffet, meat, cheese, lot of pastries. Room was very nice. Very roomy, lot of storage space, large outdoor terrace with seating and view out to sea. beach bar was OK, plenty of shade. It was quiet as it seemed to becoming to end of season. The first week we were there they did have a female singer, who was good. You get a voucher for towels, and allocated sunbeds/parasol for your room, for the whole of your stay. Although at the start of our holiday, we sat whereever, as it was quiet, until we were told otherwise. Beach location is lovely, still warm. Don;t forget to take your water shoes as the there are rocks (something we read about before we went). There is a pool, although no one was using it, and surrounded by deckchairs, so all sunbeds are on the beach. We didn;t have a car, so relied on the hotel shuttle bus. which took you into town for free, at certain times, although it took us 20 minutes to walk into the town, further 20 mins to get to the harbour, where there were some nice restaurants. The town is deserted tough on times. We also used the shuttle bus, for a fee, to drop us off at the local railway station, where we went in Salermo, and Paestum, both on the Palinuro line, When we were ready to come home, we contacted reception and the driver was there to meet us. Only downside was on the last evening, where a large group, arrived for a seminar, causing a lot of noise on their arrival at 1 am in the morning, not good as we were leaving at 5am, we had to go out and tell them to be quiet. If we hadn;t been leaving that day, I think we would have been getting in touch with Citalia to ask for a move. Not happy that we were not informed of this in advance either by them or the staff. . Up to that point enjoyed our stay, nice beach hotel, quiet and relaxing. But I feel we have been and done it now.

First the positives. Staff are terrific. Location by the sea is fabulous and sunsets are amazing. Food is really good. Not sure we had one bad meal there to be fair. Room was very nice. Massive bed. Big bathroom with excellent shower. Great outdoor terrace with seating and views out to sea. Now the negatives. We came in September. In my view that is still high season. But apparently not in theirs. Pizzas no longer available as the man who makes them has gone home. We had to eat dinner every night in a ridiculously overlit dining room which resembled a school refectory. Everyone looking at everyone else. Awful. Why could we not sit outside? It was certainly warm enough. We were given 2 vouchers for towels at check in. That means we had to keep our towels for 3 or 4 days before we could get clean ones. Why? This is supposed to be a 5 star hotel. They should be providing clean towels every 5 minutes if that is what guests want. Sunbeds. We want to sit where we want to sit. Oh no. We have been allocated sunbeds and that is where we MUST sit every day. Despite the fact that there are 100beds and 20 guests. Breakfast was ok. But definitely skewed to Italian guests. I am not arguing or moaning about that but it is a fact. The sea is beautiful and lovely and warm at this time of year. Unfortunately getting into the sea at the hotel is very hard as there are so many rocks in the way. I cut myself on 3 occasions and my wife fell over and was lucky not to hurt herself. Again. I am not moaning about this but you should be aware of this if you are thinking of staying here. Lastly. This hotel is a good 30 minute walk from the heart of Palinuro. The hotel provides a Bus service which runs sporadically through the day. But believe me when I say that this bus takes you the bare minimum of the way to town. And not a metre further???