1. Booking & price: we reserved directly with the hotel (it was handled fast and professionaly) a superior sea view room with balcony, at a steep price of EUR 285/night, breakfast included - quite a lot for a 4 star (but hey, what is cheap on the Amalfi coast in full season?). Balcony was not charged (usually it is, at EUR 20/night), as we booked 7 nights. However, this is useless, as it is very, very small and you can only stand in it. No place for chairs and table.

2. Room: size was medium but definitely sufficient, and amenities were ok (large flat TV, good speed and free internet, powerful aircon - there were 40 degrees Celsius outside, mini bar, safe etc.). Room was clean and kept clean every day by maids. There were two let-downs however:
- the less important was the bathroom, not at all up to the four star and this price level standards; although clean, it was dated and cried for an upgrade: tiles, sink, practically everything....
- the most important negative was the noise: although facing the sea, what you actually face is first a busy street (buses, motor bikes, etc) and second a small square where in the evenings large crowds of children and teenagers were gathering, playing, screaming, shouting, until 1-2 AM! I don't know what the italian laws say about such noise disturbances, but for sure the management needs to find a solution for this.

3. Breakfast: it was just fair, nothing fancy, with same usual stuff every morning. I noticed a strange tin cup marked for "staff tip", not usual in breakfast rooms (everybody was ignoring it). There were few tables on the terrace, with lovely sea view and, if you were not lucky enough to get one, you were stucked in the main room which was very hot, as all curtain windows were open and aircon not working. As a separate note, staff had the bad habbit to largely open common space windows during that heat wave, that raised in some parts of the hotel the temperature to unbearable levels.

4. Parking: it was free of charge and apparently large, but in fact very, very crowded, especially in the evenings when apparently locals were coming to dine by the pool. Was not uncommon to not find a free space and then we had to park in the middle, leaving car keys with reception.

5. Location: although on the sea front, the hotel had the noise disadvantages mentioned earlier; nothing much to do around, except a little restaurant in front of the hotel. Town center quite far, but there is a bus stop plus a complimentary shuttle. We used bus only once (tickets can be purchased at reception) to get to the port for our trip to Capri, as there was no parking there. At our return no bus showed-up so we were forced to take a taxi back to the hotel, which costed no less than EUR 20 (for only a few kilometres drive)! Beware.

6. Beach & pool: pool access is through hotel's private elevator and you can get discount tickets from reception, but still some extras for chairs/umbrella need to be paid on the spot. Otherwise, beach is public and very crowded with locals. You can choose either a small strip of black sand or the platform. Although first line chairs on the sandy beach were free, we were denied taking them, being told that are "reserved", but nobody showed up. Anyhow, communication with beach attendants is difficult, as their english is very poor. We preferred to spend more time by the pool and its own bar...You could even get lunch there. Towels were provided, there was no shortage of chairs and air was cooler, from the natural shade of the trees. Pool was a big plus and in the evenings al fresco dinners were thrown there.

7. Sorrento: lively and great little town, with action starting after sunset. Plenty of narrow streets with shops, cafes and restaurants, stunning sea views from the cliff (you can go down to the sea and beach with an elevator). Just stay away from touristy restaurants, busy and with poor service. Just grab a guide from hotel and you'll figure out which are really for you.

Overall, Mediterraneo is a good hotel but I give it only an average rating, as they charge too much for what they offer. They really need to put some more effort to bring it to better standards.

My husband and I stayed at the Hotel Mediterraneo in August 2011 for our honeymoon. This hotel is FANTASTIC! We had a corner room (I believe "classic seaview") on the fourth floor, with a view of the water/beach/lounge area out one window, with fabulous boats and sunsets, and a view of the pool/side street out of the other window. The side street made for great people and moto watching. Huge windows open entirely for great breezes! We let them know it was our honeymoon, and they had complimentary prosecco on ice waiting for us. The hotel has the classic feel you'd expect from looking at the pictures on the website. It's old world feeling, yet updated and modernized. The grounds are kept spectacularly, and there are plenty of places among the shade of the lemon trees to pull up a comfortable seat and relax with your drink.

Staff is wonderful (including front desk and bartenders who had us laughing each evening we spent by the pool), towels aplenty at the pool (if out, just ask and more are quickly provided), clean and gorgeous pool, convenient "internet room" downstairs, beautiful lobby. We rented a moto through the hotel and were able to park it for free in the little parking lot out back. They also provided maps and directed us to downtown Sorrento. We met lovely travelers at the hotel bar who gave us great advice on our Amalfi coast drive, markets, Sorrento.

The hotel is located near Sorrento, but not in the city center. There's a free shuttle to Sorrento we took once, it was convenient. Sant'Agnello is a cute little town with many restaurants right up the street from the hotel - don't take off to Sorrento for every meal, check out some of the places right near the hotel, as well.

Hotel food was wonderful - real, Italian meals; not watered down for American tastes as many hotels can be. Vesuvius Restaurant views are unparalleled, although we only ate there for the half board breakfast. Breakfast food was a good assortment of eggs, cold cuts, fresh fruit, yogurt, breads, coffee, tea, superb juices - eggs were watery everyday, though.

The shower in our room was painfully small. We'd definitely return, but request the superior seaview room instead so we have a jetted bath. Rooms were cleaned beautifully everyday and cleaning staff is friendly and accommodating.

We were so excited for the elevator to the beach! We never actually went down to the beach! We were too busy exploring Sant'Agnello, Sorrento, and the rest of Campagnia and relaxing in the room in between trips. The beach is a small Italian beach, typical for the area.

If booking here, plan to book ground transport before you arrive. DO NOT rely on the circumvesuviana train as the hotel semi-recommends (they state they're near the station). As another reviewer said, it's a 20 minute difficult walk among cobblestones and narrow sidewalks from the train station to the hotel. Finding the train at the estacion napoli is difficult as well. Might be easier for a European or someone used to the Italian train system. We found a bus from the center of sant'agnello to return us to the Napoli airport for our departure flight, hotel staff has the information and got us a cab to the bus station - much easier than the train!

All in all, the staff is accomodating, facilities are gorgeous, and we'd definitely return!