You may love it or you may hate it. It depends on your expectations and... your pockets. There is some positive to say about fortevillaggio, like wonderful pools, great entertainment, beautiful beaches and gardens , great setting, and sometimes good food but there are some points that are quite irritating. Fortevillaggio seems to have become a russian mecca with prices for everything (most things need to be payed extra) sometimes in the stratosphere.


Definitely small like a cruise ships are the rooms (bungalow). They are so small and simple it's difficult to walk around, so is the shower and bathroom (beds are also less then confortable) . All of this is difficult to accept as you pay a 5l* price for barely 3* rooms.

The rooms are so small that at reservation they told us we would not have space for a supplemental 2 month old baby... immagine....with this price tag.
The price tag of this place is definitely amazing and I guess it has been driven up by a large number of russian guests. At our staying of the 1300 guests more then 60% where russians. By itself this is not a problem, beside that most of this people just want to show they don't care what they spend and the hotel seems to have plainly adapted raising prices to a level it make look a four season , oberoi and banyan tree as cheap and price dumpers.
Wine prices are in the stratosphere and so are food prices. Here a sample:
local lobster 210 euro/kg (it goes for 65 euro in other high end places in europe) , crayfish 130 euro/kg, prawns 115 euro/kg, hamburger 16 euro. Of course there were (russian) guests ordering 4 portions of pasta with 8 lobsters for lunch...
Most prices are just unbelievable. And there is not much choice: if you want to leave "paradise" the closest town is PULA 8 km away. The hotel charges a whoppy 108 euro (no it's not a typo) for a taxi there and back. There in Pula you can find the restaurants that carry the same 77 euro wine you get in fortevillaggio for 20 euro (so if you plan to drink two bottles I guess it's a bargain...). Same for most other wines: the Percarlo wine for example that can be found at 55 euro in a gourmet restaurant in Switzerland costs in fortevillaggio130 euro. It just seems they multiply wine street prices prices by 8-10. But this are still the "cheap" wine. So if you want to throw you money in wine bottles away this is the place to do it: la tache 2001 for 7800 euro, margaux 90 for 3400 euro, dal forno amarone 97 for 1400 euro and Sassicaia 97 for 1850 euro. You really have to be russian to pay those prices....

Of course you can go to the free buffet in the evening but a few people will do this the whole week.

Another irritating experience is just the level of noise: it seems you can hardly eat in peace just enjoying the beach. Like someone else already commented in tripadvisor it's like beeing in an autogrill (italian highway fast food chain) most of the time but paying the prices of a gourmet restaurant. The amount of people and the "open kitchen" concept everywhere make you feel eating in a kitchen all the time as you constantly hear dishes, pans, machines, cooks at very elevate noise.

Staff is friendly but mostly unknowledgable. They seem to have been hired for the season for a specific job and can't usually be of big help. At the front-desk they don't know when is sunday mess or even when the concierge is open (they have to check all this in the documentation) ...and ... the concierge manage to be closed daily for 5 hours between 9 am and 9 pm... (!!)

If you want to show your kids/family that money does not matter this is the right place to be and you will end up with a total bill that excels easily most 5*L luxury resorts in a hotel that is far away from it. If on the other side you have been in a One & Only, Four seasons, Banyan tree or starwood luxury collection etc... you will be highly surprised how little you get in fortevillaggio for your money (as in most places with large number of russian guests).

Or said differently: if you want to be in a crowded noisy place and you want to be able to show to everybody that you really don't care being ripped off this is definitely the place to go.

Whilst my wife and I have stayed in several luxury hotels on our own, we decided to take our two young children (5 months and 3 years old) to what was described by travel agents as "the best family resort in the world". Indeed it apparently won an award for this in 2001. The idea being that the excellent childcare would allow us a few hours a day to relax on our own. Our expectations were high and so was the price for a fortnight in a family bungalow plus in Il Villagio.

The accomodation wasn't up to scratch. It was cramped and the bungalows are terraced so you can hear your neighbours every move. Furthermore, the interconnecting door between our room and our childrens' had the soundproofing capabilities of a well worn flip flop. Added to this, you have to endure the sound of cheesy cover versions being belted out by the live band in the square until midnight every night. During our stay, the culprits were a band called Six in the City. Six in the crowd more like.

I spent the first 3 days loitering around reception and haggling with the manager and assistant manager for an upgrade. To their credit, this eventually happened but not before they let a conference of 650 delegates check in. It became apparent that coprporate events are the resorts main focus and families are a sideshow/inconvenience. As just one example, we received a call from reception to advise us not to go to our usual restaurant one evening as it was closed for refurbishment. We strolled past to see it full of Nokia delegates that evening despite the building works. An impressive effort.

