A taste of Italy with James Villas

Advantages: wonderful property
Disadvantages: terrifying access road

...James Villas had a strong advertising campaign over the last 2 years and, after a very happy holiday with them to Mallorca in 2004, we decided to book a week in Tuscany for the end of August 2008. The website is very informative and we decided on our accommodation - Villa Podere Il Renaio in Legoli. A helpful section of the website allows you to check availability and prices for the week you want and weeks either side and so we were sorted. Actually, no! I know flights from Newcastle to Pisa were available with Jet2 (I had checked the prices on Jet2 website) but the James Villas website insisted I could only fly from Manchester, so I had no choice but to make a phone booking. Phoning to book the holiday was easy. There was no queue, I got straight through to a very friendly operator who assured me that she could book Jet2...

travelnovice 18.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of James Villas

A Day In Capri Italy

Advantages: Lots to see and do
Disadvantages: not enough time

...salted biscuit's (a bit like pretzels) . This cost about £12.00 and even though its pricey it was worth it. We sat for half an hour and relaxed. Capri's little Piazzetta is one of the best known squares in Italy and is a great place to sit and relax and do a bit of people watching. ~ Parco Augosto-The Gardens Of the Emperor Augustus ~ The garden's of the Emperor Augustus offer splendid views over the Certosa di San Giaciomo the harbour of Marina Piccola and the great Faraglioni rocks out in the bay. It was a clear sunny day when we were there and the views were breathtaking. There was a lot more we wished we could have seen but we ran out of time and we had to make a dash to catch the funicular railway back down to the harbour. We would have liked to have visited the Blue Grotto, Villa Jovis and I would love to go...

debmercury 18.03.2008 (14.07.2009) · Read review
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Review of Capri (Italy)

Hotel Villa Patrizi, Rome

Advantages: Good location, good value for money, polite staff
Disadvantages: Small rooms

...~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Why we chose the hotel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My boyfriend and I decided to take a weekend city break in Rome, we were joined by his parents who travelled seperately. We looked on Expedia for a good deal and we found one with reasonable BA flights and 3 nights stay at Hotel Villa Patrizi. We looked at the information and pictures of the hotel on the internet and it looked good so we decided to book it. Now we have been to the hotel, and looking back at the pictures, they are true to life and do not decieve you in anyway that the hotel looks different to what it does. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ About the hotel ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hotel Villa Patrizi is a brand new 4 star hotel located in Rome. As you walk into the hotel there is a pretty sitting area full of beautiful, lively and colourful flowers. If the weather was nicer...

lilyellowfish 04.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of Villa Patrizi, Rome

Villa Mallorca - Cala D'or - James Villas

Advantages: package holiday
Disadvantages: Low value for money and bad customer relations

...Initially we wanted to book our package via the internet. However the flights on the site were either extremely unsociable hours (departure 5am etc) or you missed both ends because you arrived past midnight and left the villa around 6am the last day. Finally we rung an agent who seemed to have access to many more flights than we did and got a suitable time. Because this was not an internet option we had to go through him. This started our first problem because on the internet the default option includes the welcome package. As we were arriving at midnight with 3 young children this was necessary. The price he quoted was slightly higher than what we were looking at on the net but there were some differences such as we changed hire car to transfer and different flight times. All that taken together it was reasonable to understand...

tmk1906 10.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of James Villas

James Villa Holidays

Advantages: Great properties, unique experiences, wonderful holidays.
Disadvantages: None - although might not be suitable for all travelers

...Over the past 3 years we have used James Villa Holidays six times. Our initial experience was in Gale, Algarve; we went on to stay in La Font, Pollença, Mallorca three times; and more recently have stayed at La Boheme in Playa Blanca, Lanzarote and Forteza in Kalami, Crete. Our first taste of James Villas was in a 2 bedroom apartment in Gale, Algarve. The apartment itself was spacious and well maintained, with a large patio, fully equipped kitchen and TV/Satellite unit in the comfortable living room. Although the choice of English-language channels was limited, one doesn?t generally go on holiday to sit in front of the idiot box, and as we understand a modicum of German, the German MTV channel was most entertaining. As is the norm in our experience with James Villas, the supplied literature concerning the accommodation and local area...

maganda1980 08.05.2007 · Read review
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Review of James Villas

