Igv Club Le Castella

“Lovely holiday overall, room for improvement”

A beautiful location, next to the sea, and a very well maintained set of grounds. We came end of July/beginning of August. We had no trouble finding a space on the beach, although many seats on the front row were reserved. The sea was lovely and calm with a wonderful view. Lifeguards very friendly.… more

A beautiful location, next to the sea, and a very well maintained set of grounds. We came end of July/beginning of August. We had no trouble finding a space on the beach, although many seats on the front row were reserved. The sea was lovely and calm with a wonderful view. Lifeguards very friendly. Rooms were comfortable but very dated. Our chest of drawers was broken and the bidet leaked every time it was used. The shower was VERY small but the beds were comfortable. Lovely balcony. Our biggest issue was the air conditioning which turned on and off at random, sometimes for hours. We were located at the back of the village which was nice and quiet, next to one of the swimming pools. The food was good quality compared to other resorts we have visited. Lots of choice available. It would be a good idea to clearly label the meat options. We always had to find a staff member to explain which dishes were beef/chicken/pork etc. Servers very friendly. We were here two weeks and the food options appeared to rotate about three times during our stay. Unfortunately cannot comment on the animation as it was entirely in Italian. We gave it a go but had to find fun elsewhere. In other places we have been the animation was in the local language followed by English. For this reason we were also unable to make use of the kids club for our toddler, who would have really struggled not being able to understand or make friends. The local town was brilliant. Accessible a 10 minute walk up the beach. Lots of restaurants and places to have a drink or a gelato. Lots of tourist tat but I enjoy that sort of thing :) The Argonese castle is free to visit and you can rent small boats to have trip out on the sea. Found a play area for kids with bouncy castle, trampoline and funfair type games. 10/10. The biggest issue we faced was unfortunately the staff at reception. We speak four languages between us and found communication difficult. There was also no explanation about key item of interest. We booked a package with lastminute.fr which allowed us free food and unlimited soft drinks. Two days into our trip we noticed people taking coffees and alcohol for free. Upon enquiry it turned out all we needed was to upgrade our wristbands for a fee. We upgraded at reception but this was after spending quite a bit of our own money. Staff shrugged and said they forgot to tell us. Two days before departure we asked about a late checkout as our airport transfer was at 4 pm. Lady said no problem but to confirm with the manager the next day. Of course the next day it was a problem, and on top of it we were told we could not have lunch. After a bit of an argument we were allowed a late checkout but still no lunch. I would understand if new arrivals needed our table but at lunch time our table was still empty with our name still on it. We offered to pay but were told lunch woud cost us SEVENTY FIVE EUROS. No thank you. Overall a nice holiday but room for improvement.

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“One week in Calabria”

First and foremost this resort by far had the most wonderful staff we've encountered in Europe. They were warm, gracious and totally welcoming to their very rare American guests. We booked through an Italian travel agent looking for a sandy beach and all-inclusive. We got the sandy beach, which was… more

First and foremost this resort by far had the most wonderful staff we've encountered in Europe. They were warm, gracious and totally welcoming to their very rare American guests. We booked through an Italian travel agent looking for a sandy beach and all-inclusive. We got the sandy beach, which was beautiful even if it was small. We saved beach time for the afternoon because it was too busy in the morning to get a lounger. My understanding is the beach has eroded quite a bit, so there was not much space. The salt water pool was great and was never really too crowded even in August. The entertainment seemed to be enjoyed very much by the Italian guests. There was a foam party twice during the week, which was a big hit. Sadly though, the food and wine was very disappointing. We ate only 2 dinners here during our entire stay. We were seated upstairs in the Terrace restaurant area, but all food was buffett style and was really lackluster. Being seated upstairs was nice only for the view because otherwise it was very hot especially during breakfast and lunch and the food always had flies and cold items did not stay cold at all. This definitely put us off wanting to eat there. The breakfast was the same every morning, stale pastries, stiff eggs and fatty bacon. I think we would have enjoyed ourselves more without the meals and would have planned for that. We ate out on the town the other 5 nights and had great meals off site. The location is also not really close to other sites (historic etc) so maybe best only if you wanted to stay by the beach and pool all week. Overall, the experience wasn't bad, but really the staff made all the difference, they were really great and treated all the guests very well.

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