Albergo La Residenza

Most hotels are content with splashing some brown on brick over discount carpet tiles and calling it a business. The buildings are a lattice of windows and air conditioners, and resemble something more found on a Lego box than in a real city. Given those expectations, La Residenza is like a trip to opposite world, where up is down, cats are dogs, Italy has a good economy, and I’ve suddenly been turned into a thinner, younger man with a full head of hair and a pleasing demeanor.
La Residenza is the type of hotel one should be staying in when visiting Italy. It has an amazing view, a pool, and for the first time on my trip, actual functioning climate control. The walls are all white. It’s chaotically built, but still beautiful to look at. La Residenza was not the first good hotel of my Globus tour in Italy, it was the second, but that would be two good hotels out of seven. They weren’t all bad, I admit, but few really instilled me which such comfort that I’d actually consider staying there again on a repeat journey.
I can’t speak for the cuisine, because outside of two breakfasts, I didn’t eat much at La Residenza. Those meals weren’t bad, and I enjoyed the impeccable view of Capri. The outdoor seating is exquisite with many of the guests spending their evenings poolside. Though some rooms can bask in the scenery of the island, most unfortunately look into a wall. Pressing the switch next to the metal drapes reveals a pair of French doors opening onto your own personal segment of a huge communal balcony. The idea is unique though a tad confusing. You could basically enter your room via the balcony doors as there’s a path to the road as well as well as to the pool.
The room itself is a little on the snug side. The bathroom was tiny, the beds were a little stiff, and like everywhere else on this journey, far too small. But Capri was the first time I felt the Globus tour was finally showing the best Italy had to offer. Every side tour was included. The dinner on the second day was good. And for one, the hotel was impressive. For the first time, the air conditioning was actually working. When we left a five euro tip on the first night, when we returned on the second day, we found more towels than we could use, slippers on our beds, and extra bottles of water. Now that’s service. With the other hotels, a similar tip only had the staff doing their jobs, but at La Residenza, they really pulled out all the stops.
Despite having numerous issues with the Globus tour itself, I had no problem with my time in Capri, and much of that was due to the great hotel we stayed at. Of all the places in Italy, I want to return to Capri the most.

Our stay at La Residenza in Capri was overall really lovely. Here’s why:
+ The hotel is nicely situated away from the main piazzas making it a nice escape from any late night noise from one of the bar/​restaurants down the way.
+ And the grounds are beautiful! Lush garden up front w/​benches and tables, pool with terrace out back offering up some beautiful views of the water and hill side.
+ Modern finishes in the lobby — all white & beige everything — marble floors, clean and comfy sofas, beautiful white flowers on each table.
+ Friendly staff at the front desk.
+ Generous size guest rooms with french doors and comfy beds.
+ Lovely room finishes. Our room was covered in a pretty sage green tile. It felt very Capri to me.
+ Working air conditioning!
+ Nice breakfast with a variety of baked goods. A bit crowded when all 3 tour groups came down for breakfast at the same time though… the staff did their best to keep up with the demand though.
+ Free WiFi. Log in code available at the front desk.
Of course not everything is going to be perfect…
— Our french doors led to a terrace… and a brick wall.
— Why is it that the largest bathroom features the smallest shower I’ve ever seen? Literally a 2×2 box with sliding doors and a 1′ opening making it verrrrry difficult to get in and out. This shower was not designed for curvy tourists! Oh and there was no where to put shampoo or soap…
— Leaking/​dripping ceiling. We stayed at La Residenza for two nights. Both mornings we woke up to a soaking wet tile floor due to a leak in the ceiling. I let the front desk know and the first day and when we left the ceiling was still leaking.

OK hotel at quite central location in Capri. Rooms are small and could definitely be refurbished Shower knob was broken, bed rather small (single bed, where in the world do you still get a single bed room???). Drinks at the bar awfully expensive (7EUR a beer) but that’s maybe due to the location. Pool is quite nice but closes early (18:30). Service could be friendlier. Loads of tourists (bus tours full of tourists dropped off at the reception). Not for romantic getaway. Was there for a conference at it was quite ok. Would not go there for vacation, though. Too expensive for the service you get.