Carlton International - Sorrento, Italy 

After reading recent reviews we feared the worst from The Carlton, however we really enjoyed our stay there. Reception and other public areas were very pleasant as were the staff and service in the dining room was excellent. Breakfast was ok but evening meals were very good. Rooms were fine, although the bathrooms are small and liable to flooding from the small shower. The pool area is lovely and the best thing about the Carlton is the location, just a minute from Tasso Square. Sorrento is lovely and great for exploring the surrounding area. Dont miss the Amalfi drive to beautiful Positano and Ravello. We took an organised trip for this drive but did other visits to Capri and Pompeii independently which was fine. Cost of boat return to Capri was 29 euros and trains were pretty cheap to Pompeii. Take plenty of spending money as drinks and snacks are quite pricey, 5 euros for medium beer and 3 euros for coffee. I hope we will return one day, my particular favourite part of Sorrento was the grand marina which appears to have retained his old charm.

This was our second stay in Sorrento (and 2nd stay at the Carlton) and we loved every minute. The hotel itself is good, we had a room on the 1st floor with partial views of Vesuvius. Air conditioning is highly recommended as the sun is on the balcony from 4pm onwards and it's very hot in the room! The breakfast was ok, usual choice of cereal, fruit etc although the evening meal was very good. It was better than it had been 3 years previously. The hotel was happy to provide a packed lunch in lieu of evening meal and we did this when we had a day out (bottled water, chicken, eggs, ham, cheese, bread rolls), you just need to advise them the evening before. The pool area is lovely, although it is quite expensive for sunbeds - 12 euros per day for 2. I do think that a 4 star hotel should include sunbeds and air con in with the room price. Also the guests from the nearby Eden use the facilities so it can get quite crowed at times. The barman, Luigi, is a gem, he is so friendly and works so hard. He helped us out with our Itailian and always had a friendly wave and hello whenever he saw us. Sorrento itself is beautiful. The marina grande is a particular favourite, it's really like stepping back in time, and it is so much cheaper than Piazzo Tasso. We could get large beers for 3 euros and a half a litre of wine for 3 euros at the marina, although it was @ 5 euros for a beer on the main square and wine was @ 6 euros. Positano is gorgeous. We took the ferry and it only cost 17 euros return, the journey was around 1 hour giving us plenty of time to look around, have some lunch and meander through the streets. Overall, we had a fabulous time and would not hesitate to return to Sorrento.