Travel Diary: My Summer holidays Part 3

My second week of travelling through the very Southern Italy and I am still very impressed of the beauty of the Amalfi Coast! Now I am on the way to Calabria and I just left the Peninsula of Sorrento, Vico Equense and the Capo La Gala hotel!

The hotel itself did a small change from the morning after my last blog entry! The requested and promised Lorenzo Villoresi toiletries were not in the room, but after I asked one of the super-friendly front office ladies, she immediately called all departments to get me the last products they could find! To top this service she also gave us a restaurant recommendation for a really wow-experience- we had the best dinner with locals only during this week!

The room itself was bright, with sea view window, comfy bed and nice bathroom with very small and old-smelling Palais Jamais Etro toiletries!

Furthermore there is a Spa with indoor pool, which is beautifully designed but not good managed (empty Ortigia soaps and terrible smell of dirty water in the corner o the relaxing room), as well as very nice Carthusia toiletries if you book a Prestige room or a suite! I do not like these hotels which make two-class system with the toiletries, this gives me more the feeling of a cheap hotel than a five-star property, but the front desk told me that they will have Carthusia everywhere soon! Again I have to mention the four ladies at the front desk, who are more than very helpful and they are so friendly - they greeted us like friends!

The breakast is a nice Buffet of a 5-star hotel and the service is friendly.

Although they try to be luxury in some aspects, which have to be improved for this price category, they get 8 Points out of 10 for one of the best front office staff I've ever had as a hotel guest!

Yesterday I had a great day in Capri! I went there with the Speed Ferry from Sorrento and experienced one of the most beautiful islands I've ever been! The streets are narrow and you can find every world-famous Designer you can imagine: there is a Prada store next to the funicular, a Louis Vuitton shop in the luxury shopping street and of course the Carthusia factory with the factory store around the corner - a MUST for every Capri visitor!

I have bought a nice 50ml perfume called 1689, which is a great male perfume mix by Carthusia! The price was 55 Euros for 50ml, which is not too overpriced for a nice holiday souvenier! Afterwards I strolled into the shop of the famous Qvisisana Palace, where they have beautiful accessoires in cool beige and brown colours.

After the shopping tour I passed by a very chic restaurant called Edodè, which serves excellent sea food! The only problem or shok for me was the service charge of 14 Euros!!! It was a nice lunch, but not really worth such high obligatory tip or service charge!

Travel Diary: My Summer holidays Part 2

Finally, after two days of sightseeing in Amalfi and Positano, we finally arrived at our last Property on the Amalfi Coast, which is the Capo la Gala Resort near Sorrento. I have to say one thing first: 

This hotel is a "luxe-wannabe" which means it is supposed to be one of the best hotels in Italy (like their website shows!) - in fact it is not! The very exlusive and unique toiletries of Lorenzo Villoresi (which should be in the room, as the website says!) were replaced by 30ml Etro Palais Jamais ones! They do not even have a Hair Conditioner!

Next, as we always got upgraded in all three deluxe hotels where we stayed before, we just got that room we booked, not even a balcony room!

The extra bed is not what I expected for 80 Euros, much more different from which I have experienced during these days and the pool shows up some not nice chemicals on top, as it is no floating pool!

Uuuuh that was my first impression, and as you might now: the first impression counts!! 

Good luck to Capo la Gala to show improvement the next four days!

Have a nice weekend, Daniel!

Staying on the countryside at L'Albereta, Italy!

It's holiday and the weather is very bad in Tyrol! What to do before the easter holidays? Staying at home? No, it's time for another discovery. How about a shortbreak to Italy's Lago d'Iseo.

As I am always looking for a great deal, I got a really amazing one via a Private Sale Site, which is for members only! 
For about 200$ per night I was pretty lucky to be the highest bidder! :-)

The location itself isn't that stunning, it's anywhere between Milan and Verona! The weather wasn't good at all but the arriving was indeed more exciting! After arriving in Via Vittorio Emanuele, 23 in the little town of Erbusco, we were greeted with a very soft and dreamy corporate scent by several room diffusors.

As we were one of their only guests (mid April, the week before easter), they upgraded us from a Deluxe Room to a Tower Suite with a covered terrace and a picturesque view over Lake Iseo and the surrounding. The living room with the guest toilet en suite was a nice as the bedroom with an oversized marble bathroom with plenty of Etro Musk toiletries, a multi-functional Jacuzzi tub and a seperate Jacuzzi Shower (which is very difficult to handle - it ended up with water coming out of all sides!).

The main reason for our stay in navy Franciacorta region was the Henri Chenot Spa (costs 30 Euros per person and day). As special guests with benefits at a much reduced rate the access was free of charge on all days for all three of us! Although the whole spa area is a bit dated, the service and the products come up to high standards! With missing tiles, the pool looks a bit unhygienic in some corners, but overall it is a very nice spa with excellent tratments at affordable prices.

The breakfast was included for us, too and would normally cost about 30 Euros per Person. As we had breakfast included, I would say it is a beautiful restaurant with a well arranged buffe with a nice choice of itlaian food. Eggs, coffee an freshly sliced Prosciutto from Parma can be ordered. On two of three days we were the only guests in the breakfast room from 9 till 10 am. Maybe it's becuase the other guests did not book a special offer as we did.

Not to forget is the famous restaurant of Italy's Alaine Ducasse: Gaultiero Marchesi. He is well known over the borders of Italy and he has the reputation to be the best cook in Italy, so the prices which rank from 60-200 Euros! As we were on a bargain trip we skipped the luxury dinner and went on the lakeside in the beautiful town of Iseo, where we had great pasta, fish and sparkling wine for less than 70 Euros for all three of us.

Beautiful Easter decoration made out of wine boxes!

If I would have booked the standard rate via the hotel's website I would have paid the more than 400 Euros excluding breakfast, spa access and suite upgrade. To be honest, I would have claimed for a total price of 1500 Euros for 3 nights!

In fact, it is a charming resort in apeaceful setting in the mid of nowhere and therefore the perfect place to recharge your batteries!