Grand Hotel Moon Valley — Hotel in Vico Equense

Food & Drink

Food was average the first two days then magically improved and then went a bit average again. The shrimp Rissoto was lovely but on one day we had tinned peas... this coincided with a very big wedding reception so I think hotel guests became secondary at times. Drinks were a bit steep (5 Euros for 330ml of Peroni), I suggest you stick to water at 3 Euros a bottle then buy beer over the road.

Air Con

You have NO MANUAL CONTROL over the aircon. You have to call reception to just either turn it on full blast or off... what a joke.

Breakfast

Breakfast food does go a bit luke warm by about 8.30 so get down early if you want it hot. The continental selection is replenished often and the cooked food has always been abundant even after 9AM. Coffee was good and there were bottles of Prosecco on ice, not my thing at breakfast but still impressive that it's included. The juice is a bit weird as people have said, like a mix between fruit juice and squash, but still nice. The fruit selection was good and you could squeeze your own juice if you could be bothered. No smoked salmon as some have stated...maybe they can't stretch to it anymore!

Breakfast included: scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, thin continental style bacon, toast, rolls, croissant, nutella, selection of lovely jams, and some other sweet cakes and pastries, yogurt, chocolates (smarties or m n ms type things) and a mix of cheeses and fresh cut ham. Mix of cereals and warm/ cold milk. I've missed some out but thats the gist of it. Juice, coffee, selection of teas, Prosecco and fruit!

Pool

Pool is lovely and clean and quite warm, but the weather was 28C plus when we were there, might get a bit chilly otherwise.

Staff

Staff are friendly with great English. The waiting staff were excellent but there is no real concierge to speak of. It was a case of check in then take your own bags up on arrival. I could have asked for help but should I really have to?

Rooms

The room was sort of rustic with lots of wood and some nice paintings and a superking bed. The cleaners came everyday and mopped, plus replaced all towels and tidied up (made beds). They were very nice friendly staff. Tv was a bit tiny!

Get a sea view room on the 2nd 3rd or 4th floor, the view from 4th where we were was spectacular, overlooking the bay of Naples.

Wifi

Wifi was good apart from having to login every few hours for the first 2 days...they sorted this though and we had 24/7 access at a good download rate all free of charge. However towards the end of the holiday the wifi slowed a bit and we kept getting logged off again despite having all our guest details entered correctly.

Noise

With the balcony doors open on 4th there is a bit of a traffic noise issue, but the problem goes away when you close them and go to bed. Function noise was also minimal up here with the doors closed, but we were well aware of it with them open. There were about two late functions each week.

Traffic

Crossing the road is tricky. You either wait 5 minutes for a gap in traffic or just walk out and make them stop like the locals do. It moves very slowly like a constant pile up so it's not that dangerous. Just watch for the bikes that weave!

Travel & Transport

Walking down to Seiano train station is no problem, we did it with a buggy as you don't need to cross the road to get there. Although there is a very very narrow footpath right outside the hotel, it's really not that narrow on the way down. Coming back I suggest you get off the train at Vico Equense and get the Circolare Destra bus into Seiano to save yourself walking back up the hill in Seiano. The bus drops you right by the Pizzeria opposite the hotel. You will find it tricky to locate your bus at the station in Vico Equense though as they aren't numbered, even the locals are buzzing around the drivers saying Circolare Destra? Etc etc... a bit chaotic really...

In conclusion, this hotel is let down in places like traffic and hit and miss food. But key areas such as the amazing views and wonderful pool keep it...

