Hotel Villa Diodoro

I will start with the few things in favor of this hotel. The first room we were given was small and clearly unrenovated. Upon complaining reception willingly gave as the room next door which was bigger and far better. In a hotel half full at best: why not give us that room in the first place? The view from our room was fantastic. The hotel is located only a few minutes walking distance from the town center. WIFI was fast and stable. Pool area is nice, also the hotel garden. Now all the thing that will make us never come back: Parking is a nightmare as the hotel as only very few parking places along their front entrance. I don??t want to imagine what happens if they are fully booked. Breakfast is a joke even by Italian standards. Old bread, artificial juice,fried eggs or omeletts to order only for extra money. Right now almost everything must be handed over by staff due to Covid, but strangely enough coffee is served and bread and butter in the open for self service. The (supposingly) restaurant chief is RUDE!! We asked wether the terrace was open. He opened the door and pointed out "Here, the door is open!". We asked why we could not have breakfast out there with the beautiful view in the sun and got the answer: "It is impossible!" We asked. "Why?" "Because it is impossible!" and the guy left us standing there. My wife dared to touch a boiled egg with the back of her hand to see if it was warm and got shouted at by the staff woman, the same woman who walkes the restaurant with the mask down her face. The pool is generally nice but ice cold. We had a toasted sandwich at the pool bar which was expensive and horrible. As stated above we were not allowed to have breakfast on the restaurant terrace. On our last night there was a large wedding taking place exactly on that terrace right underneath our balcony which lasted until luckily the rain started at 4 am in the morning. No way one could sleep with the balcony door open, the noise could easily be heard even with everything closed. Needless to add: nobody of the wedding party cared to wear a mask at any time. Upon checkout we found out that the water bottles in the fridge were 3 Euros each which nobody told us beforehand and which is more than incommon for a hotel in this price range. For fairness: after complaining the water was taken off the bill.

We changed our destination to Sicily and this hotel at the last minute, due to quarantine restrictions with the Algarve. It is a lovely old hotel with fantastic views. A few minutes walk into the old town and shops and restaurants. Lovely Gardens next door, built by the lady that built the hotel and Isle Isabel nature reserve, what a grand place it must have been then!!!! Staff were friendly, breakfast was good, just ask for scrambled eggs or bacon if you want them! The chocolate, lemon and almond cakes were delicious. Coffee was served in a coffee pot with a jug of hot frothy milk, as it should be, not from a machine, a definite plus from us!!!! We ate one evening meal there and it did not dissapoint, it was lovely. It may be a little tired in places, but the unique period furniture and carpets and pictures were a welcome change from the somewhat sterile interiors of the 'chain' hotels, it was an unexpected enjoyable week!!!