Forte Village Resort — Hotel in Pula

IN SUMMARY - Just book it, for two weeks if you can. It's a stunningly beautiful resort - there's so much to see and do. You'll love it!|| ||||INTRO||The Forte Village is a fabulous resort comprising eight hotels and thirteen villas, situated on the south coast of Sardinia between Pula and Chia. We picked it essentially at random having not been to the island before, and for a couples holiday couldn't be happier with our choice. ||||There's so much to see and do here that the website doesn't really do it justice, so hopefully my review will be useful. Also, as there doesn't seem to be a general photo gallery on the website, I've added quite a few pictures to help you get a better feel for the place...||||||ABOUT THE RESORT||Learning your way around the resort does take a couple of days, but there are maps alongside every pathway and an app that you can use for navigation. In fact, one of the first things you see as you exit the main reception is a 3D map of the resort, about the size of a snooker table, which somewhat disconcertingly you can walk over, as it is set into the reception floor and covered with glass.||||GROUNDS||The website really doesn't do the resort justice in terms of how it feels walking around. Red brick 'roads' connected to and between accommodation make it really feel like its own village. ||||The grounds are quite beautiful, with 30-foot tall pine trees which create a canopy of shade, and a wonderful selection of flowers in every colour of the rainbow. One thing we weren't expecting was the awesome mountain backdrop. ||||It's a very big place, so get used to a 5-10 minute walk from your accommodation to the beach, or you can wait at one of the 'bus stops' and a big golf buggy will appear to take you wherever you need. ||||The hotels and bungalows are all linked by various walkways and the tastefully paved 'roads', where the aforementioned golf buggies ferry people around, families zoom past on their rented bicycles and the maintenance staff whizz around on their own little motorised trolleys.||||ACCOMMODATION||Even though they consider themselves separate, you can pretty much walk in and out of any of the 'hotels', often without even realising you've done it. And many, if not most, of the hotel rooms are in fact self-contained bungalows, with a patio area and/or semi-private garden.||||After an email conversation before arrival with the Andrea, the rooms division manager of the property about how I really wanted a peaceful location, we were fortunate enough to get upgraded to a room in the five-star hotel 'Villa del Parco' and the service was first class - nothing was too much trouble, with champagne in the room to set the tone. Hotel manager Alessandro made sure our stay was absolutely perfect. ||||Our bungalow was fantastic. Huge comfortable bed, a small 'living area' with sofa and chair, plus a walk-in wardrobe. The bathroom was almost as big, with a huge bath, shower area, two basins, toilet and bidet. The only thing it lacked was an extractor fan...||||FOOD||Villa del Parco has it's own private terrace for breakfast, with full hot and cold options, and eggs Benedict or omelettes cooked to order. Guests of other hotels will havetheir own options, with a big area overlooking the Oasis pool.||||Given how much we ate at breakfast and dinner we didn't really have much lunch, but there are myriad options from pizza to sushi and everything in-between.||||On half board we had access to four a-la-carte restaurants and one buffet for evening meals. These are mostly set around the Oasis pool on the upper level, so have great views.||||First, and quite surprisingly in an Italian beach resort, was the curry house 'Indiano'. Subsequently we ate at the Sardinian and Brazilian restaurants, and the Forte Grill. All the menus were delicious and well cooked. ||||Indiano was great, with so much food! Starters, curry, naan, rice, lamb chops on the side. We were stuffed!||||Sardo had a great local menu, including house specialty suckling pig.||||The Brazilian wasn't our favourite. The chef brought the meat to the table in a huge skewer, first some chicken wings, then sausage, beef, veal and lamb chops. The chicken wings weren't that good, but the rest was lovely.||||Forte Grill, as you'd expect, is a steak house. There's a menu with chicken kebab, lamb chops, steak and burger included in your half board package, or you can spend a lot more on some rarer cuts. The sirloin we had was ok, but a bit ovedone.||||The Cavalieri buffet supposedly put on a special 'Tuscany night' midweek, but it was unclear what was Tuscany related! There was, however, a superb selection of food and an amazing pianist. We only ate here once as it was kind of frenetic compared to the calm of the a la carte restaurants.||||Lastly we were invited to the Belvedere in Villa del Parco, a gourmet restaurant on a fabulous terrace overlooking the park. There's usually a supplement of €95 to eat here, but it is really worth it.||Chef Giuseppe Molaro has a Michelin star for his creations, and it was fabulous. The wagyu carpaccio in particular was astonishingly good.||||There are plenty of other restaurants we didn't have time to visit, often with Michelin star chefs and spectacular views across the sea, so check the Forte Village website to read about those. ||||POOLS||There are several pools, so you're spoilt for choice. Again, there really aren't any photos of these on the website. ||||All sunbeds, parasols and tables in the resort and on the beach have a qr code that allows you to order from the bar, which is handy...||||We spent most time at Castlello pool, which is surrounded by pine and palm trees, and generally quiet. The pool looks out across the Mediterranean, and the view is quite stunning, plus you're protected from the wind that can whip up off the sea. You also get the music from the Tiki bar coming through the trees, mostly reggae and pop, and not so loud as to be a disturbance. ||||The Castello pool is reasonably large, about 25m, and there's also a 10m-ish round pool that's 5m deep - maybe for PADI training if you want to learn to scuba dive. The sunbeds are super comfy, and the fabulous concierge/lifeguard always on hand to help with towels or to move your umbrella.