When our big room move came it was into 2 adjoining rooms in La Pineta. The rooms themselves were much better (although the pillows were still polyester and don't expect any bathrobes, slippers, welcome fruit bowls) but we could still hear the music from the square every night and were even treated to a mortar attack (childrens' fireworks show) at 11pm one night. The real disturbance was from the 2 rooms above us which came to life at 2am with a furniture dance across the tiled floors. We had moved into the Dragons Den and had to listen to corporates rolling in drunk every night. Perhaps they were moving their flipcharts around.

Whilst our children slept well every night, we woke up each morning feeling like we'd been camping in the garden.

You might be thinking get a life and let your hair down, but the options are very limited - the restaurants pushed us out the door by 10pm every night with no offer of coffee, which leaves the option of listening to Simply the Best again or browsing the shops for extortionate outfits best left to Russian call girls.

There is no denying that the resort has great facilities and does an impressive line in conferences. We met some good people (with the same complaints). The grounds are well kept too and housekeeping are very efficient. The rooms themselves are tired though - our showers didn't drain well (all 4 of them!) and the room safes were not fixed to the wall. Doh. The only thing they were good for was storing our toothbrushes so that housekeeping didn't do anything unpleasant to them).

The childcare isn't amazing - unless your child is 4 they won't look after them all day so you have to collect them at 12.30 and return them at 3pm. Normally what happens is they have a siesta and you don't bother dropping them off again in the afternoon. So you'll only offload your sticky noise machine for a couple of hours each morning. Furthermore, quiet a few people we met had problems getting their children to settle in the mini club and gave up on it. Even our 3 year old son who loves nothing more than annoying other children in nursery started to get bored of the mini club after a few days. He stuck with it though, albeit with a few bribes and a fatherly shove after breakfast each morning.

My final grumble would be that you are fleeced from the moment you arrive. It may actually make you feel violated. Here are a few examples - if you want to go to the gym to use the treadmill €25, can of local beer poolside €6.50 (the same can costs €0.90 in the supermarket 400 yards from the entrance gate), can of coke from mini bar €5.50, room service to deliver dinner €40 - that's just for the 5 miunte trip on the golf cart and not the food itself, 48 hour laundry for a child's t-shirt €8. We ordered a banana from room service (with various other things) and they tried to charge us €13 for it. Needless to say, we told them where they should put it. If the cost of booking the holiday was less than a Ford Fiesta then it would be fair enough to be fleeced on the extras.

This place is best left to rich families with children aged over 7. For a definition of rich I give you the following quote which was left on our bed when it was turned down: "If you can actually count your money you are not really a rich man". How to make your guests feel good!

Having read the other reviews of this resort I felt I had to contribute, albeit briefly. Our family have stayed here for 7 consecutive years but feel it is now time for a change. Forte Village was wonderful when we first started visiting and was ideal for a family with young children. The accommodation is fairly basic in Il Villagio but fine for the amount of time we spent in the room. The children's restaurant was great for my daughters and they initially enjoyed the Baby Disco. The staff were, on the whole, friendly and welcoming, and we have some wonderful memories. However, I do feel that the resort has been going slowly downhill over the 7 years we have been visiting. Each year seems to have become busier and busier and the demographics of the guests has most definitely changed. It has become increasingly difficult to get a sunbed at the pools or beach and the beach in particular has become unbelievably crowded. I did become one of those people I despise and resorted to going down to the pool when it opened in the morning and leaving stuff on sunbeds while we had breakfast, something everybody else also did. The food at breakfast and dinner at La Pineta has been consistently good, if a little repetitive, and in all the years we have visited noone in the family (including 2 young children) has ever been ill. However, the behaviour of some guests at mealtimes has been shocking and indicative of pure greed: people piling plates with food so that the food is falling off the edge of the plate, pushing in queues, and at breakfast cramming bags with rolls, fruit, ham, cheese, biscuits and so on, no doubt to eat at lunchtime. The entertainment has ben good although the Baby Disco has become more and more jaded each year with the Mini Club staff who organise the dance looking extremely bored and only going through the motions. On the subject of the Mini Club, both my daughters loathed it and having gone once refused to go ever again.Incidentally, timimg is critical; if you go in high season the place is incredibly busy; go earlier or later and you may find that the resort is full of loud and rude business people there for a conference which completely ruins the family atmosphere. So, all in all this resort was great while my children were younger and we will remember it fondly. However, now they are older we have begun to go further afield and have had superb holidays in Oman and Abu Dhabi. Forte Village is extrememly expensive for what it is and we are now able to get better quality holidays for our money.