Hotel Botanico San Lazzaro

You would be hard pressed to find a more beautiful view or charming ambiance. It was perfect for our family as the room had a loft with twin beds for the boys. The only issue I would take, and this seems to be a European standard, is that the beaches and pools close as early as 6:30. The breakfast was included and a very nice spread. The service was outstanding. I highly recommend this hotel.

How they can say they are a 5* hotel is disturbing! I wouldn’t even push a 3* hotel! (Only a handful of photos as we have so many more) We have just come back from staying here for 5nights for our honeymoon and it was AWFUL!! To start with if you aren’t that fit you are going to struggle because the only way to get up to the hotel is by a cliff side list then you need to climb about 50+ steps to reach it. It’s extremely dated, parts of the hotel are derelict and very dirty! No one shows you around, staff hardly speak English and we complained every day we were there. When we went to the room when we arrived moths flew out from the kitchens, there were bugs in the shower & even squashed bugs on the wall! The aircon did not work at all in our room & everytime we went to reception to complain they just tapped away on their computer then said it was fixed, when it wasn’t! We had live wires exposed on lights, room phones not working & wires exposed, the cleaner would only come in the room to change towels & make the bed…nothing else! Plus twice after cleaning she took the electricity key out of our room! We got the fright of our lives 3 times in the morning between 5am and 6.15am when the full bedroom lights turned on and the aircon control panel flashed (the only way of turning the main lights was by the room door which we were both asleep & obviously petrified! My husband said there must be water in the system & a huge problem. We stayed bed & breakfast and were gobsmacked that when we went to breakfast on the first morning that it was minimal/super basic and if you even wanted anything like an omelette or eggs etc you had to pay an additional 12-15 euros and they don’t even have toast! Be prepared to pay 15 euros for a Coca Cola and 15 euros for a beer and avoid the tasting menu restaurant as that’s 400+ euros (a guest told us that). Service is shocking, we also had cold coffee services one morning, gone off milk on my cereal that I was nearly sick. No drinks serviced at the pool I had to climb the stairs to the main hotel to find them chatting. when we checked out today they stated we never complained & that they would have moved us to another room if they had known but in fact we even left our keys with that lady on Tuesday when we had enough to go to our room & fix the problem! Honeymoon ruined!!!

The rooms are small and no place to unpack or even place your luggage but they are clean and the staff is friendly enough. We took one of the tables on our balcony and unpacked our suitcases outside. I feel sorry for those who didn't have a balcony. We went toward the end of the season so the staff at restaurants seems to be without supervision; young and timid. There was one young guy in particular who spent most of his time lurking around other areas of the hotel such as maids chambers and all the girls seemed very uncomfortable. The cook for the morning looked like he hadn't bathed in weeks and was mostly angry. Their restaurant is also just not great. Hotel staff and bellmen were so nice and helpful. We stayed 7 nights and had no incident but we spent most of our time out. Those stairs are brutal but definitely worth it. The views are magnificent.