Hotel La Rocca Resort & Spa

The Hotel La Rocca attracts a few families with children, but its main trade is with couples looking for a vacation spent in solitude. The upscale hotel is decorated in a typical Sardinian style, with terra-cotta floor tiles and whitewashed wooden beams on the lobby ceiling, cream-leather couches, and plants in wrought-iron planters. The main restaurant is decorated in a similar vein, though attention is really on the large terrace which has sea views and is surrounded by mature trees and huge rhododendron bushes. The beachside restaurant is a large and bright space with a patio overlooking the sea, and tables out on the cove’s red sands. There are plenty of benches and sofas set among the hotel’s lushly green grounds, dotted with gnarled trees, and the hotel’s pool is set in a sunny terrace with a dramatic rock feature. Villa del Parco is a private, slightly removed hotel-within-a-hotel, giving guests of those rooms access to another pool. 

For better or for worse, the Hotel La Rocca is an isolated one. Even the hotel’s private beach is a 15-minute walk away, but fortunately, the hotel runs a free shuttle bus service to it throughout the day. Nearby are a few shops and restaurants, as well as places to rent sailboats and surfboards. It’s a five-minute bus ride or a half-hour walk to the village of Baia Sardinia, and an 11-minute drive to Porto Cervo, the nearest town. Expect a 35-minute drive to Olbia Airport, or two and a half hours from Corsica’s Figari Sud-Corse Airport by car and ferry.

The hotel’s 55 rooms are all large, bright, and decorated in the same style as the hotel’s shared areas with cream walls and terra-cotta tile floors. Every room has a terrace with either views of the sea or the gardens. Standard Rooms have beds with wrought-iron headboards painted cream or robin egg blue and embroidered quilts, while traditional wood furniture consists of a desk and chair, dresser, and bedside table. Junior suites are decorated similarly, albeit with a separate lounge, which has room for a sofa, armchair, and a coffee table. The three Deluxe Junior Suites in the Villa del Parco have only one room, with a bed and a seating area, but they have terraces that lead out onto the section’s own private garden and pool. Bathrooms across the board are well-maintained, outfitted with glossy aquamarine or salmon tiles, a rainfall shower cubicle, bidet, and free toiletries. Some bathrooms only have tiny shower stalls, while some add jetted bathtubs. All rooms have free Wi-Fi, a minibar, flat-screen TV, air-conditioning, bathrobe, and slippers.

The Hotel La Rocca has a solid list of amenities, but probably the most noteworthy is the hotel’s private beach -- a secluded cove with red sand located a 15-minute walk or short free shuttle ride away. Also by the beach is a restaurant that serves lunch and dinner either on the restaurant terrace or out along the sand. A free continental breakfast is served at the hotel’s Le Volte restaurant, as well as an a la carte dinner. Food receives positive reviews.The hotel’s large outdoor pool is set in an attractive terrace among the sculpted grounds. As well as a large and dramatic rock feature, there is a separate, shallow pool for kiddies to splash around. There are no other kid-centric amenities, however. There is also an indoor pool with hydrotherapy jets, located in the hotel’s spa. There, guests can book beauty and wellness treatments, and use a Turkish bath, sauna, thalassotherapy cabins, and chromotherapy showers. A few pieces of exercise equipment are located on a terrace beneath a pergola by the pool. Wi-Fi is free throughout the hotel, but it can be spotty.