I was thrilled when I found out I was one of the lucky 16 travel specialists to win a place on this trip to Fort Village with Classic Collection. Truthfully, Sardinia hadn’t ever been on my list of places to visit, so to say I was able to add it and tick it off, I was excited!
Me & a colleague started our journey off by getting a direct coach from Bristol to Gatwick airport. We stayed overnight in one of the airport hotels ready for our early morning flight the next day. Up at the crack of dawn the following morning, 15 other colleagues and I made our way back to Gatwick Airport ready for our 5am departure. We were all eager to arrive in Sardinia where the sunshine awaited us. After a short 2.5-hour flight, we were met by our drivers who would transfer us to the Forte Village resort. If you have never travelled with Classic Collection before, I must say, they certainly know how to treat you! They use some of the most stylish and comfortable vehicles to get you to your destination.
After a 30/40-minute drive, we arrived at the main reception for Forte Village Resort. Here we unloaded ourselves from the cars. We quickly confirmed whose luggage was who’se (so this would be taken to our hotel room for us) before hopping onto golf karts which would then take us to our hotel room. The resort does not allow motorised vehicles on site so the only use of getting around is walking or golf karts to hand 24/7. While driving through the resort to get to our Hotel Castello Suites, the hotel gave me tropical vibes with all the different plants, flowers and trees grown all over.
Upon arrival at the hotel, we were greeted by very friendly members of staff from the reception team who presented the group with some snacks and prosecco. Upon arrival to our rooms, we found our luggage waiting for us with a tote bag and a lovely handwritten message from staff welcoming us to the resort. The first impression of the room completely blew me away when walking around, especially after I spotted a balcony with a sea view which made it that much more luxurious.
As lunchtime arrived, we headed to one of the popular lunchtime restaurants called PIZZERIA. Located on the beachfront, as we walked to our tables, we saw that they have a fresh salad and fruit bar to create your own bowl, ice cream cart and sweet treats also available. We had a variety of freshly made pizzas brought to our table, which were truly delicious. My favourite was the pepperoni of course, for dessert a few of us decided to taste the ice creams available with strawberry being the favourite for many of us.
After having our fill of tasty pizza and ice cream, we then proceeded onwards to a site inspection of the resort. Starting with the hotel Castello where we were staying. One thing to mention is of all the hotels on the resort, the Castello Hotel is the only one with a beachfront location with many of the rooms having a sea view. This hotel is very popular, even more so because the Beckhams have stayed here many times! If it’s good enough for the Beckhams, it’s good enough for me! After viewing some of the different suites available within the hotel, we then walked around to see the other hotels on-site and even stopped at the “Children’s Wonderland” to see where parents could choose to let their children spend their day. With an array of activities planned throughout the day by the staff – my favourite part of this area was of course the Barbie House. Every little girl’s dream house!
After some time to get ourselves ready for our evening, we headed to the Wine Bar where we met the lovely Sofia, who was head Sommelier. Sofia hosted us for wine tasting. We then proceeded to head to Le Dune restaurant, we were presented with an A La Carte menu of an array of seafood dishes, or in my case beef due to allergies (oppsie). Throughout the whole meal, the staff were so attentive, attending to our every request and checking on us throughout. I even got given a tiny stool to put my handbag on, I was pleasantly surprised! After a long day, full of knowledge from the resort and having had our fill of delicious foods, we all headed back to our hotel eager to have a good night’s sleep in our lovely rooms.
Having set my alarm at a decent time, a few colleagues and I headed down to the beach before breakfast to take in the scenery and I even managed to have a dip in the sea. I find there is no better feeling than being in the sunshine and in the sea. After some time, we headed over to Cavalieri which is located right next to our hotel for some breakfast. Set up as a buffet style, you could help yourself to whatever you fancy. With a selection of foods from hot English breakfast, a variety of fresh fruits, pastries, cereals and a fresh omelette station. Throughout, a pianist was playing towards the front which created a more relaxed yet elegant atmosphere to the scenery.
After having our fill of breakfast, we then headed to the Acquaforte Thalasso Spa for a full 90-minute thalassotherapy spa experience. Set in a wonderful rainforest garden the spa session consisted of 6 pure seawater pools that help with the detox effect of regenerating the skin. This is something that I thoroughly enjoyed as the relaxation seeped in by the time got to the 3rd pool.
After the spa, we headed back to the Pizzeria for lunch, where we chose our own food from the menu. This time I had the spaghetti carbonara, which in my personal opinion is the best carbonara I have ever had! Next on the agenda was to head to the go-karting track for some healthy competition between colleagues (and to see who was the fastest around the course). Let’s just say it got very competitive between us all! We all had a blast and wanted to go again and again. After some free time where a few of us went to chill out on the beach, we then got ready for the evening and headed to the Sardinia Restaurant for some more delicious food. This time we even had some freshly homemade bread and cheesy ravioli pasta.
After hearing about the amazing sunrises from our host George, a few colleagues and I woke up in the early hours to walk down to the beach to watch the sunrise with our own eyes. I must say the 5:45am alarm was definitely worth it as it was one of the most stunning sunrises I have seen. Choosing to go back to bed for another few hour’s kip, I woke back up to head back down to the beach to have a relaxing day by the sea. One thing to remember is you can reserve a sun lounger for the whole duration of your visit if you wish, you just need to let the lifeguards/stewards know and they will put a tag on the umbrella for you. This is something a colleague and I had done so that we could head to Cavalieri restaurant for breakfast without worrying.
After some relaxation on the beach, we headed to the Pizzeria restaurant for a cooking class where we each got to make our own pizzas. From rolling out the dough to putting our own toppings on, which we all got very invested in and then enjoyed eating our hard work afterwards. Being full up from more pizza, we headed back to the beach, back to the beds we had reserved and led down to relax in the glorious sunshine (not forgetting to top up our suncream). After some time, a few of us headed over to the Aqua Park to see what fun we could have on the 7 different slides they had there. Let’s just say even adults like us can turn into big kids! After heading back to our rooms to get ready for the evening, we ordered some golf buggies to take us over to the Brazilian restaurant for our final evening meal. This is one place I could’ve happily eaten at every night (being a huge meat eater). With a mixture of side dishes spread around the table, the waiters came around with massive skewers with a variety of meats to slice on dishes for us to help ourselves to. It’s safe to say I had my fill and thoroughly enjoyed everything I ate!!
Waking up the next day, our time at Forte Village had sadly come to an end. After a quick breakfast back at Cavalieri restaurant, we headed back to the resort’s main reception area by golf buggies for a final time. We found our drivers and transfers waiting to take us back to the airport. Before heading to the airport, we made a quick stop at Forte’s smaller sister wellness hotel in the heart of Cagliari called Palazzo Doglio. This hotel is perfect if you want the luxurious wellness touch to a short city break. With stunning spa facilities and restaurants on-site, there are 5 room types within the hotel. The Prestige room has a balcony facing the beautiful courtyard of the hotel. After a quick refreshment in the hotel bar, we got back into our transfers and sadly made our way back to the airport. This is where our time in stunning Sardinia had come to an end.
If you're looking for a resort that has something for everyone, with many tasty restaurants, activities on the coastline and a beautiful beach, then I would highly recommend staying at Forte Village! I for one would love to go back and hope to do so in the future!
If you would like to see any pictures of this stunning resort or want to know more about it, pop in and see me in Bath, give our store a call or email me at [email protected] and I will be happy talk about this resort all day! See you soon!
