Garden

The only things I liked were how close the sea and the market are. I won't recommend it, especially to families. On the website the place looks great, but that's only in the photos, and I wasn't satisfied with my stay. The rooms were unbelievably dirty. I could barely bring myself to shower, and when I reported a bathroom leak, nobody dealt with it. There weren't enough towels, and the bathroom had broken tiles. There was also dust and cobwebs. Apulian food is usually very good, but not here. They don't seem to know how to cook, and it felt like everything was about cutting costs. There were too few staff, with the same tired, stressed people waiting tables, cleaning rooms and working at the bar. If you ask reception for information, you can only hope they get it right. I've stayed in three-star hotels that felt like four-star places. Here, even a hostel reaches a higher standard. I could say more, but I'll leave it there.

The hotel's partner beach club was the best part for us: friendly service at a good price, and its food, where we had lunch after booking a table, was much better than the hotel's. I hope management improves customer service and maintenance and completely overhauls the food service so future guests have a more satisfying stay. I think it's worth sharing what went wrong so other travelers know what to expect and the hotel has a chance to raise its standards. We stayed at Hotel Garden in Vico del Gargano in August 2025, with our daughters, aged 7 and 2, and had a very disappointing experience. I booked through DayDreams, where it was listed as a family hotel. I may have made a mistake choosing a double room instead of a family room, but I had written in the booking notes that we had two children and expected to add a cot and pay the difference. Fifteen days before arrival, I emailed the reservation and specifically raised the issue; the reply said, "we're waiting for you," so I thought it was settled. The outside looks nice and well kept, but I couldn't see child-friendly facilities. Inside, the place needs a complete renovation and modernization, perhaps with the features you'd expect from a family hotel. The double room looked straight out of the 1980s, especially the bathroom. It was visibly dusty. Although the cleaners came daily, they seemed to make the beds and change towels and little else. The website says it is designed for children and has family amenities, but I found almost nothing for kids: just high chairs in the restaurant and three, yes, three, pieces of playground equipment on the terrace by the entrance. There's a small public park nearby, but it was disgusting, dirty, and full of cigarette butts, bottles, and other rubbish. The staff were fairly helpful, but apparently hadn't read the reservation or my early email carefully, which caused the mix-up. They resolved it by putting a cot in the available double room. It was cramped, but at least we could all stay together. The price didn't match what the online description led us to expect. We booked half board, with breakfast and a choice of lunch or dinner, but the food and restaurant service were terrible. The selection was limited, the food seemed frozen, the sauces ready-made, and the quality low. They made us choose the next day's meal the night before, with only two options, as if they needed to know everyone's order at least 12 hours ahead. Even with that system, nothing tasted fresh and we still had to wait. The waiters seemed inexperienced and poorly trained.

The hotel is well located, clean, and peaceful, and the beach service was top-notch. Food was average, with modest portions that were still adequate. We had a truly lovely time and will be back.

We stayed at the Garden Hotel in early August as a family of four, with children aged 7 and 11, in a quadruple room overlooking the sea-pine forest. The location is gorgeous and peaceful, the sea clean, and the beach lovely. I'd give the place a 10 if you can be flexible and focus on how it works instead of how it looks. You can spend your days at the beach and eat well, with plenty of food. The chef was excellent, as was the service, and the staff were friendly and ready to help. The children could order familiar local dishes like chips and cutlets. The cutlets were soft and freshly fried, not hard from being cooked too early or soft like precooked, mushy food such as spinach. For the price, it was a top hotel, with friendly staff. Special thanks to waiter Alfredo ... Angelo.... We had so many laughs with the other guests about how uncomfortable it was, but you have to be able to laugh about it. I left feeling the kind of nostalgia you get from films like 'Taste of the Sea', for the place and the people. Everyone had their own story, and I swear they told me all of them! At the lido, or any of the lidos, there's no music, so you talk, sleep, or swim. No other options, hahaha. We met them all in just seven days. See you soon.