HOTEL

Hotel Santrano is clean and tidy and is in a great location with stunning views. The two main faults we found were:
1.The staff were friendly but certainly not helpful or interested in us as guests.
2.The beds were incredibly hard. Consequently we did not have one good nights sleep in the 2 weeks of our stay. We asked the staff about the beds, but realised quickly that we were not going to get any help at all. A 'tough luck' attitude is the best way to describe it. My wife is fluent in Italian so it is not as if they did not understand the problem. We asked if they could supply mattress toppers. They said No. We asked if we could get extra blankets and sleep on top of them. They said No. Discussions with other guests revealed that it was not just us that were having problems sleeping.
If we had not booked the 2 weeks in advance we would have thought about leaving, which is a shame as otherwise the Hotel is fine.
We did not eat in the Hotel for several reasons. The restauraunt was always empty, no atmosphere, more expensive than restaurants in village, breakfast did not inspire us and I guess the lack of help over our sleeping problems put us off.
The breakfast was pretty bland and was exactly the same every day
Getting soap and shower gel was like getting a Red Cross parcel. Eventually we gave up and bought shower gel from the supermarket.
Towels and sheets were certainly not new, with holes and ragged edges
Swimming pool/sundeck was nice
Hotel dog very friendly

I would recommend the Hotel, if you like a VERY hard bed and are only staying a few nights.

LUOGOSANTO

Luogosanto is a great base from which to explore Northern Sardinia. Our favourite beach (Porto Pollo) was less than 30 minutes away. The village has two restaurants, Il Girasole and Da Tommy. Both are within 300 metres of the Hotel. There is a small supermarket, bank with cash machine, petrol station, several bars, post office and museum/information office. There was a festival during the first 2 weeks of September, which involved lots of mad bellringing and tooting of car horns every evening, but a great atmosphere.

TO DO

Take a day trip to Corsica
Visit Palau and Porto Cervo
Visit Capo Teste - great beach and rock formations
Visit La Maddalena Islands - out of Palau
Visit San Pantaleo - South East of Arzachena
Visit Tempio Pausania
Visit Fontana Filetta - overwhelmingly disappointing but a nice drive!
Visit the museum - they have a few decent brochures of the area

ADVICE/NOTE

The roads are narrower than in the UK, and are very 'bendy'
The signposts leave you guessing
The maps are inaccurate
There will almost always be someone tailgating you
Buy a map. We got one from the shop next to the supermarket

Best thing to do is try and avoid driving at night until you get the hang of the roads, and ignore the guy tailgating you. He WILL overtake you before too long! My worst experience on the roads was driving from Olbia airport to Luogosanto at night when we first arrived. It took 1½ hours to drive about 40kms! Another couple we met took 2½ to do the same trip!

A lovely 3* hotel located up in the mountains. The hotel is surrounded by beautiful scenery and is nice and quiet. if you've hired a car, then you are less than half hour away from some stunning beaches. The hotel also has a lovely swimming pool which was hardly used when we were there- great for an early morning or evening dip. the rooms are very clean and spacious, with lovely comfy beds. And the service was incredible! the staff were super friendly and really went out of their way to make our stay as comfortable as possible. I really can't rave about this hotel enough, I will definitely come back here if I visit Sardinia again.

Lovely hotel with beautiful views of mountains . very well situated with easy access into village /town of Luogosanto.

Car parking available on very hilly slope . Entrance main foyer very large with seating areas near reception. Bar and restaurant off main reception area. Outside dining .area with outstanding views of countryside. We took breakfast outside , good selection of buffet style produce jams,eggs,ham cheese , cereal, cakes etc . Evening meal selection menu posted in reception looked nice however did not eat here !We ate at Pizzaria located just across road execellent and very popular with locals .

Rooms are spacious and well equippped ,have satelitte Tv , air conditioning and small balconies. Bathroom was really big with shower wc looked newley refurbished to very high standard.

Pool area and garden a delight with views overlooking mountains, sun beds with shade
and railings around outside of sun terrace area. No inflatables including childrens rubber rings (which is pretty silly ) especially as we were only people in pool !

Overall lovely. Hotel staff very accomodating as we needed storage for insulin and quite happy storing in the fridge in bar with access to it at all times, very happy to answer questions about surrounding area .

Town itself really quaint full of character and charm , nice bars and restaurants and locals all very friendly .

Basic but very clean rooms with good air-con.
Fantastic location with beautiful views. The swimming pool was also extremely clean and well maintained in a gorgeous location with amazing scenery.
The hotel restaurant was excellent with very good food and service, which had a good choice of both food and wine.
In a lovely village with other restaurants and bars within walking distance.
Very friendly staff.
A car is a must if you want to explore the rest of this beautiful island.