This hotel is located outside Pisa which is what we wanted as we wanted to pop into Pisa for a few hours but we were not bothered to stay in the city itself.

The hotel has a grand entrance (which is difficult to find) and the rooms are small but clean. The area surrounding the hotel is very pretty with lots to do - golf range, archery, tennis etc.

The breakfast was nice, and the members of staff were pleasant.

However .... there is a nightclub owned by the hotel about 500m away which plays dance music until 4am in the morning. On phoning the night porter I got told it is unlikely i can hear the music, yet i could hear it word for word!

On complaining to the reception in the morning they stated that they did own the club but it was 'at the owners discretion' as to how late and loud the music was'!! This response came quick and fast and sounded like a response which had been stated many times before!

If you want 3-4 hours sleep and are willing to join in the rave (either from your room or at the club) this is the hotel for you!

Beautiful villa in Tuscany .An Aside main road but the place is isolated from traffic and noise. Very quiet and relaxing place to romantic holiday.
Roomy and well equipped room. Indulgent stuff.
You must have a car go to anywhere.

How do you rate a hotel is the question? Stars are fa airly meaningless guide. To my wife and I the facilities are important, but if something is not correct then the attitude of the staff is critical. Location and ambiance is also a highly rated factor. The Calamidoro has all these factors. It is favorably situated 6km North of main Livorno-Pisa-Florence Autostrada (non-toll) just 25km from Central Pisa and 60km from Florence. Access to the Tuscan hills, villages and countryside is easy.

We arrived on a very hot (34°C) July afternoon and checked in. The reception is in a separate complex to the main hotel complex. I would not advise staying in a standard room in the reception complex as it can be noisy, (I suspect) from the disco, main road and poolside activities. The reception staff were smiling, happy and very helpful. Their English was good-excellent. We were escorted to the main hotel complex which is located through an electronic set of gates opened with your room keycard. The room we booked was a "duplex" with the bed on a second floor mezzanine deck. The lounge and bathroom were located on the lower floor. Some of the duplex' s are located on the ground floor of each block and others are enterd on the second floor of the block. Some have baths with shower whilst others have only showers.

The room we had was extremely hot and try as we could we could not get the a/c to work effectively, so back to reception who checked and found that the central a/c unit was tripping out frequently. They offered us another room for the night in an adjacent block with a different a/c unit while the electricians attempted to trace and rectify the fault so we could move back for the remaining 4 nights of our stay. Unfortunately the next day they had not rectified the problem so we permanently moved to the alternative room, which was not the duplex style accommodation as none were available for all our stay.

The "American" bar is in the central block and provides a venue for a full cold buffet-style breakfast with a variety of cold meats, chesses, fruit, cereal and pastries. The internet pc is also there with a printer attached, which is useful for attraction and map printing and online airline check-in (no MS Word or Excel installed). The bar is manned by Lorenzo and Carlo, both fluent English-speakers and a fountain of local knowledge. Bar prices are a bit high, 7 euros for a beer, but if you are staying in 4-star hotel this is not unusual. The pool is nice but with only 14 stretcher sun beds it is under-catered, especially if certain nationalities "pre-book" the beds with their towels and books early in the morning!

Restaurants: There is an excellent restaurant, opens at 8pm, 7 days per week and meals are chargeable to the room, The restaurant is located around the pool next to reception. Prices are not too inflated and compared with other good-quality (not pavement) restaurants. There are menus are available in English, and other languages, and the head waiter speaks good English. The alternative pizzeria is adequate but not outstanding. Also on the complex, but not part of the hotel is the Wine Shop restaurant which serves a general menu of meat, fish, pasta and pizzas. Did not eat there so cannot comment. The Music Bar between the shops sells beer, wine and spirits at lower than hotel prices and from 6pm it serves a whole range of complimentary snacks, breads, pickles, dips etc. - Recommended!!. Carlo directed us, and booked for us, another restaurant in a nearby village, Restaurant delle Mimosa (left out of hotel car park, into Bentinia, right at end of market square, right at traffic lights, follow road as it bears left, up a hill 2-3km, and watch for Ice creanm Cone sign on the right, turn into street after cone sign and to the bottom of the street, park and walk into restaurant) booking is necessary as it is very popular with local residents. The ambiance is great, food and wine is good, service is excellent, prices good (but not cheap - 66euro for 2 courses and wine for 2 people). The menus are only in Italian and only one or two waiters speak a little English, but well worth a visit.

There is archery and a golf driving range onsite with a 1-hole practice tee.

Would we stay ther again? If we go to that region again-definitely.

Although there is a bus service to the station at Pontedera I consider your own transport to be a necessity.

My husband and I visited this hotel in early September 2007 from Thursday through to Monday. We found the room, food, bar, breakfast, staff and surroundings to be absolutely top notch. The staff are extremely friendly, the food in the main restaurant is superb and the room is extremely well equipped and spacious (although watch the television if you have children as "porn" seems to be a feature on several channels - including one that stated it was BBC!!).

However, we would most certainly return to this hotel with our children as we felt it catered quite well for all sorts. As others have mentioned, a car is a must - but that goes without saying.... if you want to see Tuscany then you have to have a car to get around.

There are also two really great pizzerias locally, one just a walk away from the hotel and the other is a pizzeria/rotisserie in bientina which has the most fantastic pizzas and tiramisu - well worth a visit!

The hotel itself is set in a tranquil and scenic setting - you really shouldn't be disappointed.