I stayed in Positano for 4 days, during a friend's wedding in September. I was in a triple room with 2 mates for the duration. The area was beautiful, weather was excellent, people were friendly, and the hotel was decent enough.
LOCATION -
Not the best. The village, beach and Church below are at least 20 mins walk downhill on poor steps that you could easily trip on. We found that the shuttle bus going down every half hour was the best way to navigate around, however, when the bus dropped you off, there were still several steps to be used to get down there, and one street which had a terrible slope on it. Close to the hotel itself is a corner shop, 5 or 6 decent restaurants and most importantly, an ATM machine just up the hill. All of these were within 5 - 8 mins walk from the hotel.
ROOM -
Clean and well-sized. One double bed and two fold up singles. The fold ups were fairly comfy, but the double was an exceptionally comfy bed.
TV was in a location where you didn't have to stretch your neck regardless of the bed you were in which was nice. 99.9% of channels were in Italian though, and as I don't speak the lingo, the tv was useless to me.
Bathroom was average size, not huge but not cramped either. It was well ventilated, so no steam built up after a shower, and thankfully, there were proper shower doors as I don't like curtains!
Wardrobe was an average size, sufficient for a handful of garments, and the safe was in the bottom of this. The safe was not electronic so we had to carry that key along with the door key wherever we went.
Balcony was nice as it was partially shaded most of the day, and carried beautiful views of the bay and village below.
Air conditioning system was first class.
HOTEL ITSELF -
Corridors were long and winding. To locate our room from reception, we had to use two lifts, walk 1 extremely long corridor and use a stairs to get between buildings. Not suitable after a day walking around the cliffs!
Swimming pool was nice and big, no diving board though. Poolside restaurant was average enough, didn't think it was spectacular at all.
Tennis court was a good size and very well kept, but they only had three rackets so we were unable to play doubles which would have been nice.
BREAKFAST -
Same as the majority of places in Italy. Buffet style, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, yoghurt, breads, pastries, fruits, cereals, coffee, tea, juice etc all available. Could get extremely hot in the indoor seated area while eating and was scorching on the patio area also. Beware that sun at 9 in the morning!
STAFF -
Some had English, some did not. All were as helpful as they could be to us.
BAD POINTS -
For me, I like to pay for everything as I get it. During my stay at the hotel, I dined at the poolside bar, got in the pool a few times, used the tennis court. Every activity or meal you get on the premises will be charged to your room, which was unsuitable to me personally, as a rather large bill had to be cleared on the day of departure. Some people may prefer it that way but I didn't like it.
VALUE -
€145 per night for the room between three of us represented good value for the time of year, the area itself (Positano is by and large an expensive place), and the good room.
THE LAST WORD -
A lovely town and overall a pretty good hotel, all things considered. However, because you are so far away from the village, and due to the steps, I would recommend that older couples carefully consider their options at this hotel. The bus that passes the entrance is almost as essential as the hotel itself! Heaven knows there's enough walking to be done at the bottom of the hill without perambulating the arduous trip up and down the cliff to the hotel
- Domina Hotel Royal
- Domina Hotel Positano
