We arrived at Scario late on a Friday afternoon, 4 Sept. We liked what we saw, and began searching for a place to stay for the weekend. A short drive brought us to the Torre Oliva locality where we found this beautiful four star hotel of the same name. A quick look around convinced us this was it! and hopefully there would be a room available. As it turned out there was only one room and we took it sight unseen.
The Torre Oliva is an older hotel, 1970's I believe, but very well maintained and surrounded by beautiful grounds with ancient olive trees, plants and flowers and lawns. It's located right on the Gulf of Policastro, about one km. east of the town of Scario, which in turn is located roughly between Palinuro and Sapri. Fronting the hotel is its beach which appears to be man-made, in that hundreds of huge boulders had been pushed into the sea and the area behind them filled with crushed gravel. These boulders had formed four little promontories allowing to sea to create coves inbetween them for shallow water bathing. On two of the promontories piers had been installed for diving or jumping into deeper water. The gravel beach itself is lined with several rows of sun loungers with umbrellas. Also available for the guests are various kayaks, peddleboats, etc. There were three lifeguards always on duty.
Behind the beach is a large pool, an outside bar, a covered area for animation activities, tennis courts, miniclub for the children, etc. The hotel has a numerous staff, which appear to work together very well and are very attentive to the needs of the guests.
The hotel guests were almost all Italians, with two or three families of Germans and Brits.
Our first room was number 214 which was nice, but had only a window that looked out on the parking lot. Noise from the road beyond was mildly bothersome. Short of this it was quite comfortable, aside from the pillows which were very heavy and hard (they were the same throughout the hotel) as if they were packed with sand.
The second day we decided that if a superior room became available we would stay longer. On Sunday, Signora Paola, the manager, informed us that the next day we could have a room with terrace overlooking the pool. It was fine with us and we booked for another seven days. The second room was number 227 which had a divan, dresser, and as I said a small covered terrace. It was also larger than the first so we were quite happy. We came intending to stay a weekend and remained for ten days.
Mosquito level: Zero. A few wasps on the beach but not a single mosquito around. Amazing!
Food: We opted for full pension and ate three very good meals each day. Breakfast was pretty standard while there were plenty of choices available for lunch and dinner - always choices of two first courses and two seconds, preceded by some excellent antipasto choices and followed by a nice dessert (or fruit or ice cream). Franco the maitre was great and our waitress Caterina very friendly and attentive. The other restaurant staff members were also wonderful and I compliment them all!
We did not participate in the animation activities, preferring more restful holiday activities. One of the few negatives we experienced was the loud voices of the animation staff, enhanced by loud speakers at high volume. For those guests like ourselves it would have been better for something more soft, especially the period after lunch when a little siesta would be in order. On certain evenings the entertainment went on well after midnight, disturbing anyone trying to sleep.
Costs: The room and full pension cost us €68 a person, plus a little extra for the superior room, and minus 10% for me being over 60. In short it was an inexpensive holiday for all that we received.
Internet was available at the Reception for one euro every 30 minutes. There was also a store which sold beach things, books, magazines and daily newspapers.
