Le Meridien Chia Laguna by Kamin Mohammadi

A large, all-inclusive resort built on a slope on the southern coast of Sardinia, about an hour drive west from Cagliari. This stretch of coast has seen much development, of the holiday village variety and there are some huge resorts along here. This hotel is one of them, but the size is a little more controlled and the resort has been sensitively built and landscaped to fit into the locality. Though set back from the sea, the views are beautiful, especially at sunset when the golden Torre di Chia is reflected in the blue lagoon dotted by flamingos.

Two different types of accommodation, and thus holiday, are on offer: the Village Chia, with 300 cottage-style rooms, and the more exclusive Hotel Laguna, a 76-room building.

In the Village the rooms are comfortable and pleasant, with all the expected mod cons (try to avoid the ones overlooking the main pool as it get noisy quite early on in the morning) and meals are served in the plentiful Bougainvillea buffet.

In the Hotel a more rarefied atmosphere is achieved with Junior, Superior and De Luxe suites available and the panoramic La Terrazza restaurant which serves gourmet dishes.

The resort provides an impressive range of amenities: 7 restaurants (including one on the beach) and 5 bars, a children’s club, evening entertainment, 3 swimming pools, a complimentary service to drive you five-minutes to their private beach (be warned that this transportation is in the style of a mini-train dragging carriages behind and could be very embarrassing except that this is the case with all the hotels along this coast: planning regulations mean that hotels cannot be built on the beach or within a certain distance, a law that has saved Sardinia’s beaches from the crimes that ruined the Spanish coasts), a fully equipped gym and 4 tennis courts. The beach is absolutely beautiful, with sparkling water and soft white sand, and the beach restaurant serves good food and snacks.

Out of season, the hotel becomes filled with conference groups which changes the atmosphere a little, so bear this in mind when planning your trip. However there are enough options on offer for eating and drinking that you can probably avoid the worst of the conference crowds if you so wished. This hotel is expertly designed to give you a memorable holiday without ever having to leave the resort, something that will probably suit families well.