Resort Torreserena Resort

I especially enjoyed the choice of activities and entertainment, which made it easy to spend time relaxing or keeping active. The grounds were well looked after and spacious, and the staff were consistently friendly and professional whenever I needed help. My room was clean, comfortable and roomy, and I felt well cared for throughout my stay at Torreserena Resort. A lovely place to get away for a few days. I’d happily come back.

The food at lunch was good, though some options were better than others. Dessert choices were oddly limited to chocolate or lemon cake and a single free ice cream flavour, pistachio, apparently for refined four- and five-year-olds instead of the usual vanilla, chocolate or strawberry. There was a long queue at the only bar for drinks, and no juice station for kids in the standard all-you-can-eat offer. Everything felt confusing. The beach is included, but a room booked for five people only comes with two sunbeds, so extras cost money if you don’t want the kids sitting on sand that’s 50 degrees. There are also quite a few jellyfish and no warning signs, though of course that isn’t the hotel’s fault. To reach the beach you can walk about 20 minutes in 38-degree heat with no shade, or take a minibus. The sign marked “SHUTTLE BUS STOP” is apparently not where it picks people up. It leaves about 100 metres away, where people wait under the trees. Families can miss a bus and wait another 15-20 minutes, or go join that informal queue. With seven of us, we booked the extra all-inclusive plan for nine nights, one double room and one room for five, three adults and two children. Check-in took about 40 minutes and came with five separate paper cards for things like towels and the beach, which seem easy to lose. We were told they could send our suitcases to the room, but after half an hour we went back to reception and collected them ourselves; they hadn’t been moved. Then the room wouldn’t open because the building and room numbers on the envelope didn’t match the luggage. Eventually we got in. The rooms are small and don’t really look like the photos, though they are fairly new. Also, after taking payment for the first night when we booked, they said the rest of the fee still had to be paid or the room would be cancelled. They emailed, but my English phone number must have made a call difficult; the message went to junk, and I only realized something was wrong after the automatic cancellation email. I had to call to sort it out. If you’re planning a family trip with several rooms and want to be near each other, don’t count on help: one room might be in building 18, another in 7, and another in Bari. Customer service doesn’t seem to be a real thing here. This is only day one, so perhaps things will improve. I’m open minded, and I don’t think it can get much worse, though who knows. I wish we’d read the reviews more carefully before booking. The lovely photos were clearly photoshopped. We chose this resort in part for the adventure park, which my daughters loved at another place. But here it can only be used twice a week, for one hour, and only with the Serenino. That wasn’t explained when booking or checking in, so they barely got to use it.

The kids’ facilities and entertainment team were a real highlight, and there’s an included shuttle to the private beach. It’s a modern, well-kept property, and adults have a fitness area, padel courts, tennis and five-a-side football. Meals got a bit confusing, probably because there were so many guests, and the food was ordinary. Still, we had a very pleasant stay.

The pool could use work. It gets overcrowded and hot, and smells like a pond. It’s also quite deep for children under seven or eight who can’t swim, and its odd shape plus the crowds make it hard for the lifeguards to do their job. The rooms are small for a family of four, though at least there’s a little balcony. One disappointment was the adventure park: you can use it only twice a week, for an hour each time, and only with the Serenino. This wasn’t mentioned when booking or at check-in. We picked this resort partly because our daughters had loved the adventure park elsewhere, but they couldn’t really use it here. On the brighter side, this year’s Dream Team at Torreserena was terrific, with talented performers, singers, comedians and dancers. Restaurant, room-service and shuttle staff were professional and polite. Special thanks to swimming teacher Leonardo, who was so lovely with my shy daughters. They adore him, follow him around and stop to chat. It was a very positive experience overall.