The hotel is a mixture of styles – the public areas seem quite old and traditional, but the rooms have been refurbished in a very modern minimalistic style. Our room was quite large and had masses of storage space for clothes etc. We had a door leading out to a narrow communal balcony overlooking the pool and gardens. Everything in the hotel was clean and well kept. The gardens are quite pretty and on the day we arrived was hosting a wedding reception.

The hotel is about a 10 minute stroll to Piazza Septembre which is at the entrance to the ‘old town’ where most of the bars and restaurants are. On the same trip we also visited Sorrento and Amalfi and Martina Franca is far less touristy, although it does attract quite a few Italian tourists. We found that very few people here spoke English (in comparison to Sorrento and Amalfi). We found only one restaurant which had translated the menu into English so at the very least you need to be able to order food and drink in Italian.

The Reception staff spoke a limited amount of English in comparison to our hotels in Sorrento and Amalfi (but still better than my Italian!). However, when we had a problem contacting our car rental company to sort out a problem, the Reception staff were very helpful indeed.

Just a few of words of warning. (1)The electricity sockets in the hotel are not the standard European ones (see photos) and the adaptors we had taken with us did not fit. We had to ask Reception for an additional adaptor and they only had one they could lend to us. (2) There are 2 public computers in the Reception area for which you have to pay 2 Euros. The display on the one we had was so flickery and faint that we couldn’t decipher the numbers of a telephone number we were trying to find. (3) Wednesday is Market day in Martina Franca and the market is set up immediately outside the gates of the car park to the hotel. No one had told us about this and when we were leaving on our last day, we had to drive through the middle of it!!

Very nice hotel which was centrally located. Lovely gardens, shame it was too cold for us to use the pool. Rooms were as expected for a 4 star hotel and we were lucky enough to have a little terrace to get a few hours of sun. Quick stroll into town, would recommend eating at the Piazzetta Garibaldi for something simple and tasty.

As detailed in our previous review we returned to the Park hotel San Michele in June. This time with the weather on our side we were able to make full use of the facilities. The garden out front of the hotel is superb with a really good pool which was hardly used. The quality of service and food has been maintained and a special mention must go to the waiter Pietro who speaks fluent english and goes out of his way to make your stay memorable. We would have no hesitation in recommending this hotel.