Hotel Castello

"Hotel Castello, sadly, does not have a swimming pool or a sitting out area. However, it is an easy stone's throw to the pristine sands of Terza Spiaggia where you can rent chairs and umbrellas or you can throw a towel down on the free part of the beach. Take a beach towel rather than renting one. The hotel staff are excellent from front desk, through the bar and dining area, to the cleaning staff. Without exception, they were warm, friendly, and helpful - even the who had little English to match our little Italian. We had a room with a stunning sea view - well worth the extra money - and a terrace with a table, chairs and a drying rack. The room was spotlessly clean and the bed was king-sized and comfortable. The buffet breakfast was excellent - plenty of variety including bacon and eggs. The hotel does not do evening meals, but restaurant terrace is a great place for an aperitif. The nearest restaurant is Terza Spiaggia Farè Beach - right on the doorstep by the short path to the beach. We had two meals there both of which were very good. Our table was right by the water's edge with a view across the sea. The menu was varied, the wine was good value, and the staff were friendly. We booked through The Fork app and got a 30% reduction in the food bill. The other restaurant we tried was La Lanterna, a short walk towards the shops from the hotel. The pizza I had was really good, and my wife very much enjoyed her grilled sea bass. The wine was reasonably priced and enjoyable as was the food. Again, the staff were excellent. This is a very popular restaurant, so booking is highly recommended. Overall, we greatly enjoyed our short stay at Hotel Castello in the stunningly beautiful Golfo Aranci. Certainly good value for money."

"Booked this hotel for a 4 day stay. When we arrived we felt rushed to have dinner straight away, the meal was hurried throughout and not the relaxing experience we would have liked after travelling for several hours. Although evening meals in general were nice, they were hurried and we felt if we didn’t arrive at the time the restaurant opened it was an inconvenience. We were half board and felt a complimentary glass of house wine or even water would have a nice touch, instead guests had to pay extra for these. Breakfast was very uninspiring, it definitely lacked selection - again, get there when they open the doors. Our room was spotlessly clean with good views, but it was pretty basic. The shower didn’t look much but was actually quite powerful which was a pleasant surprise! Staff were either super friendly or miserable depending on who was working. Fredrico was excellent, always happy and helpful and there was another male who worked in the restaurant who again was excellent. The grounds and garden were lovely and cleaned regularly. We didn’t use the pool so couldn’t comment, again this was always cleaned. Many people we spoke to had been to the hotel previously, maybe they knew something we didn’t, however we would not return unfortunately."

"We booked our holiday back in September last year through Easyjet Holidays. We've never been to Sardinia before, but we didn't consider it to be cheap (around £1800 for 5 nights B&B for 2 people). On arrival, the façade of the hotel is not overly appealing. On checking in (early) Gina kindly looked to see if our room was ready. During the discussion she offered us a reduced cost upgrade to a beautiful sea view (room 208) which we accepted. Despite this, we were initially disappointed with how compact the room was. However, like many European hotels, it was clean and had the basic amenities. One thing that we missed when booking was the swimming pool. There is one within the grounds of the hotel, but it was empty and looking at other Tripadvisor comments and Gina's response, it seems this belongs to the adjacent apartments. Breakfast was included and there was a reasonable choice. We had lunch at the hotel twice and it was very good, along with great service and reasonably priced. We particularly liked the app for ordering, which linked with Whatsapp (although you can still order with the staff). Gina also have us some guidance on getting the bus to Olbia and kindly messaged the timetable. The beautiful location and the friendliness of all staff somewhat made up for the basic room and lack of pool and we ended up having a lovely holiday. All of the staff were very friendly and helpful and whilst we don't recall all of their names, a big shout out to Gina, Georgia and Bartha. Although our room was on the small side, it was clean and the bathroom and shower were good. The hotel is roughly a 15-minute walk from town so on the outer edge. We visited in mid-June and it was VERY quiet and a bit of a ghost town during the day, although some restaurants remained open during the riposo. More restaurants are open in the evening with plenty to choose from (we particularly liked the La Pecora Viziosa which is very popular so be sure to make a reservation). We also enjoyed a lovely traditional meal in a recently opened restaurant called Radici. There is a private beach area with sunbeds and parasols for hire (around €30 - €40 per day depending on back, middle or front row). Given there was no pool to sit around, we felt this a little expensive especially if you want to go to the beach a lot, but perhaps this is typical for Sardinia? It is also fair to say that you could sit on the beach on your towel for nothing. Alternatively, the beautiful beach stretches all the way to the town. The hotel also has a small shaded veranda for food/drinks but apart from that or your own balcony, there isn't anywhere else to sit and relax if you don't want to go to the beach. I expect in high season, the veranda would get busy. We only stayed for 5-nights which was plenty as there wasn't much to do in the locality. We booked a 90-minute dolphin tour with the scuba/snorkelling team in town which was great. We will probably return to Sardinia but perhaps to an area where there is more going on, but we did enjoy our stay here!"