Villa Olivo, Bardolino

Advantages: Can't think of any.
Disadvantages: The Owners

...Date of holiday 1st - 15th July 2006 Let me first explain what type of holiday my family and I like, then I will explain the accommodation and lastly I will tell you of our experience of the Villa Olivo in Bardolino Italy (Lake Garda) We are a family of 2 adults and three boys aged 9, 12 and 14. Our holidays are very simple, we go to an apartment, relax, enjoy the food, swim in the pool and soak up the sun, and that is it. (Sounds boring, but after a long hard working year it is just what the doctor ordered). That is what we wanted from this holiday as well. The Villa Olivo consists of two types of accommodation: self-catering and a hotel which offers bed and breakfast. Those in the apartments could avail of the breakfast at a cost of 8 euros per person. (But after seeing what was being bought in the local Lidl for breakfast...

mark1961 24.07.2006 · Read review
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Review of Villa Olivo, Bardolino

Little Italy, Big Disappointment

Advantages: Dancing is fun
Disadvantages: Dinner overpriced and bland, expensive

...I went to Little Italy a few months ago with my girlfriend and have mixed feelings about the place. Situated on Soho's Frith Street it is the heart of a really buzzy and lively area of London. An area in which you are spoilt for choice for dining, especially with Italian restaurants, you have to be doing something right to survive. Little Italy is a restaurant, bar and club. In the latter two it succeeds, in the former, not so. As a restaurant, the first thing you'll notice is the abundance of staff waiting to wait on you but somehow unwilling to do so or be helpful. Then there is the food itself, which is grotesquely overpriced at about £30 per head excluding drinks. The bruchetta was like oiled cardboard and our main meat dish favouring better but still fairly bland. So much so I can't even remember what meat it was, probably beef...

Nixu1980 19.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Little Italy, London

James Villas

Advantages: None
Disadvantages: Unfortunately most things.

...Have been reading other reviews with interest. Wow. We must have been unlucky. The reviews are so good and in so much detail that they almost could have been written by James Villa holidays (joke) My wife, 3 children and mother and father in law and myself of course took a 2 week holiday to Majorca in August last year. The list of problems we had was unbelievable. James Villas holidays were not prepared to fix our problems. Even though we had spent £3,648.27 (this was without flights). We telephoned them for the 1st three days complaining. We even sent them a solicitors letter on the 3rd day and they still refused to accept that there were problems. When we did complain we even telephoned head office in the Uk in Maidstone in Kent. The staff were rude and sarcastic. They told us to complain when we get back home. Not much good...

durston 09.05.2004 · Read review
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Review of James Villas

A week's successful holiday in St. Agnello, Sorrento (Italy)

Advantages: Excellent, inexpensive public transport
Disadvantages: Traffic is very heavy don't even consider a hire car

...Eight days in St. Agnello, Sorrento, Italy. We have just returned from a very successful week in Sorrento. Arriving at Naples Airport we took the regular bus service to Sorrento as far as St. Agnello which is once stop before Sorrento itself. The journey time should be one hour and the single fare was 10.0?. Having poured over many reviews of hotels in Sorrento area we chose the Alpha and found it to be the Alpha and Omega of Hotels. We couldn?t have asked for anything better; from the moment we walked through the front door we could see that we were going to like it. We were met by a cheerful, smiling, English speaking receptionist who greeted us with the news that they had decided to upgrade our room to a panoramic one with a balcony without extra charge. We were booked for bed and breakfast but after the first evening...

Tibblington 24.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of Sorrento (Italy)

The Gate to Italy

Advantages: nice scenery & architecture, fine cuisine, great shops, very relaxing place
Disadvantages: nothing REALLY spectacular in a country full of attractions

...of the Azalea, due to its extensive private parks with azalea flowers (come here in May!). Cadenabbia is a village on the western shore of Lago di Como, around 20 miles northeast of Como (busses go every hour). It is full of private villas, many of which can be visited. The most beautiful estates are the palace Villa Carlotta (built 1747) and the Basilica and park of Saint Martin. Cadenabbia's best kept secret, and one of Italy's most exclusive resorts, is Villa Collina, the former residence of the first German chancellor, Konrad Adenauer. Today it is owned by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, and rooms can be rented by visitors. You need to book far in advance, as most of the year the Villa is reserved for conferences and political meetings. I attended a Board meeting of a European student organisation there back in 1996, and found the guest book...

From_The_Continent 22.03.2001 (24.03.2001) · Read review
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Review of Como (Italy)