Alma di Alghero Hotel - Alghero, Italy 

We arrived in Alghero airport on a 6am flight from Stansted London. It took literally 20 minutes to get off the plane, through passport control, and to collect our luggage. We jumped in a taxi to our hotel, only cost approx EUR 15 and took about 15 minutes. On arrival at the hotel, first impressions were ok. The hotel is set back from the main road, so there are no sea views, there was building going on in front of the hotel, but it caused no upset to us. The reception is clean and the staffs are very friendly and speak perfect English. Our room wasn’t available till 3 o’clock. But we were able to leave our luggage in the hall (Not the best security but it was ok). That afternoon after touring the old town we were able to check in and gain access to our room. The rooms are very basic, but clean and a very good size. The walls are extremely thin; you can hear everything next door. But for 2 nights at a cheap hotel it was fine. The hotel is approx. 15 minutes from the Old Town, where there are plenty of bars and restaurants with good nightlife. We walked to the town both nights and also walked there for lunch – there are plenty of bars and cafes along the promenade but as we were there for a short time we decided to go into town. The beach is literally across the road from the hotel. If you walk up the beach away from the old town the beach gets even nicer. They tend to clean the beach from the seaweed (Alghero gets its name from the Italian word Alge (seaweed)) every evening, so it is a beautiful beach. Alghero old town is full of character and very good value for money, I expected the restaurants along the marina to be very expensive but the max we paid was 30EUR. If your on a budget stay in Alghero. We drove to Porto Cervo for the last 2 nights and it was amazing. But extremely expensive, please see my review on Hotel Balocco if you are interested in staying in Porto Cervo.

We had difficulty finding a hotel in Alghero because the tour companies appear to block book everything and many hotels will only take a booking of a week or longer. In the end we opted for the Alma with some trepidation based on the mixed reviews on Tripadvisor. This was well founded. The hotel is a concrete block on the main drag and is set back from the beach along an alley behind a building site. It is end on to the beach and sea so each balcony overlooks a block on one side or the other. It is a depressing sight and things don't improve when you go inside. We were greeted with the news that we would be expected to pay E15 per day to park in the hotel's car park! When we demurred, we eventually struck a deal at E5. This was not a good start and we ended up on somewhat hostile terms with the receptionist. The reception area is bleak with a fish tank, TV blaring and a few nasty paintings. The room was large but exceptionally basic with a tiny shower room in one corner and furnished with prison issue metal furniture. In fact the whole set up reminded us of a prison in Alabama or Western Australia for white collar criminals coming to the end of their sentence - a return to near normality so that they are prepared for their release. However the room was clean and the bed was reasonably comfortable. Breakfast was served in the windowless basement (formerly the underground car park?). The manageress resembled a wardress in her behaviour - she was unsmiling, unfriendly and always barking orders at the guests (if two people sat at a table for three, they would be swiftly kicked off; if you asked for fresh coffee rather than accepting the three hours old simmering Cona version, you were swiftly put in your place). The breakfast itself wasn't good, but we've had worse - at least the rolls were reasonably fresh and there was fresh fruit. We paid ?130 per night for a double which struck us as very expensive for what it was. We definitely would not return. By the way the Old Town of Alghero is attractive with some nice restaurants but it's at least a 20 min walk from the hotel, some of which is pretty scruffy. The beach across the road from the hotel is busy and bustling with nose to tail traffic along the road, vendors, rubbish etc. There was also a distinct smell of sewage while we were there. Why anybody should sit on this beach when Sardinia has some of the nicest beaches in the world, we fail to understand. Our advice would be 2 nights in Alghero (i.e. one full day) but at another hotel, and then move on.