There are hotels that give you things to do, and there are hotels that make doing absolutely nothing feel like the most important thing on the itinerary.

Villa del Re is very much the latter.

Sitting on Sardinia’s southeast coast, this is a hotel that quite literally embodies dolce far niente. Not the Instagram version involving a strategically placed Aperol and the view outwards from the crowds of tourists, but the proper Italian art of having nowhere to be, nothing particularly pressing to do and absolutely no intention of changing either.

If you’re looking for bells, whistles, a party scene, a bar with a DJ and a Porto Cervo vibe, go to Porto Cervo.

This is not it.

This is Italian relaxation at its absolute pinnacle.

THE VIBE

Villa del Re is wonderfully, unapologetically grown-up.

The rooms are classic and traditional rather than shiny and modern. Think old-school Italian elegance rather than marble-everything, touch-screen curtains and a lighting system that requires an engineering degree to turn off.

And that same sense of elegance carries through the entire hotel.

People dress properly here. Even for breakfast.

It isn’t mandatory and nobody is going to confiscate your cappuccino for arriving in flip-flops, but there is something rather lovely about watching everyone make an effort. Linen shirts, beautiful dresses, oversized sunglasses. It feels less like wandering downstairs for the buffet and more like breakfast somewhere along the Riviera.

It’s chic, but crucially, never stuffy.

This isn’t a hotel desperately trying to prove how luxurious it is. It just is.

THE WATER

And then there’s the sea.

Some of the clearest water I have ever seen and certainly some of the bluest in Europe.

There are moments when Sardinia does something slightly ridiculous with the colour palette, and the stretch of coastline in front of Villa del Re is one of them. Clear, glassy, intensely blue water that makes the Mediterranean look as though someone has quietly swapped it for the Maldives overnight.

Except you’re in Italy.

Which means there’s pasta.

So arguably better.

THE SERVICE

The service deserves its own mention because it was exceptional.

Not overbearing, not rehearsed and never that slightly terrifying version of five-star service where three people appear every time you move a handbag.

Just brilliant people who seem genuinely pleased to have you there.

The staff were some of the warmest, most intuitive and memorable we encountered in Sardinia. They knew when to appear, when to leave you alone and somehow managed to make everything feel effortless.

It’s the kind of service that is very difficult to manufacture and even harder to forget.

THE FOOD

The food was, by a country mile, the best we ate in Sardinia.

And we ate a lot in Sardinia.

There are two restaurants, with the main restaurant taking the more formal end of proceedings. And somewhere within that kitchen exists an off-menu lobster spaghetti that you need to know about immediately.

Order it.

It arrives with all the theatre you would hope for, including a flambé that reaches high enough to singe the highest of high brows.

….it tastes even better than it looks.

The beach-edge restaurant is less formal, but don’t mistake that for casual. This is still Villa del Re. Dinner by the sea here feels considered, elegant and beautifully done.

Every evening brings something different, with carefully created menus and events rather than the usual hotel rotation of theme nights nobody particularly asked for.

Our first night was Sardinian night, complete with a dedicated menu, dancers and guitar players. The whole thing could very easily have veered into tourist theatre.

It didn’t.

It was charming.

The bar is exactly what you want from this sort of hotel. Just lively enough that you can stay up until midnight should you want to, but relaxed and non-intrusive enough that if you want to drink one (3) of their delicious house created cocktails and slope off post sundowners… nobody would judge you.

AND, IMPORTANTLY, THE GLASSWARE

We need to discuss the glassware.

I am a glassware snob and I don’t mind admitting it.

A thick, chunky stem on a wine glass is enough to send me spiralling into a completely disproportionate rage, so imagine my delight when I discovered that Villa del Re appears to take this matter as seriously as I do.

Every glass is beautifully chosen. Delicate, elegant and with stems so thin they appear to be held together by positive thinking.

Someone here understands that excellent wine deserves excellent glassware.

I would like to meet them.

THE GYM

Ordinarily, this would not get a paragraph to iself but this is different. At the other end of the spectrum from drinking excellent wine from impossibly delicate glasses is the outdoor gym.

Visually, it is something straight out of a Tarzan fitness fantasy.

Hidden amongst the greenery, surrounded by nature and infinitely more appealing than a windowless hotel gym containing one treadmill and a television permanently showing CNN, it almost makes you want to exercise on holiday.

Almost.

The slight issue is that Sardinia in summer is approximately 987°C.

A fact I perhaps should have considered before arriving in full-length leggings and thick training socks.

There are few things less dolce far niente than discovering halfway through a workout that you have essentially dressed yourself for the Duke of Edinburgh Award rather than the surface of the sun in the middle of the Mediterranean.

Still, beautiful gym.

Questionable wardrobe choices.

THE VERDICT

Villa del Re isn’t trying to be the coolest hotel in Sardinia.

And that might be exactly why it is.

There are no DJs required to manufacture an atmosphere. No scene to be seen in. No pressure to spend the afternoon wondering whether you’ve secured the right table beside the right person.

The sky is so clear and free of light polution that you can see the stars. I mean, really see them.

You swim. You eat extraordinarily well. You drink wine from exceptionally thin glasses. You read something. You order another coffee. You stare at that absurdly blue sea for longer than is probably necessary.

Then you get dressed properly and do it all again.

This is not Sardinia at its loudest.

This is relaxation in vintage Valentino.

And frankly, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Alla Prossima xxxx

Hotel La Villa Del Re – Via Santa Giusta, 16A, 09040 Castiadas CA, Italy