Villaggio Hotel Lido San Giuseppe

What People are saying

A lot to say

denyoana111on 18/09/2017 12:41

Location

- is approx. 2 KM from Briatico, we did not have airport transport and we opted for a cheaper option which is to take the train from Lamezia terme centrale to Briatico, which is 3 euro. From briatico you basically have to walk as it is a really small town and no taxis there I guess. The way to the hotel was horrible, we basically had to walk on the side of the road and always looking for cars( good thing Italians have small cars ;)) )

The hotel is built in stone - the reception is almost on the beach so it was a looong walk.

We had quite a nice room, I guess because we mentioned we were in our honeymoon :D :D.A big plus is that they cleaned the room daily and change the sheets. I saw other complaints about rooms which were not quite ok, but ours was right above the reception and i was super nice - big room, big bed&balcony - great sea view.

The beach and sea are super great, better than Tropea - the water is so clean and warm. The have canoes and small boats that you can use when the sea is calm - was lot of fun!

Food

- breakfast was ok but it was the same all days - poor choice If I can say. You basically had scrambled eggs and omelette, sausage, ham and cheese. Also with butter. The thing I did not like most was the total lack of vegetables - like NONE.
As fruits we had pears and prunes.
The choice of pastries was really good though, if you like them in the morning. Also, coffee was from a machine and it tasted really salty because of the water there.

We went one day to Tropea by train, which was a very pleasant trip and lots of restaurants and other nice places to see.

Overall it is ok if you just want to relax on the beach and not visit much. We had to make about 4 trips to Briatico to buy fresh water and some supplies for lunch.

I would not recommend this hotel for someone without a car, as you are basically stuck there.

Don't expect a 4 star hotel

Andrea Gon 09/09/2017 22:45

Just returned from 7 nights in San Giuseppe and unusually after a holiday in Italy we are glad to be home! To start with the positives, the sun shone, the beach is clean and the sea beautifully clear and as lovely as the carribean, 1 sunbed, 1 chair and umberella is provided free of charge. Nearby Tropea is delightful but at 44 euros return for a 20 min taxi ride was expensive to visit often.However the hotel itself leaves a lot to be desired. The room we booked was a standard sea view with balcony. What we actually got was a ground floor room with a glimpse of the sea across parked cars. It was clean but tired and far from 4star standard. Breakfast was ok but the evening meals which you had to choose the previous day from a small menu and were served in a 'canteen' atmosphere with a total disregard for customer service the waiters were rushing with the aim to get meals out at break neck speed! But the main issue was the owner who was extremely rude when we asked to be moved from the table by the kitchen door where waiters were constantly brushing past. He did appear to favour certain guests with the best tables and serving a higher standard of food. Due to the remoteness of the hotel and lack of nearby restaurants perhaps he feels he doesn't need to try as there isn't any competition but we will definitely not be back!

Great beach and sea in middle of rural south Italy

Dejan Von 15/08/2017 23:01

This is really beautiful coast of Tyrrhenian sea, with sandy beaches and crystal-clear, turquoise waters.

First and most important fact - 4 stars hotel means something different in this part of South Italy than what most of travelers would expect - apparently, categorization of hotel includes primarily hotel location, private beach, cleanness of sea and surrounding in general and not just accommodation quality.

In this particular hotel your room can be main difference between "great vacation" and "ruined vacation". On our example, fist room we got ("standard", 117) was a disaster - dark, damp room with not enough ventilation. We were unable to dry out our clothes and/or beach towels. We were turning on AC only to dry out floor and room itself. Something like 2+ stars.

We paid for upgrade to suite, and this was whole other ball-game - nice, big room with a terrace and a beautiful view of a turquoise Thyrrenian sea, with natural ventilation for bathroom - very close to 4 stars definition.

If you do not know Italian - learn some; in theory, most of hotel staff should speak English, but I would not rely too much on it - from 6 girls working on reception, just one could properly understand and respond on our requests. Others - with lot of hand signs and very bad Italian / English (from one side or another).

Not to be misunderstood - most of the staff is friendly and they will try to accommodate most of your requests - so, this is far from complaining; also they may have different feeling of priorities and urgency - at the end, this is a holiday season :-) The hotel manager, Biagio is great - always there for you and ready to help with all your queries.

This is remote location and I mean remote - no stores / shops within hotel, apart from bar and ice cream; for anything else, including water, closest shop is Conad in Briatico (1,5 km by foot). So, prepare all your necessities before coming to hotel.

By the way, water is drinkable in sense that it is OK from chemical / bacteriology side; however, taste is funky / bit salty, so expect to use lot of bottled water. Water served for lunch / dinner in hotel restaurant is OK.

Beach and sea are beautiful - clear and clean, both color and temperature are ideal - no complaints here. Also, animation on beach and in the evenings (like techno foam disco - and yes, it is what is sound like 😊), especially for small ones is not bad - it can keep them busy for quite time.

Bring your beach towels - or rent them, for 4€ piece / day from hotel.

Food is good, apart from breakfast - there you are sentenced to butter, ham, cheese, eggs, scrambled eggs, sausage (salted side) and endless variants of sweet pastries (each and every great flavored). If you are into pastries - you will be happy person. If not, too bad :-) Coffee is great, of course. Lunch and dinner are 2 or 3 course meals (you selected day before from offered list), all very tasty, with red or white wine (per your choice). You won't be hungry here, quite opposite :-)

Internet is BAD. Let me repeat this - internet is VERY BAD. The only access point is the the hotel one, with very limited bandwidth and good part of connection problems. Cellular network is not much better either, so there is no alternative like mobile internet.

You can chat over it, you can even make voice calls over Viber / Skype with variable quality, but more than that (like video calls or intensive online work) - forget it. If your work / life heavily relies on online - maybe you should consider some other part of Italy for your holiday - by information from here, bandwidth problems is not just problem with this hotel but with this whole rural area, Calabria.

Public transport is non-existent; you can either use taxi (10€ to Briatico in one direction) or rent a car (from 50€ / day, depending on car category and selected RentACar agency). Count on 2 - 3 days to get car in high season (August) when you do your planning.

All in all - this was nice and interesting vacation. Hope that this post will help you for same :-)

Average food and management

DanandRaquelon 12/10/2016 21:18

We arrived for a weeks stay and were greeted with a luke warm response, i guess its the end of the season??? We had a room up by the pool, to the uninitiated, thats a 100m hike up a 1in 2 hill, not for the faint hearted. Not our favourite spot.....room cleaners are very nice tho:)
Beach is good but the food is really average with day trippers being offered a paid option where as the 'in mates' got the average stuff, all the usual suspects, about 15 different takes on pasta in tomato sauce. Nope, not for us

❤️

Jexy29on 02/09/2016 09:18

The best resort with so friendly stuff, good food and for sure best azzure beach. Must recomend for both families with kids and couples.. Had memorable time and will definitely visit this place again!