Bv Airone Resort

“Great activities, and also good for someone with mobility difficulties”

We travelled as a pair, one very active and the other a mobility scooter user with significantly limited mobility. The latter parts of this review concentrate on the accessibility of the site for someone disabled or with some disability (summary: very good) hoping to be helpful to any others in a s… more

We travelled as a pair, one very active and the other a mobility scooter user with significantly limited mobility. The latter parts of this review concentrate on the accessibility of the site for someone disabled or with some disability (summary: very good) hoping to be helpful to any others in a similar situation. But first some more general comments. This was our first Neilson holiday. We had previously been to Mark Warner's Levante site on Rhodes, which was our only real point of comparison. Overall we were really impressed. Our particular activities were tennis, sailing, and lounging by the pool. The tennis was very good indeed. The coaching team of four worked really hard and had a really good balance - both individually and as a team - of fun, enthusiasm and expertise. George in particular related really well, was on top of the technical coaching details (the Neilson programme seems really well put together), and could give some serious coaching without seeming serious (it is a holiday after all!). Group sizes for red and black sessions were pretty good, and seemed to be for green and blue. The second week we were there the number wanting to play social tennis somewhat overwhelmed the available courts, and anyone who had not wanted to take part in group sessions and only play social tennis would be likely to have been disappointed. Even so, the coaching team made sessions fun, but there's no getting away from the fact not having enough courts is a downside. (Our first week - the last of the school holidays - was fine; it was when there were far more adults and few children, in school term, when social tennis became crowded). The beach team were also great. The choice of boats was less good than with Mark Warner (but it's a smaller hotel) - for experienced sailors, it was really lots of Lasers and three Darts. But there was never a problem of insufficient boats. (There are also Picos, and some family boats). The beach team made getting on and off the water really easy, and the sailing area seemed comparable to Mark Warner (=amply big enough). It's a light wind resort, with very little wind at all in the morning - don't go here expecting to sail all day. However, there was wind every afternoon, and we were lucky to have some serious wind on a couple of days (force 4 or 5), which was unusual. The team organised several races, several courses to improve your sailing, and were always friendly and fun (seeming perhaps a little more relaxed and perhaps a little less "precious" about their kit than the Mark Warner team?). The pool was also great. It's pretty, nicely shaped, and big enough. There never seemed to be insufficient sunloungers, although occasionally all the umbrellas were taken by those seeking shade (there were enough umbrellas, but only just). Quite a few people opted to sunbathe on the beach rather than by the pool - again, there seemed to be enough space for everyone there. There's a nice pool bar set on an island in the middle of the pool, reached by a bridge. You can't actually order from in the water, and the bridge involves a step either side, so isn't accessible by those needing absolutely flat access. The food was good. Most meals are included, and the buffet could become repetitive, but there was sufficient change and variety from day to day to avoid this. We thought the buffet itself was somewhat better than at Mark Warner, but it needed to be - at Mark Warner lunch isn't included, so you're free to buy your own, which is probably more costly but gave more scope for variety, and cooked to order food is always likely to be of better quality than a buffet. One of us was gluten free (intolerant, not Coeliac), and the provision for this is pretty impressive. One waiter has special responsibility for those with food allergies and was very helpful. There is gluten free bread and cereals for breakfast (and a large array of naturally gluten free options). Gluten free pasta was available on request (cooked to order, sometimes with some delay), which could be taken with one of the sauces of the day (bolognese and a separate - presumably vegetarian - tomato every day, plus generally one or two others). There was also gluten free pizza and bruchetta as part of the buffet (kept separately under cover, presumably to avoid contamination). I think gluten free ice cream was available, and some other items (croissants, desserts), but didn't ask for them. Overall it was very good. Bar prices are reasonable for somewhere which could treat you as captive. Decent wine is 18 euros a bottle, or 7.50 for a 250ml glass. The courtyard bar serves a variety of cocktails for 6-9 euros. The courtyard bar is fine, but not particularly pretty, set down in something of a hollow and slightly enclosed by whitewashed walls - in contrast to the rest of the site which is really pretty. The old-style building has a lovely pink wash, and the grounds have fairly good planting and nice fountains. In terms of accessibility, the site works very well indeed. The best rooms would be in the main house, where we believe there is a specially adapted room with flat access shower etc. We didn't opt for this - it doesn't have a balcony or nice view - and instead went for a ground floor garden room. We travelled with a mobility scooter which BA took on board fine, which was unloaded fine at the airport, and the transfer coach coped with well - it was loaded in one piece into the hold underneath the coach. The Neilson team were really helpful with luggage and loading the scooter. Neilson obviously knew we were travelling with a scooter, and we had requested a ground floor garden room. Presumably deliberately we were assigned the room closest to reception, which was a good thought. We found that the garden room, although ground floor, was up about a 4 inch step. This wouldn't have been a total dealbreaker for us - the scooter we took is light enough to be lifted down at the start of the day and up at the end, and the scooter user has enough mobility to be able