||||For people that like something bigger there's the Oasis situated at the centre of the resort and the Aquapark near the hotel entrance.||||The Oasis is large with many areas to swim, four-poster sunbeds all around, as well as the usual chairs. It gets VERY hot in there, as it's sunken into the ground and gets no breeze at all, so beware!||||The Aquapark is great fun, with four straight sides and two flumes, as well as a kids play area, a 25m lane pool, and another large pool on the upper level. The slides are all pretty gentle, so suitable for all ages. It does feel a little tired compared to the rest of the facilities, however. ||||BEACH||The beach is lovely and the sea a beautiful turquoise colour. It is, however, quite a lot smaller than the one website photo I could find. There isn't really much of a tide in the med, but when it's high or is a bit stormy, there's barely enough room for two rows of sunbeds as the sea seems to have reclaimed a lot of the sand. Also, the beach isn't quite as 'pristine' as the website claims - there was a lot of seaweed on the beach and in the water.||||We went in early September when the resort was very quiet, so there were plenty of sunbeds available, but I can imagine it's pretty crazy down there in peak season!||||LOCATION ||There's so much going on in the resort you could spend two weeks here and still not do everything on offer, but as well as enjoying the fabulous facilities, we hired a car and went to four other local beaches;||Su Giudeu - huge, beautiful but very busy||Nora - quiet with fish that bite you!||Tuerredda - small and stunningly beautiful, but beware you must reserve a space on the beach on the website before you go!!||- Cala Cipolla, just over the headland from Su Giudeu. That one is much quieter, with no bar or facilities, but also beautiful.||||All the beaches are quite stunning, and you can wade out into for several metres before even thinking about swimming. But swim you must, the sea is beautifully clear and warm.||||CULTURE||I thoroughly recommend you check out the Roman ruins at Nora, about 15 minutes east along the coast. There was a whole town here 2000 years ago with a court, theatre, fountain, and many houses. The archaeological site costs €10 to walk around, but you'll be amazed at what they uncovered, as well as beautifully preserved mosaic floors, Roman roads, the works. You can truly imagine the atmosphere all those years ago, with the stunning views across the med and up into the mountains as a backdrop.||Has society actually moved forward since then?!||||CLIENTELE||The guests were almost entirely Italian, with maybe 10% English and German. This is probably the reason for my only minor gripe - some of the bar and restaurant staff didn't speak much English, and I speak almost no Italian, which caused some frustration. Maybe a tip for next year - get some frozen daiquiris on the beach menu, with a happy hour in the afternoon ;0)||||However, staff in reception and management all spoke perfect English.||||COST||This is very much a five star resort, so you should be ready to pay for that. The upkeep of all the pools, restaurants, accommodation and gardens must cost an absolute fortune, not to mention all the staff, so expect to pay a lot for add-ons, activities, drink and any food not included. ||||Just as a guide, a beer (¾ pint) is €8.50 and an Aperol spritz €16. The wine list is huge and there are many bottles on there over €100 and even some Château Pétrus at €14,000 if you fancy that. Sardinian house wine is about €45 and perfectly acceptable if you're on a budget.||||COUPLES V FAMILIES||We came the first week of September as a couple to relax and absolutely achieved our aim. The weather was perfect, 30° and sunny every day, the pools and beaches fabulous and the food delicious. We didn't use the spa, but there's plenty of relaxation treatments available if you want them, as well as yoga, saunas and solariums. ||||There are so many things for kids and families that I couldn't list here. But there are extensive sports facilities, including separate academies for tennis, coastal rowing, rugby, netball, fencing, cycling, boxing, climbing, dancing and more!||||HEALTH ADVICE||Bring bite cream and anti mosquito spray. We were bitten in reception before we even got to our room and collected more throughout the week!|| ||||FINAL THOUGHT||This isn't a cheap holiday, but it's absolutely worth it. The grounds are stunning, the pools plentiful and the surrounding beaches beautiful. The food is exceptional and the staff all fantastically friendly. ||||It really was one of the best holidays...

So we went to Forte Village, thinking it would be a perfect place for a larger family get away with 10 people, which included 4 kids and 6 adults. We took 3 villa garden room and 2 connected premium rooms. I write this review in comparison to many other hotels and resorts we have stayed at where the price per room per night is over 1,200 Euros, therefore there are some basic expectations which they failed to meet. There were many Pros and Cons to staying here however for those who do not want to read the full review in detail, my recommendation would be to stay away from this hotel as it is WAY over price for what you are getting in terms of quality of rooms, facilities, dining options and overall organization. There are many better options anywhere else in the world and if Forte Village wants to charge the prices they do, they need to do some market research and see what their competitors globally offer in return. And if you think it will be great for the kids as they have many sports academy, do your research on the price as it will shock you when you get there (some prices mentioned below), it is beyond over priced! For those who want to know more details, please continue reading.

