If it weren't for the Gorge we'd have left, but the proximity to the water saved it for us
20 August 2024 at 08:33:45
We booked our stay through Eurocamps and having stayed in a Eurocamp resort in Sardinia earlier this year we thought we had gone into this with realistic expectations. It didn't, however, meet these expectations (not even a little bit).
Our initial pull to this resort was the Gorge, but for us - that... was the only good thing unfortunately. When we arrived, the accommodation was very basic, we didn't have any bed linen or towels despite having booked them, and our mobile home didn't have any air conditioning which made it unbearable in the 35 degree heat. Upon arrival (after reception had closed) we had a tense couple of hours while we tried to track down some staff to ensure we had something to sleep on - we thought we'd have to sleep in the car! We also didn't get the bed rail in the toddler kit that we had requested, instead being given a broken travel cot where the side rails wouldn't lock in and it kept collapsing with my daughter in it.
We were given 2 small fans to keep our family of 5 cool (we'd actually have been better standing over the children and wafting them with a piece of paper as the fans were very ineffective). There was no oven or grill so we could only cook with the hob or microwave - we managed OK with this until the microwave overheated and broke which then meant we couldn't sterilise our baby's bottles. The beds weren't comfortable, the plastic covered mattresses meant that the bed linen constantly slipped off and as it was so hot we had to sleep with all the windows open which meant we got eaten alive at night by insects. One good thing about the accommodation was the water pressure and temperature of the shower - I was expecting something rather disappointing and actually it was a cracking shower!
The Eurocamp website listing explains that there's a restaurant, snack bar and bar - these are in fact all one-and-the-same. The restaurant menu is very limited if you don't eat meat/fish and it's VERY expensive (the most expensive meals we ate were at the camp site and we ate in some really lovely restaurants off-site). The pizzas from the snack bar however were delicious and came very quickly!! The staff in the restaurant work very hard and are busy all night long so kudos to them. The most frustrating thing about the restaurant was that it had nights where it was "reservations only" and served a set menu but the reception staff didn't inform us of this so we got caught out a couple of times where we went to go for dinner and couldn't because we hadn't pre-booked. I think a simple mention at check-in would go a long way so guests don't get caught out.
Again the website said it has an on-site grocery store and a bakery, when in fact the bakery is just a shelf behind the till in the shop. The shop is also very expensive, some cheese, a cucumber and crackers cost over €10 and if you don't have one of the more luxurious mobile homes the BBQs are €10 per half day to hire or €80 for a week. That being said the shop is very well equipped and the fresh baguettes and croissants were delicious and they had fresh produce on the bakery shelf being restocked all day.
The pool was VERY busy (we never got even one sun lounger) and the water was so warm, but the water slides were very fun and quite refreshing compared to the bath-temperature swimming pools! At the risk of sounding like goldilocks, I've never come across a pool that's too hot on holiday before, they're usually too cold!
The evening entertainment was OK - it was very loud and some nights went on late into the night. The shows were varied though. The water sports rental staff were really helpful and friendly too.
The reception staff were also very helpful and tried their best (where they could) to resolve any issues that we presented, they gave us one additional fan, but it came completely unassembled and we were given no tools so my partner had to be quite creative with ways to assemble and tighten screws; when a group of 10 of us needed to find somewhere to eat as the restaurant had one of it's themed nights on unexpectedly they rang around a number of local restaurants until they found somewhere that could take us which was really kind of them.
For me, the pull to this resort is the Gorge, but there's a lot that could be improved in this resort to make it feel 4* - if it were in a different location without having the Gorge shore we would have ended up leaving and finding somewhere else to stay, but thankfully the Gorge and some lovely friends we made along the way saved the holiday for us!
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