Riva Del Sole

Overall, our stay was disappointing and unfortunately the hotel did not live up to the expectations set by its website. The photos online are quite misleading, making the hotel appear much more modern and luxurious than it actually is. In reality, the rooms are very basic. Upon arrival, we were allocated Room 108. We quickly discovered that none of our UK travel adaptors would fit the sockets, which was frustrating. I had also specifically booked and paid extra for a room with a balcony or terrace, but the room we were given had neither. When I raised this with reception, I was simply told there were no other rooms available, which wasn’t the welcome I had hoped for. The following morning, I spoke to a different receptionist who was much more helpful and was able to move us to a room with a balcony, 209. While we appreciated this, the room itself was still very basic, just slightly larger than the original. There were several maintenance and amenity issues throughout our stay. There was no safe or iron in the room, only one usable plug socket and every time we entered the room there was a strong smell of drains. The air conditioning unit also leaked continuously whenever it was switched on. Breakfast was quite limited, with a small selection of fruit, pastries, bread and eggs. It was adequate but lacked variety. The location was another downside. Although peaceful, it is around a 30-minute drive from Bari’s Old Town and taxis were incredibly expensive. One journey into town cost us £45 one way and there is very little else within walking distance of the hotel. On a positive note, the restaurant served delicious food throughout our stay and all of the staff we encountered were friendly, polite and welcoming. Their service was definitely one of the highlights of our visit. Overall, while the staff and restaurant were excellent, the hotel itself fell short of expectations due to the misleading website photos, basic facilities, maintenance issues and inconvenient location. I wouldn’t choose to stay here again.

Excellent breakfast, well-maintained pool, and beach that are always clean. The only downside is the lack of dining options for lunch since the beach bar had few alternatives for small children.

Such a shame as when we arrived we liked it but it soon went downhill. First of all you’ll realise that the hotel is nowhere near anything and you have to get buses everywhere, not even a corner shop , and busses are very unreliable and you have to buy tickets from reception with cash only. On our first day we went to the pool only to be told off for not wearing a cap , yet at no stage even when we checked in no one told us about this rule , not even on their website, poor communication. Rooms have no safe, no kettle and air conditioning unit was very poor, we were sweating mad all night . Hotel has only one restaurant which unbelievably is closed during the day during the week so all you have for lunch is a small snack bar which only serves a few sandwiches and salads and salads at 15 euros are way too expensive so if you have a family it gets a bit boring eating at lunchtime with hardly any choice. They don’t even serve fries or anything else , after a few days I was sick of eating the same cheese sandwich every day . Why on earth can’t they give you more options, very poor . Main restaurant when it opens does offer good food but the service was shocking , a guy that works there called Antonio is defying the wrong job as he’s constantly stressed out , shouting at other staff in front of customers and once he even punched one of the doors, unbelievable!!!! But the WORST part of it is saved for the weekend , we went to the hotel seafront and were told that us tourist that have paid to be there can only sit in a secluded squared area , not close to the sea, we couldn’t even use the loungers , this area is a tenth of their area and the rest is only for guess what ??? Italian , as they charge them a day rate so the hotel makes more money , we felt like sheep being put in an enclosure, I’ve never experienced this before anywhere else, I pointed out that we’ve paid for this so we should be allowed to sit where we have been sitting all week but we were told we aren’t allowed !!!!SHOCKING!!!!!! ID like to write about positive things but there weren’t many , staff are friendly , breakfast is good but unfortunately because you are in the middle of nowhere it makes it really difficult if you haven’t hired a car .