Hotel Il Girasole

Wonderful View and Patios

(We took a hydrofoil from Napoli to Capri)The hotel was great for relaxing. Beautiful surroundings and views. The room left us wanting more. The shower was creepy; the shower curtain would cling to your body as you showered, mostly because it was a small space. Breakfast was continental by US standards. You also need to leave your key if you go out for the day. Getting to the hotel was not as complicated as we expected. We spotted a shuttle in Capri so we avoided having to take the bus and taxi to AnaCapri. Just beware they charge you at checkout for this service in case you plan on giving a heafty tip to the driver. Reasonably priced, about 7 euros. If you wander to the lighthouse bring mosquito repellent or you’ll be insect food and end up spotted and itchy for days to come. There are a couple restaurants and beautiful, scenic shots of rocks in the water by the lighthouse and the sunset is not to be missed.

Terrible hotel

The hotel is very far away from Capri and around 2 km from Anacapri (which is dull compared to Capri). Hotel staff is very rude and poor informed. To get there, it was a pain since there is no signs on the road and the address does not show on local maps, the place is kind of hiden (althoug views of the sunset are nice, not worth it). There is no parking even to our scooter wich we had to leave almost 1km away. Breakfast was the only nice thing (althoug you pay for cappucinos), pool’s maintenance was poor, bed is terrible and the small old tv was not working for 1 day (I asked twice to someone to fix it), there was no safe box (there was a lose metal box whose keys are not given to you on check in - but since box is loose from the wall is not safe to use it anyway) bathroom was really small, towels are rot and stained, water not so abundant, and either too hot or too cold. There was no info at all about shuttles (that I believed was paid separately). Internet access was free but staff wanted to charge me when I left! There is no marina!!! Thus, unless you want to get irritated with staff and all the time you take to get from there to the city center, don’t go there. It not worth it at all. Not recommend it at all.

Traveller's tip on local attractions

Sunsets and Grotta Azzura are wonderful! Anacapri is not worth it: expensive, few and poor service, spend time in Capri instead.

Not a 3-Star Hotel

Hotel Girasole is maybe a 2-star hotel, but is definitely not a 3-star. Our room had an incredibly noisy bathroom fan which went on automatically when the bathroom light was turned on (waking everyone in the room), a glass bathroom door (again, light throughout the room if anyone got up at night). The windows were unscreened (except for a loose screen on the window looking onto a service alley) and could not be left open. The pool is very old, sloppily maintained with a loose pool ladder and slapped-up concrete around the outside. In addition, the front desk did not mention their shuttle service to the port when we were checking out, even to a mom travelling alone with three kids.

Traveller's tip on getting the most out of your stay

The chairlift to the top of Mount Solara was great - cafe at the top and good views.