The general organization in this hotel is extremely poor. They do not have a centralized location to book your activities or any excursion you may wish to take, and the time it takes for you to organize something you lose almost 2 days. The timings of their various activity centers are ridiculous, things open at different times and close in the afternoon and then re-open at different time, either 3pm other things at 5pm, it makes no sense. As vegetarians, for us the dining options were very limited. For lunch they had 2 restaurants that worked for us and both were Italian, they could not make anything else for us and in the Italian they had a very limited menu. They only had pizza in one restaurant and pasta in both, but had no other mains, like risotto, egg plant parm, etc… Both restaurants had “soup of the day” and EVERYDAY it was the same soup, Minestrone! Very lazy of them if you ask me. Again the F&B was poorly organized and there was no head of F&B that could help us out to coordinate with the restaurants and make something else, which in every other resort we would go to, for the price that’s being paid, would be available, or at least an effort would be make. For dinner out of the 7 restaurants 5 were just Italian and 2 were BBQ based. So for us the lunch and dinner menu was the same. The first day we tried to organize something but there is no central head for F&B, every restaurants runs independently and was impossible to get something sorted. Don’t get me wrong, I love Italian as much as the next guy, but after a few days the same three options start getting to you. So we ended up going out for dinner a few times to Calgiari, which was 40 mins away (not very convenient but had to make it work). They had 2 buffet style restaurants but the one that were not, where reservations were needed, only opened after 8pm, which made it late for people with kids to eat together. Regarding the sports academy: So while booking, we were excited to see the list of activities for the kids, HOWEVER there is no price list mention on their website. When we got there and went to the various activity centers (again poorly organized as this too was not centralized), we came to see the prices they were charging. For group lessons for tennis 130 euros for 1 hr per child, the same was for fencing and 80 euros to play table tennis for an hour, for 90 minutes of group football class they were asking for 250 Euros! It was price gouging at it’s best. They even charge a DAILY rate for renting bicycles in the resort, this I've never heard of for a hotels room that we paid over 1200 euros a night. They purposely do not mention the prices on their website, in hopes that people assume it’s either included in the room price or that it would be a nominal...

At the start of June visited Villa del Parco and Spa within Forte Village. This was a family stay for myself, my partner and our two young children to break up a longer trip around Sardinia. Our stay may have only been short but it was very memorable for all the right reasons. ||Upon arrival, we were welcomed by friendly staff and taken to the reception to do the usual forms, etc. The kids (4 & 7) were each given a soft toy parrot of the village mascot 'Mario', which they loved. This set the tone for our stay. The children were well catered to throughout, and it never felt like they were just being tolerated which for previous trips to other destinations with a young family had felt the case.||We stayed at an interconnecting bungalow, which was lovely, well appointed and felt secluded. The beds were very comfortable and the finish was to a very high standard. The bathrooms were stocked with quality products and offered both shower and bath which we always appreciate. Having some outside space between activities was well appreciated by all the family. ||As I've alluded to above, there's a real family focus, with lots of options for activities and entertainment for the children. Ours enjoyed a day at the kids club, and several trips to the splash pool. The splash pool or should I say mini aqua park being a particular highlight for them as there were slides and things to play with that suited both ages suit both ages. The kids club also had a train which took the children on an extended route all around the park and they loved it. When we collected them they both had big smiles and lots of stories.||The food offering was excellent. Breakfast was lovely, with a range of quality food and drink to suit everyone (even fussy children!) . We dined at Le Dune on the first night and Belvedere on the second. Both were outstanding. Again, it's worth mentioning how the staff went out of their way to ensure two fussy kids were well catered to - this enabled us to relax and enjoy our food - which isn't always the case elsewhere! Our accommodation was on a half board basis where we had lots of choices (where to dine as well as what to choose on each menu).||We managed to squeeze in a trip to the spa to while the kids were in the kids club, and did a circuit of the Thalasso - I would highly recommend this, we thoroughly enjoyed it.||It's worth noting is that this Village is huge and made up of many different areas joined together by golf-cart serviced walkways through lush forest and gardens. Each have different types of accommodation and inclusions depending on the experience you require. Some would suit families better, some couples, some either. The Dune apartments right on the beach couldn't be closer to the ocean and we hope to try those next time. There was so much that we saw but didn't have time to experience during our short stay... everything looked fantastic and I would happily bring my family back here but next time for longer . There were many pools, a centre square with entertainment each evening, shopping, countless restaurants and even a go karting track and circus tent! ||The real gem of the resort, however, are the staff, who made us feel welcome and like part of the family. Carolina at Villa del Parco was just wonderful, the kindest and most genuine person who made our stay truly effortless. Nothing was too much trouble and she was so warm to the children- even giving them a magnet of their parrot friend for the fridge to take home as we departed.||I don't take the time to write many reviews but I felt this one was highly deserved. We look forward to returning and for anybody looking for a luxurious stay with 5 star service that makes children feel as welcome as adults this...