Grand Hotel Dei Castelli

A beautiful renovated castle, in a perfect setting with fantastic views.

Overall, I would rate this hotel as a 4-star hotel with 3-star service. Our stay was a big disappointment as out of the four nights we stayed, three nights we had hot water problems and had to wait for the electrician to arrive before we could have a shower. I felt our complaints concerning this could have been handled more professionally.

The staff and service was superb. Very helpful and attentive.

The setting of both hotel and annex restaurant are stunning. Beautiful gardens and beach with great views. Well connected with the city centre too.

Seclusion with easy access to sea and Town. Terraced gardens were a delight but under utilised.

too much emphasis on the site's heritage whilst, at the same time, removing the sense of age. One half of the site was kept in overtly pristine condition whilst large areas of the grounds, and associated facilities, are neglected.

The ideal refuge after my exhaustive excursions to Cinque Terre ( Sestri Levante is the crucial railway junction in the region ). Adorable spaces, views, interiors, subtle, exemplary decorations. Comfortable room and matress, had the most pleasant sleep despite hot & humid weather. Interesting rocky beach. Gentle & helpful staff, Excellent restaurant, words are very poor to describe the quality of food.Superior hotel in all aspects. Lovely town.

The castle itself is interesting. Guest could have a free ride from hotel to train station.

Too expensive.

The restaurant service was not satisfactory, very poor.

Beautiful views on the grounds, breathtaking vantage point for the whole area, the ocean, the surrounding mountains. Terrific and friendly service, with special mention of the tireless Raffaella who was ready to help with anything. Nice breakfast. 12 minute walk to the train station. Very easy to get to Santa Margarita/Portofino or, in the other direction, to Cinque Terre. We were in the "modern" wing which was very elegant and comfortable.

The only thing that bothered me was that there is a charge to use the beach -- 15 euro per person per day. The charge is actually for your beach comforts--towel, chair, umbrella (plus 2.50 euro for every extra towel. My impression, though, is you don't have a choice, for example, just to bring a towel from your room and not use the 15 euro equipment. It's not that I think the charge would be inherently unfair if, for example, you were walking onto a public beach and wanted to rent a chair, etc., from a vendor. However, this is not a cheap hotel, and for the money being paid it seems absolutely absurd to charge that much just to use one of the hotel's fundemental amenities. All of this said, maybe every hotel in the area does the same thing, I really don't know. Also, I should say we werent there for a beach vacation -- we were there for sightseeing and hiking. We would have only used the beach on our final morning before heading to the train, but went to the public beach instead, since we only had 1 hour and we didn't feel like paying 30 euro for an hour of sitting on a beach! There is a 1/2 day charge option, but that seems to only kick in after 2pm. A qualifier: since we didn't go the beach (because of the stated charge), I am going by the information sheet left in our hotel room--which seemed very clear, but I'd welcome the hotel to clarify if I misunderstood the charge description. As others have pointed out, there is also a high charge for wireless internet.

A fantastic setting, gorgeous architecture & furnishings, absolutely first class service. We would highly recommend it. The most fantastic attribute was the elevator from the hotel through the mountain to the town & down to the beach.

The resaurant-food, views and service-were excellent. The access to the town via the private lift was very convenient.

I felt that the gardens could have provided some seating even though they were not yet fully open!

Elegant historic building in magnificent setting. Convenient for lots of places of interest including cinque terre

The staff provided a warm welcome and were helpful throughout our stay. We (including our dog) had a very special weekend there and will certainly return. The hotel deserves every one of it's stars.