Santa Vittoria Camping

We stopped for a night with our campervan and trailer, and everyone we met was welcoming and helpful. Roberta handled check-in, was lovely, and knew the area well. Our Italian is very limited, but her English was excellent. The restaurant was a real highlight: the pasta was among the tastiest meals of our whole holiday. Grazie Mama. The toilets and showers are still being updated, so there are a few things left to finish, though the facilities already available are to a very high standard. The building work is for travellers' benefit, so don't let it put you off. If we're this way again, we'll definitely stop by and look forward to seeing the finished facilities.

The campsite closes from 12.00 to 15.00. We arrived with our caravan around 11.30-11.45 after travelling around Europe for a month, and were told entry then would cost us half a day's fee, about 25 euros extra. We'd booked ahead, and the daily rate was already a steep 54.00 Euros. The owner came across as a real madam, though fortunately another woman was there to calm things down. The toilets and showers were dated and poor. The man cleaning them seemed very angry, and my 11 year old daughter turned straight back from her shower because he and another man were apparently having a full-on argument. Cars aren't normally allowed beside caravans. I have a mobility badge and explained that parking elsewhere wasn't possible, so they let us keep our vehicle next to ours on this occasion. The evening before we left, after we'd paid the taxes and got our passports back, the owner reminded me we had to be out by 12.00. I said we'd leave as soon as the gates opened at 8.30am. She gave the impression she was only in it for the money, with no concern for paying guests' comfort. Service here could be much better, perhaps if someone who cared about customer service owned the place. We won't return or recommend it to anyone we know.

For €140 for 4 nights, I expected more than a cramped patch of dirt. Our tent barely had room for a table, and all the tents were packed close together. There was no grass like in the pictures, just dust, and we had to wash our shoes in the sink before leaving. The location wasn't good either: Sestri Levante is 1,5 hours away on foot, and the bus only runs a few times a day. For this price, I'd expect either a lot of facilities or a much nicer location. There's no pool, playground, restaurant or supermarket here. Parking was a mess even though we paid extra for it. One of the management women was constantly annoyed, shouting directions about where and how to park. It seemed they had invited too many people for the space, so cars had to be squeezed right beside each other. The showers and toilets were okay, but there was no soap or toilet paper, which you'd usually get at this nightly price. We checked out at 12, then needed 50 minutes to clean the dusty tent. Bugs kept jumping onto it from the trees overhead, so there was a lot to clean. The website said to leave by 1 p.m. because the gate closes, but from 12.30 the woman stood waiting for us to hurry. We left at 12.52!!!!! and she said waiting had been a favor. That attitude summed up the place: everything felt like a favor from them, instead of us being customers paying for a service. The management was rude and unfriendly, and the price was far too high for what you get. One star only because you can sleep there and shower. I would have given zero, and wouldn't recommend it.

It was really peaceful, and the new showers and toilets were fantastic. No coins needed.