My family and I stayed at Villaggio Tonicello for two weeks in June. Needless to say I was apprehensive about the hotel being that there practically no reviews about the hotel online so I decided to go with my instinct and take a chance to book there. Being Italian, I have travelled to many parts of Italy but this would be my first stay in Calabria. The hotel turned out better than I expected. The staff was very helpful and friendly and tended to every concern or need that we had. They made our trip enjoyable and funfilled. I have two small children and they had a fantastic time as well. It was a bit of a walk to the train station but the kids learned to cope with it. The beaches were phenominal, although the water was still a little cold being the beginning of June. The hotel was clean and the food was exceptional. You felt like you were eating home cooked meals. There are two pizza parlours in walking distance and Tropea was a 3 minute train ride away with plenty of shops and sightseeing tours. The resort itself was an endless beauty of plants, trees and flowers. We had olive and banana trees in front of our room. The grounds were kept very clean.

We highly recommend this resort to anyone who wishes to visit Calabria and intend on returning in the near future.

We loved Tonicello. We my husband and I and our two daughters (7 & 4 years) went the last week of May 2008.The villaggio was very quiet at this time of year but we were told that the village gets much busier in the high season as the resort is very popular with the italians.
We booked the superior apartment and it was worth every penny. The beach was a stones throw from the village and had their own beachchairs. The sea and beach is very clean. The village itself is well maintained and clean as is the pool and surrounding areas. Maria the receptionist is a delight and gave excellent service, letting us check in early even though it was her lunch break( in low season check in isn't until 5pm).The bar/market is open in the morning and then closes for siesta opening in the evening.
The apartment was lovely well equipt with Sky TV, hob fridge freezer, remote control air-con in every room.
The apartment was serviced every day with clean towels. Beach towels were also provided.
The pool was big enough to swim properly in and there was a childrens pool also. The complex is ideally situated for the station which is walkable in about 10 mins where you can catch the train to Tropea and there are other restaurants and bars and a supermarket also within walking distance.
We found Tonicello perfect for a relaxing holiday at this time of year and would definitely go again.

We booked a four star hotel , it was infact a three star hotel.
I realised it was 'out' of season but:

Restaurant was closed
Reception Closed
Bar Closed
Pool Bar Closed
Shop Closed
All Advertised activities not available.

The 100m walk to the beach is down a very very very steep hill, not good for anyone with walking difficulties.

With that in mind we cooked our own food and the Pizza Restaurant along the road was great.

Maria at the hotel made the stay great but I would liked to have been warned that we were self catering not in a hotel.

Would like to back September whens its still suiet but all open.

We two paid only 60 Euro per night, and we found it underpriced for this very new modern clean petite hotel, especially when we weren't required to stay for more than one night. The room had a self-catering kitchen facility and spacious balcony directly facing their tropical garden. If you plan on driving, we can totally recommend this wonderful hotel. Their location is not walking distance from a town/shop such as Tropea or Ricardi but kind of a little isolated. (About 10 minutes west from Tropea by driving, of course, you can take a taxi too) Around there, taxis aren't stand-by at a train station, unless you are lucky. Their hospitality was amazing and they created a beautiful breakfast buffet for us two for only 8 Euro per person in their very new and clean spacious restaurant area. The breakfast buffet was beautiful enough for us to think of it as having value of 18 Euro person instead. The stuff was exceptionally kind and helpful to help me confirm our next hotel by making a phone call to other hotel for us at night. This hotel has a tropical paradise looking garden and pretty pool (they don't have a heated pool or Jacuzzi), very close to a beach. They have a free wireless internet connection available for their guest if your laptop has the wireless card.