Well, it was me and my friend. We were cruising on a road-trip along the Amalfi Coast this October and while travelling, we’ve come across one particular place, the La Tonnarella hotel. So we decided to make one-night stay at this hotel. Later it turned out to be a mistake.

The hotel itself has a typical Mediterranean setting and I found its appearance very attractive. We arrived late at night. Though the parking place was very small, elderly Italian receptionist was very kind and parked our car perfectly well. Then we had a dinner at the hotel restaurant, the service was perfect, the meals and wine everything was delicious, and the view was just awesome.

The other day we decided to go to the beach before leaving this place. It was a nice sunny day. The only problem was that you can go to the beach only by elevator. We’ve been told, that it is crucially important to have both doors closed in order to make the elevator move. Also we’ve been told that in case if somebody forgets to close both doors simultaneously, the elevator wouldn’t come up or go down. Well, we were on the beach for around an hour, and during that time only one group of tourists came down for a few minutes. It was 11:00 a.m. and we’ve got to check-out at 12:00, so we decided to get back to the hotel. So we came back to the elevator, but it didn’t descended. And here we found out that there was no other way from the beach to the mainland Italy, no emergency exit, no stairs or something of the sort except this ill-working elevator, which got stuck above. There was an alarm-signal button, which we constantly pushed for nearly an hour, but there was no reaction! At some moment God put mercy upon us, and one seldom tourist, which walked by and have heard our persistent alarm, kindly shut the second door, so the elevator moved down and we were saved. We went to the reception anxious to ask why there was no reaction to the alarm call. We were really desperated why they don’t matter their guests needs. The girl we met there, which turned out to be a hotel service, happened to be an immigrant from some Eastern Bloc country. She said in Italian: “I told you in advance, you should shut both doors. Everything else is not our business”. But we shut them both! And as the result we were trapped on the beach! It was not our fault that this damned elevator didn’t work when it was needed most. I tried to explain it to her in both Italian and in English, but she pretended that she doesn’t understand English, so I tried to say it in Italian as best as I can. It was 11:55 a.m. and we needed to pack our clothes and other stuff, and to take a shower before leaving the hotel. My friend asked me to let her know in Italian, that due to the circumstances, we need a little bit more time to pack our stuff. I’ve told him that it’s obvious and we don’t need any excuse for this belated check-out. And at this very moment the girl finally delivered: “No, it is not obvious, you MUST leave your room at 12:00 a.m., otherwise you will be fined according to the contract, you’ve signed”. Holy @#$%! It was a perfect example of commie hospitality. Un Servizio-Sovietico at its finest. We were shocked with such behaviour and such a barefaced insolence. It’s disgraceful to treat guests like that!

We had a wonderful experience at the Tonnarella this fall. Our room was great. We had two balconies to overlook Sorrento and the Bay. Restaurant had good service and food. The lemon cake was excellent. It was beginning of fall so the beach was private but we had one very nice day there.

Breakfast have plenty of variety and no rush to be served an get in an out. Both in and out you have great views and plenty of seagulls to watch floating by.

Sorrento is best explored in the evening when locals are out strolling and the day trippers
have left for the day.
Local bus service is good but take a little getting used to. If you arrive in the evening, can be frustating to catch the right bus. 3 local routes. We just took a taxi to our hotel. Pricey but we had a long day.

We took the Marozzi bus from Rome and that was fine. Bus was a little worn but it was easy to buy a ticket at the Tiburtina Bus Station and it was not crowded

We took the local train to Pompeii. It was a very easy trip. Sorrento is the end of the line. I had seen some disussion about the train but we had no problems. Some cars are much older that others but it was ok.

My husband and I just returned from a one-night stay at this hotel. A friend recommended the hotel for the view. On this point I will agree, the view is amazing. Our overall experience—just the opposite. It was horrible, and we were relieved to check out of the hotel.

Two days before we were scheduled to stay the night, my husband called ahead to inquire about booking a boat cruise to a bay we read about and found quite enchanting. The hotel staff said that the cruise could not be booked in advance, but as long as the weather was nice that day, we’d have no issues booking when we arrived at the hotel, even though our arrival was scheduled for late afternoon.

When we arrived that Friday around 1 p.m., the hotel receptionist said that we received misinformation, that they could only book boat cruises to the two destinations their partner tour company sponsored and that it was too late in the day to even book one of those. We were crestfallen as we’d really been looking forward to this.

On entering our room, we found a dirty plate and paper scraps left by the previous guest. We reported this to the front desk, but it was not cleaned up at any time during our stay. The room was nice, the view amazing, and bathroom on the grungy side. (I didn’t take a picture of the nasty toilet scrubber, because my husband said it would make anyone who saw it ill.)

The next morning, ready to start fresh, we inquired before breakfast about booking a boat cruise to Capri (which was one of the two tours offered). The increasingly rude receptionist notified us that if we’d wanted to book a boat tour, we would have had to make the arrangements the previous day. A big surprise to us, given that when we inquired the day before she did not offer this information.

We were completely disappointed.

I'm going to keep this review short & sweet!

La Tonnarela thank you so so much for a wedding reception fit for a king & me :-) I'm so grateful for you making my wedding day so perfect x