Hotel Cerere

What People are saying

Hire a car if you are going out of season

DBYorkshire on 24/10/2017 11:56

Agree with all the good comments already made - clean, comfortable rooms, friendly staff (including waiters who were all lovely), delicious food (we love pasta!). Due to the collapse of Monarch Airlines most people who were due to stay last week didn't come.
We managed to get alternative flights but ended up as the only guests. We ate dinner in splendid isolation every night in a dining room set out for over 100. It was a bit weird! Breakfast was a bit livelier towards the end of our stay as we were joined by some catering/ hospitality students who were on a residential course at the hotel. There weren't even a lot of weddings while we were there, just one anniversary party. The hotel is rather isolated and if you are going out of the high season it would be best to hire a car as many local places are closed. Even the loungers on the beach were gone by last week. The local Paestum ruins are fantastic but too far to walk to for most people I suspect. With a car we were also able to go on trips to Herculaneum, Pompeii, Vesuvius, Amalfi coast (by boat from Salerno) and Castellebate. We also went to Naples but took the train from Paestum. It only cost €6.50 for the 1.25 hours trip and we parked for free. We were told the taxi fare from the hotel to the station would have been €12.

Lovely hotel...Buffet food could be better

Chillie_11 on 22/10/2017 17:12

We took away with us most of the positive aspects that have been reviewed about this hotel, front desk staff and waiters very efficient and polite but the downside was the buffet dinner which appeared to have been prepared and cooked possible a few hours before we sat down to dinner as it was stone cold. Even the chips which looked rather delicious but on tasting, they were stone cold. In fact, the starters werent much better as it was pasta with something different every evening for 5 nights out of 7 nights. You can only eat so much pasta but almost every night, it was too much.

Also, if you're thinking of staying there out of season, unless you just want to stay in the hotel, the transport system is extremely poor as the bus only runs every 3 hours and you certainly need a taxi/bicycle or a very very long trek to the nearest town, either Carpaccio or Paestum. As the hotel shuttle bus to the beach appears to be redundant at this time of the season, we thought it would be a good idea if the owners of the hotel took on board busing guests who wanted to go into the near towns at a nominal charge.

Nice hotel

manicspider on 05/10/2017 10:46

Stayed here while attending a wedding at their sister hotel Mec-Peastum. The rooms are nice and modern but a bit small. Reception staff were good however staff in dining room were surly and I'm smiling. Good breakfast was included in the room rate. The hotel has a beach but this is a good 300 metres or so away and there were some basic plastic beds and umbrellas there but not much else. The toilets at the beach were very basic.
Pool area was nice but often in use for weddings.

Lovely clean hotel and a short walk from the beach and beach restaurants.

tonytony1958 on 01/10/2017 18:03

Stayed here for a week, read the reviews about it being a family hotel and plenty of weddings, personally I didn't have a problem with the couple of weddings that went on in the evenings, in fact it livened the hotel up and there were only two families with children all the time we were there. The hotel is spotlessly clean with lots of quirky objects here and there, you choose your food before hand, evening or morning before and it arrives well presented and mostly very tasty, we arrived around one in the morning, due to flight delays, but even at this time in our room there was an array of freshly prepared cold meats, olives, cheese, motzarrala, and other accompaniments, and the room smelt lovely and fresh, a nice first impression, there were lots of Italians staying at the hotel and to me that is also a good sign, the beach is only a ten minute walk from the hotel and is used only by hotel guests, you do get lots of hawkers selling their wares throughout the day, be they are very polite on rejection, you can tell the Italians on the beach, as come lunch time it empties, people of my own heart, the beach restauranst close this time of year and every where else also was very quiet, so if your looking for nightlife, this is not for you, we normally went out to nearby hotels after dinner and then a nightcap in the hotel bar, would I recommend the hotel? yes I would, would I re-visit? probably not, only due to the fact it was quiet, perfect for a week of chillax and a bit of sun and sightseeing.

Beautiful hotel but .....

th0mas45 on 18/09/2017 15:32

Although this is a beautiful hotel it should not be advertised as a holiday destination hotel. We have just returned from a 10 day holiday when there were Weddings held on 9 of the 10 days. We were unfortunate enough to have a room on the first floor when the receptions were held directly below us, hence the music did not stop until the early hours of the morning and then there was an hour of furniture being moved around.

I cannot fault the reception and bar staff who were helpful and cheerful (especially the bar staff) but sadly the same cannot be said for the waiters who were surly and unhelpful and seemed to think that it was ok to remove your plate even if your partner was still eating.

The bed was very comfortable and the cleaners very thorough and cheerful.

The pool was lovely but only open between 10.30 and 12.30 and, providing there was no wedding, again between 3.30 and 6.30. To sit around the poolside in your costume with wedding guests milling around was very uncomfortable so we used the beach instead. The private beach was great and never busy with a very efficient lifeguard.

We were so looking forward to this holiday but have been left feeling disappointed.