Review: Hilton Sorrento Palace, Italy

My partner and I are huge fans of Italy having had amazing times both in Venice & Lake Como previously. As we don’t tend to like returning to the same place twice we decided to visit a completely different part of Italy this time and settled on Sorrento due to its beautiful coastal views & recommendation from our family. We paid a little over 1,400 euros for a 4-night break Friday – Tuesday at the Hilton Sorrento Palace. Breakfast was included for free in our room rate.

Location

The hotel is about a one-hour taxi ride from Naples Airport station which in turn is roughly a 2h 20 flight from London. We prebooked our taxi before arrival with a company called Sorrento Cars which had good reviews online, it cost us 90 euros. You can use public transport (bus + train or airport shuttle) but rather than faff around due to a late arrival we thought a taxi would be the easiest option. If you don’t want to take a taxi the next easiest option would be the airport shuttle which drops you at Sorrento Train Station.

The hotel is located on top of a hill and roughly a 10-minute walk to the main Sorrento Town Centre & a further 10 minutes to the Ferry or Train Station. If you are able-bodied everything is within comfortable walking distance, though the steps to/from the ferry may be a little challenging regardless!

Hilton Sorrento Palace

As you enter you’ll notice what a vast open lobby the hotel has, the check-in area is directly in front of you. To the left, there is a desk for a tour agency. To the right, you have the lounge/bar, Sorrento Lounge. Through here you also have access to the La Terrazza Lounge Bar and down the steps to the pool/garden area. If you go right and walk to the end you’ll see the lifts on the right-hand side.

The Room

Before arrival, we reached out to the hotel and asked for any potential upgrade options as we had only booked the basic garden view room. We were offered an upgrade to a King Executive Room for 150 euros a night, we accepted this offer and then before check-in, we noticed we’d been upgraded to a King Executive Suite.

As soon as you walk into the room you’ll notice that the Suite is split into different sections separated by sliding doors. You enter initially into a ‘hallway’ with mirrors on either side and a wind-up music box.

Through the doors into the lounge section you’ll notice the fridge immediately on your right in the cupboard. Underneath this is tea making facilities.

Straight in front of you is a good size desk including a coffee machine, phone, lamp and connectivity ports.

In front of this is two sofas with a small table (with our 6 euro Welcome bottle of prosecco :D). In the corner is a TV (we didn’t use it at all during our stay so no idea if there are any English channels or not.)

Beyond this is a sliding door with access to the balcony which had good views over Sorrento and the coastline. There is also a table and chairs. Each side has a small privacy barrier but you can easily see into and potentially access other people’s balconies. I’m surprised the privacy barrier wasn’t made larger to prevent this from being a potential issue.

Opposite the desk are sliding doors into the bedroom area on the left is the bed with TV, bedside cabinets and another sliding door with access to the balcony. Unfortunately, connectivity options for charging near the bed were very poor and we ended up charging our phones on the desk in the lounge section.

All the curtains and lights are controlled by various switches around the room, this sometimes got a little confusing when trying to turn off all the lights ready for bed as there wasn’t a master switch to turn all off.

To the right is two lounging chairs with a large full body mirror, beyond this plenty of wardrobe space on the left with space to store your suitcases and on the right, a chest of drawers and your room safe and hairdryer.

The Air conditioning wasn’t particularly good unfortunately and no matter how low we set the temperature it still seemed to stay the same. Thankfully it didn’t get too hot.

The Bathroom

The bathroom was a reasonable size but only had one sink rather than two which would have been beneficial. There was a large mirror by the sink and Crabtree and Evelyn toiletries were provided in reusable bottles. On the right-hand side is a bath with shower attachment and another large mirror, just after this is a small section with a plastic chair and at the end, a separate rain forest shower, the water flow in the shower wasn’t the greatest but still very pleasant. The toilet & bidet were at the end of the bathroom opposite the shower.

Breakfast

We had breakfast included in our room rate (Diamond members get it for free anyway) and it was served in the restaurant on the second floor. The space is vast and has ample seating for a lot of guests including seating outside if you wanted to enjoy the nice weather!

In the restaurant, you’ll find a good selection of pastries, bread, continental meats, salad, fruit, yogurts, cereal and cooked options such as beans, fried eggs and scrambled eggs etc! If you ask for Gluten-Free they will give you a little basket full of various Schar products including bread, muffins and biscuits. You can also ask for things a la carte Gluten Free for example pancakes and omlettes!

Settimo Club Lounge (Executive Lounge)

The Settimo Club Lounge serves as the executive lounge for guests in Executive rooms and above. If you are a Diamond member not in an executive room or above you will have access to the Pompeii lounge on the 2nd floor. Whilst the food/drink offering is the same the Settimo Club Lounge is based on the roof of the hotel with its very own plunge pool and sun beds etc. To access the Settimo Club you need to put your key card in the card slot in the lift. The lounge has 3 main sections the indoor area where the food/drinks are located along with seating, the outdoor terrace with tables/chairs and then the deck with plunge pool and sun loungers.

The executive lounge offers complimentary soft drinks, hot drinks, crisps/sweets, etc. throughout the day. Between 6 – 8pm there are various small bites available as well as bottled beer, wine & spirits etc. Unfortunately unlike other executive lounges, they weren’t particularly helpful when it come to gluten-free options.

Pool

The pool is one of the more unique pools I’ve seen on my travels! It consists of six pools interconnected over different levels. The hotel provides floaties if you wish to bring out your inner child and slide down between each one. You can use your ‘towel card’ for complimentary towels for the pools too.

Around the pool were plenty of sun loungers which we didn’t see more than 25% full on our break. There is also a pool bar called La Pagoda Pool Bar. Here, you can purchase a variety of drinks and food including salads, pizza and ice cream.

Shortcut to town…

Once you’ve checked in and got your key card there is actually a shortcut to/from the Hilton to/from town which saves 5 minutes or so. If you walk through the Sorrento Lounge out to the La Terrazza Lounge Bar, go down the steps to your right. Here you’ll see steps to the pool, go to the right of these and follow the slope down to what looks to be a dead end. Here there is a gated entrance that you can use your card to open both to leave and enter the hotel.

Other Facilities

The hotel has a Citrus garden in which you can wander around (there are also benches if you wanted to relax.) Through the garden, there are also Tennis Courts (convertible into a five-a-side football pitch) & Padel Courts (extra costs apply) with equipment available to hire from reception. There is also a gym and indoor pool (open November – March.)

Unfortunately, the hotel doesn’t have any spa facilities, which is a shame. You can book a massage from an external massage therapist to have in a dedicated room (100 euro for 1 hour) but nothing else is available.

Hilton Sorrento Palace Conclusion

We had a great stay at the Hilton Sorrento Palace, whilst many dislike the fact that the hotel is a 10-minute walk from town we enjoyed that it was away from the hustle & bustle of the town centre. Our suite was spacious and had lovely views out over the pools & coastline, breakfast was good and the icing on the cake was access to the Settimo Club lounge on the rooftop. Whilst there were some small issues/concerns it’s nothing that would stop us from returning. We originally paid a little over 1,400 euros for our 4-night stay. Redemptions are currently priced from 53,000 points a night & cash rates start from around 240 euros a night. For more details and booking click here. – https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/rrohihi-hilton-sorrento-palace/