Had a 2 week stay at this hotel recently, here are our thoughts on the place. First the not so great. There is loud music late if they have an event on, if you are in a pool view room this will most likely disturb your sleep. Staff can be slow to clean up tables outside/poolside and ashtrays etc. Staff smoke on back stairs from the pool and there is a large collection of tab ends collecting on the roof - see pic provided. There is an ant problem in some of the bathrooms, which I did raise with reception probably a bit too late. Annoyingly there is no lighting on the balconies if your room has one. Drinks are far too expensive - Disaronno and coke, which comes with too much ice when they don't ask if you even want it - this costs you the pricey sum of 9 euros and is called "a special cocktail"??, its 6 for the booze and 3 for mixer, this is NOT acceptable for what can only be considered a splash/mixer. Pool guy is helpful but does give special treatment to Italian locals reserving beds for them with hotel towels and then removing them once they arrive to claim said beds. I did report this to the receptionist and was assured they would speak to the pool guy, this didn't appear to happen. As another reviewer has said, the locals takeover pool at the weekends and are quite rude and are quite intimidating kind of pushing people out of their spots. The dining room doesn't have much ambiance and could do with some background low level music, this would be nice by the pool too as I noticed they have some speakers at the pool bar. It appears that dining used to be downstairs but the layout of use has been changed and some areas feel neglected from use. Hotel is mainly clean but could be cleaner even light fittings are full with flies, make use of the 3 or 4 pool guys/handymen that sit around chatting all day and get them doing some maintenance. It's definitely NOT upto UK 4 star standards which is why Jet2 have given it 3. Now for the more positive side, although not much to do in the local area, only one shop, the young guy in there is friendly, (it's a couple of minutes walk away and the road does seem to be a bit crazy but we navigated it without much issue)helpful and speaks good English, but it is quite expensive. A coffee/shop and a few restaurants, harbour is walkable via some steps but takes approx 30mins, but this hotel is clearly all about the views - see my photos. Main attractions are Sorrento and Naples which can be reached easily by train - Cable car in Castellammare is worth a visit, again get the train. Staff are mainly very polite and helpful, especially the guys on reception, Marianne from the restaurant and the Maitre d and Chanluka just for his smiley face😂, if there is nothing to your taste on the menu you can ask for something else and they will do their best to provide it if they can. We had no issues with the food, always something to eat and plenty of choice at breakfast, if unsure just ask someone. The pasta is always lovely and always cooked to perfecto👌!! Coffee Gelato is the best and it's made in-house. The sunbeds are the comfy variety to go with the nice big pool - first pool towels included if you would like fresh ones they are 5 euros pp. The beds are comfy and made up daily along with fresh towels daily. Bathrooms are equipped with a decent hairdryer and hair and body wash(which is topped up regularly), small soaps and shower caps are provided. There is a mini fridge in the room along with free WiFi all around the Hotel which worked fine for us, also a digital safe is included, which was fab. We where half board and by the 2nd week realised it didn't seem to be an issue to bring our own soft drink to the dining room. Hotel provides a free shuttle bus that runs daily to varying places and are very accommodating where possible if it's fits in with their daily schedule. Don't be put off by any bad reviews, but do your own research, as like any hotel, it's not going to...

We visited as a family of 4 Grandad myself and 2 children aged 6 and 8. We had a fantastic first impression. Views were incredible, impressive mountains to one side and the bay with Vesuvius on the other. The sun rises over the mountains in the morning which we could watch from our large balcony in our 4th floor family room. Best points a fantastic swimming pool area, clean and modern. Pool was too cold really in October but the children still went in and enjoyed themselves. Outside showers and plenty of seating areas. a free shuttle bus! Book this on arrival for the next day. It’s a great drive out to Sorrento. The driver stopped close by for scenic photos. They can arrange a return journey too. Would highly recommend using this. amazing service. Room cleaners were very friendly and attentive. Bar staff extremely friendly Salvatori was a great bar host providing our family with bar snacks alongside our drinks which was great especially after the children had been playing. Waitresses worked very hard with a busy restaurant any issues were dealt with swiftly and with no fuss. in expensive soft drinks around 3 Euros and a glass of wine around 6 or 7 Euros the surrounding gardens were beautiful and extensive worth adventuring around, we found pomegranate trees and beautiful cacti. Lizards and birds. Bats and owls on an evening. A lovely spot for nature. breakfast was extensive with hot food bacon and eggs, pastries, cereal, pancakes, yogurt and fresh fruit. We filled up on breakfast and sometimes skipped lunch. excursions plenty to choose from and some can be taken from the local harbour with a free shuttle bus to get you there. Highly recommended. Down sides the train to Pompeii 😔 the train station is a short walk down hill from the hotel. About 5-7 minuets. There is no ticket booth. We used the tap on tap off facility. The trains run regularly every half an hour, the trains are absolutely rammed full of people you’ll just have to squeeze on in which made for an uncomfortable journey but it wasn’t long maybe 20 minuets max. No conductors on trains as you can’t actually move around them. The train took you right outside Pompeii entrance which was excellent. the food you have to order your evening meal at breakfast and it’s not an extensive menu selection, 3 starts and 3 mains to choose from, no children’s menu although for adults the food choice was fine, the children struggled a bit as it wasn’t particularly tailored to children but no one went hungry. The children did enjoy the deserts on offer and pizzas. The staff did say they’d work with the children on what they wanted but it wasn’t required by us but could see it being difficult for picky eaters. Other things to consider The busy road, it’s a bit scary but actually so are all the roads in this part of Italy. Sorrento centre was the same. You can’t escape it. Be vigilant. People don’t always stop for you at crossings. It’s just one of those things I don’t think it would have been any different had we booked a hotel anywhere else. The roads are just busy!

Mosquitoes they are still about in October we got bitten.

All in all I would recommend this hotel especially if...