Residence S'Isula Manna

There’s no lunch or dinner at the hotel, so you’ll need to eat at nearby restaurants. It’s close to both restaurants and the beach, and breakfast was decent. Staff aren’t always around. We arrived early planning to leave our bags at 12:30 and explore until 15:00, but the reception was closed and we didn’t feel safe leaving the luggage there. We had to take it with us in the car to lunch. Luckily, the place we parked near the restaurant felt safe.

The hotel is a little out of the way, but shops and restaurants are quite close, about 1 km, and the beach is around 1.5 km away. There’s no restaurant, so after breakfast you’re on your own for food. A poolside bar has drinks and coffee, but closes at 8pm. It’s a nice small hotel with a great pool. The rooms are small but clean and tidy, and the beds are firm. Breakfast is okay rather than fancy, with fruit, yoghurt, ham and cheese, scrambled eggs, bacon, cakes, and croissants.

We planned to spend two nights at Sisula at the end of our road trip through Sardegna, but after the first day we left for La Maddalena to finish our vacation in comfort. Even as we checked out a day early, the owner stayed on the phone and showed no interest in why we were leaving. The walk into Orosei felt much longer than the map suggested, especially at night. There are very few streetlights, and some stretches are completely dark, with grass or bamboo 3-5 meters high on both sides. Bring a flashlight and watch for animals. Driving into town is an option, though finding parking there may be difficult. Our August arrival was unpleasant from the start. Reception is open 9-12h, closed 12-15h, then open 15-20h, but those hours weren’t in our booking confirmation or on the website. We arrived at 13h and were caught off guard. It’s only open eight hours a day, which, according to Italy’s hotel star rating system, shouldn’t qualify for even one star, let alone the four stars the hotel claims. When we messaged the owner/manager, he rudely insisted he’d emailed us the hours, though he hadn’t. He sent a screenshot of an email to a completely different person and claimed it was ours. After we pointed that out, he apologized for the mix-up but offered no way to leave our bags or check in early, despite the hotel not being full. We waited a couple of hours at a beach bar/restaurant 15 minutes away until reception reopened. The room was hot and humid. The air conditioning only works while you’re in the room, and it was incredibly weak. Even on full blast, it lowered the temperature just 1℃ overnight, from 27º to 26º over 10+ hours. The person checking us in said the wi-fi was having issues, and we couldn’t stay connected throughout our visit. The hotel is remote and our cellular connection was poor too, despite there being 4-5 wifi connections that didn’t work. At the pools, one had over a dozen dead wasps floating in it. The bar beside the large pool was only open 17-19h, and the young teenage girl serving us seemed like the owner’s daughter. The aperol spritz she made was poor. Music played from a boombox at the bar, repeating the same 5-7 Italian pop/techno songs. We heard the whole playlist three times in about an hour by the pool. This was a terrible stay. The hotel claims four stars but didn’t provide what I’d expect even from a two-star place. The owner was rude and arrogant, and the staffing seemed inadequate for maintaining the property or providing good service. Don’t be fooled.

The pool was one of the best parts, but there was nowhere to get food or a drink there, which was a shame. Our room was clean, though the mattress was hard as a rock. The online photos didn’t match what we found, most of the guys weren’t very friendly, and breakfast was poor. The hotel didn’t meet our expectations.