Grand Hotel Villa Tuscolana

No room to move

Whilst the hotel itself if beautifully decorated and furnished, the rooms are not. They are extremely small with one free standing wardrobe with no shelves or drawers to store clothes and barely enough space for suitcases. Likewise no shelf in the bathroom for toiletries. Room overlooked courtyard where a disco took place one night until midnight. Reception staff were pleasant at all times and very apologetic about the disturbance. Hotel website states that there is a shuttle bus service to and from the railway station, and given that it would be impossible to walk from town to the hotel I had the impression that this service was free. However I was presented with a 40 euro bill on check-out and was informed that the bus was only free on arrival and departure from station! Hotel is definitely geared towards the conference market, and guests with own transport.

Traveller's tip on dining

Frascati is full of reasonably priced and interesting restaurants with friendly staff, but with little else for the tourist. Best to consider it as a quiet base for day trips to Rome. (30 mins.and 3.80 euro return by train)

Another villa past its prime

The hotel seems geared for conferences and little else. Service was poor. It is situated at the top of the hill behind Frascati. If you don’t have transport (like we didn’t), It is a 10-15 minute walk down the hill, but I wouldn’t recommend walking back up the hill. The hotel offers free pickup and dropoff to/from the train station on arrival and departure, but not during your stay. They will collect you/drop you off at other times for a fee - but not after 11pm (as we discovered after the fact). The few taxis in Frascati don’t operate in the evenings and we were forced to walk back up the hill in the dark on roads not made for pedestrians. There was also a foul smell emanating from the drain in our bathroom throughout our stay.

It could have been so good but too much inconsistency

This hotel focuses on Conferences and unfocused on individual guests. Single rooms cramped with 1 wardrobe and 1 bedside table. Sloppy maintenance: 3 lightbulbs needed changing. Battery on keycard reader died and took 45 min before someone let me back into room. Water fell down wall every time cistern flushed. Room hot and stuffy, no air con, ceiling fan not enough for summer heat. First night had light supper in hotel restaurant. Halfway through waiter insisted we sign for bill although we hadn’t finished. Then ordered raspberry "parfait" which we took one mouthful of and wished we hadn’t, sickly sweet and synthetic. Quietly told waiter not good but he argued that all other guests liked it. He took it back but no alternative offered. Upset on departure to find we’d been charged for this ill-tasting dessert. Because we’d signed the bill in restaurant obliged to pay. Receptionist refused to give us name of the The Manager who she said doesn’t come to Hotel. Left a very bad taste and ruined end of our holiday. Astonished that the Hotel seems to be running itself with an absent manager - maybe this explains the problems we encountered. Whatever you do, beware of signing the bill in the restaurant before you’ve finished your meal.

Traveller's tip on dining

The best restaurant we found in Frascati is called "Pinocchio" - look for it with the figure of Pinocchio standing outside. Very reasonable and very good value. Great atmosphere. Take an Italian dictionary with you as there are no English translations of the food!