Villa Soraya

Up in the hills, it's so quiet that you don't hear any city noise. The owners are very nice, and the garden around the pool has equipment for relaxing or working if you need it. A very nice place, spacious and well equipped.

The mattresses were too hard for my taste, but the rooms were clean, roomy, and perfectly fine. The garden was much bigger than I expected from the pictures. Breakfast was magnificent, better than a five-star hotel, with fresh food and produce from their own vegetable garden. The city is only a 10-minute walk away, and its restaurants are very good and excellent value since it doesn't seem too touristy. It's a great base for exploring the Amalfi coast.

The pool was clean and deep, with a lovely, large garden around it, but its opening hours were limited to keep it spotless. Watch out for the sharp ceramic edge by the pool. I got a deep scratch while swimming near it, though luckily we had first aid supplies with us. Breakfast was one of the best we had in Italy. The arrival started badly. The driveway is very steep and narrow, and the welcome felt lukewarm, not like the Italian hospitality we'd become used to. We paid a lot and hadn't been told our room was an underground basement room. I was shocked when we were shown in. It was damp and poorly lit, with just one window in the shower facing the road, where scooters and cars made noise as they climbed uphill. The room was spacious and clean, the AC worked well, and the beds weren't very comfortable. The towels felt rough, like they were meant for exfoliating skin. The shower drain was a known problem that hadn't been properly fixed, so it flooded every time we showered. The tap was broken too, but that seemed minor compared with the flooding. Getting to the room meant crossing grass that was slippery after watering, then taking a difficult staircase. It was far from the parking, so we left our suitcases in the car. I asked if we could park closer briefly to unload, but the owner said their private parking was never for guests. We told the owner about the room problems. After checkout, I got a message from booking about a "no show" case. It seemed to me that the status of our stay had been changed to keep us from posting a review, and booking seemed to go along with it, caring less about honest reviews than covering for its advertisers. The good breakfast and pool didn't make up for the unpleasant experience.

It's a quiet little place above Vietri, away from the loud, packed, crowded Costieri Amalfitana. A hidden gem where you can relax by yourself in a beautiful garden full of Oranges, Lemons and pomegranate. The rooms are small but very nice. Highly recommend.