to leave it at the step and walk in. In fact, we found a ramp the gardeners use for mowers and other equipment, which we borrowed for the week, and reception ensured that when the gardeners needed it they returned it, meaning our scooter user could drive into the room unaided almost all the time. If that step would be a dealbreaker for you, go for a room in the main house (served by lifts). We didn't see one, but assume it would be really well suited. It might be smaller than the garden room, which was large enough for the scooter to sit in without being in the way - our room had a third fold out bed, which wasn't in use, but that gives an idea of the size of it. We had thought a garden room (with terrace) might give a view - somewhere for the scooter user to sit and people watch - but actually none of the ground floor garden rooms really offer that (some of the first floor ones might, particularly those that look out over the tennis courts). The design of the rooms is such that the terraces get little sun - deliberately, we assume, to keep the rooms cool. If you really want to sit and watch things go by, a room in the main house with a balcony facing the pool would be the thing to ask for - sitting and watching might be more important for someone with impaired mobility who can't  take part in all the activities on offer. Our terrace didn't offer this, but we didn't really miss it - the pool is a good place to sit, and the rest of the site is so accessible that the scooter user didn't feel limited. The whole site is flat and accessible without steps (apart from access to the garden room bedroom, as above). Reception, the dining room (both the eating area and the area where the buffet is laid out), the courtyard bar, the pool (but not the pool bar, which involves a couple of steps), the tennis courts, and the beach are all on the same level with no steps between. Access to the beach is down a paved path. There's a very small area of very shallow sand. Our small wheeled mobility scooter coped fine. A standard wheelchair probably would too - it might be difficult for a self-propelled user to get through the short shallow patch of sand which separates the paved beach path from the tarmaced drive of the main site, but it might well be fine, and shouldn't be an insuperable obstacle. One nice feature is that access to the pool, tennis courts, bar etc is via the standard pathways everyone else uses. it's not that there are steps for everyone else and a specially made winding ramp for a wheelchair user (which is nice to have, but it's even nicer not to need it). It's a really good site for a wheelchair user, mobility scooter user and for those with children in buggies. At the beach there's a paved area with some tables, and a beach bar. Those will less mobility can get there and sit and watch what's going on on the sea (which is better than at Levante, where the beach wasn't easily accessibly by mobility scooter). For those with someone in their party who can't take part in the trademark Neilson activities, nearby towns or other possible outings are maybe more important than for most. It's not such a great site for this. We took a taxi to Marina Schiavonea, which was disappointing - a long strip of sea front with some not very exciting cafes. Some other cafes and shops set back from the sea, all of which were shut at lunchtime and for the afternoon (we thought it strange the cafes were shut at lunchtime; it seems everyone eats at the beach then, and we were told the town only comes alive at night). We also took a taxi to Rossano, which was much more worthwhile - we were wanting site seeing not shopping, for which historic Rossano is where you want to go. Old cobbled streets (not entirely great for a mobility scooter), old buildings, a cathedral, a cafe in a quiet square. We enjoyed a couple of hours there. It's about a 30 minute drive, and in a largish taxi which could take the mobility scooter whole was quite expensive - 70 euros return. There is also a modern shopping centre very near Airone, which may be worth a visit. It's not just a supermarket, as it appears from the outside. There are cafes, clothes shops, leather shops and a few others. Airone run a shuttle there for only 5 euros; if you want an afternoon away from the hotel, it's a decent option, although it's a modern shopping mall, so very generic and not remotely Italian. We didn't explore the clothing and other shops, only popping to the supermarket for a couple of things we'd left behind, but it looked like a decent place for an outing, particularly if the weather wasn't great. On the non-inclusive evenings we stayed on site. The courtyard bar offers a decent menu, including very good gluten free pizzas. Be warned that its menu is reduced on Thursday, when there's also an "Italian night" buffet available (non-inclusive); on Thursday. the courtyard bar only offers pizza, not its full range (but there's plenty on offer at the Italian night buffet) . The other options on non-inclusive nights are the two neighbouring beach bars, Snoopy's and Aurora. We went to both during the day, but didn't feel the need to at night. Snoopy's is the less easy to get to - it's accessed via a path through the woods, which was manageable on a mobility scooter but only just. It needed a bit of a push at the start, where there's a rather sandy patch, and was a fairly rough ride after that. Aurora is accessed via the main road; it might be a little nerve wracking to be on a mobility scooter on there in the dark, but there will be plenty of others doing that walk. The menu there looked good, and we had planned to go one evening but never quite got round to it. If you do go to Aurora and need level access, there is a level route but it's not immediately visible. It goes down the side of the building away from Airone - go through the car park, as if heading to the campsite, past the back of the kitchen, and you'll see there's a concrete path through to the beach side of the building - much easier for a buggy, scooter or wheelchair. The site itself is flat and fine, although we didn't see if there's an accessible toilet. Overall we'd definitely head back. If we can find another Nelson site which is as accessible and which has a more of a village nearby we'd try that first, both for variety and for the bonus of having a village nearby, but otherwise we'd certainly visit Airone again. 

less