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Club Med Kamarina

UK
Level Contributor
88 posts
8 reviews
10 helpful votes
Club Med Kamarina
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Thinking of going here this year with 3 teenagers 19/18/14 and wondered if anyone can recommend.

We like low rise accomodation, good food, wine and enough activities for kids without it feeling like Butlins.

Don't mind if it's not 5 star 'smart and fancy' but want it to be clean,comfy and stylish.

Have been to Mark Warner Clubs and some all inclusives in Caribbean. Last year went to the Xanadu in Turkey which really was very good.

Can anyone recommend Kamarina or other club med/other hotel.

HS

England
Level Contributor
340 posts
4 reviews
2 helpful votes
1. Re: Club Med Kamarina
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Hi HappySun,

Just got back from Kamarina on 2nd June. I reckon it's a four star given the facilities and accommodation. The latter is spread out in a Sicilian type village of low rise buildings (or you can choose to stay in the hotel if you prefer) with bouganvillea on the doors and oleandar bushes around you. This is very much an activity/beach holiday. There were many tennis courts, a huge pool (apparently it's the biggest in Europe) in a lovely setting, a small gym with proper equipment, roller blading, bowling, sailing, kayaaking, a circus where you can learn how to fly a trapeze and juggle, archery, and bike organized bike rides of 15k or 35k (depending on how fit you are). Teenagers were well catered for as 19/18 would be into sport anyyway (I imagine - my eldest is 13) and there is a nightclub that seemed popular with the youngest. I believe they also organised beach parties at night-time for them also. The beach is good - proper sand, but the area is a bit cut-off you want to venture out. Club Med are into selling you their expensive excursions but I would recommend hiring a car as frankly their charges were extortionate. 'Stylish' - not sure about this, it's a lot more stylish than any other sort of club holiday I know of and if you like the 'GOs' constantly smiling at you and saying hello it might be for you. There are five restaurants to choose from with a wide array of food to choose from. The food is very good on the whole. The only disconcerting thing was if you get up early, as I do, you notice the little birds in the 'Dune' restaurant pecking at all the croissants and fruit on display. There are 'shows' in the evening of a dubious quality, but the atmosphere is very pleasant and relaxed. Unless the weather is bad it would be difficult to get bored. The staff are very friendly and for the most part helpful. I felt you got better service if you spoke French (just as well that I do!) when the bars were busy. Chamber maid service excellent - rooms cleaned to high standard with fresh towels. Changeover nights a bit noisy however. Because of the size of the place luggage pick ups were by golf like carts that rumble along the bumpy pathways at strange types of the night. If you drink enough of the on-tap cocktails you could probably sleep through it but I found it a bit of a nuisance. After that, I would definitely go back to a Club Med again but once is enough in Sicily, as the surrounding area was a bit sparse and not especially pretty. I had long conversations with French and Swiss people who all agreed the facilities were great but the area not particularly so. Hope this helps

Montreal, Canada
Level Contributor
1,338 posts
139 reviews
319 helpful votes
2. Re: Club Med Kamarina
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I've just paid for a week there with my daughter in mid-August. It is one of the biggest Club Meds around. It is a family club med - alot of kids will always be there, although less so in the hotel part of the club. The village lodging area however has apparently been recently renovated, and the food (many restaurants) is supposed to be quite good. If your French is decent, a good forum with more info is: http://www.macase.net/foruma/ftopic4242.html.

And for a good description of the club:

http://www.macase.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=48&Itemid=27

(There are also some pictures on the site)

The club also has the full set of activities, including a circus school (my daughter's favorite).

If you like loads of included activities and no worries (all inclusive), this one is a good option although not cheap.

Cheers,

Tom

We also looked at another Italian Club Med - the Metaponto. It is smaller, non-renovated, fewer choices in restaurants, got much worse reviews, but was also considerably cheaper.

Blauzac, France
Level Contributor
3 posts
205 reviews
145 helpful votes
3. Re: Club Med Kamarina
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Have just come back from a week. I was there on business, but spoke to lots of others on holiday. It is miles from anywhere, so once there you are stuck. No popping over the road for a coffee. I felt like I was in the old tv series The Prisoner.

It has the biggest pool of Club med, but I found it lacked any intimacy. Far too many people round it.

The rooms were bungalows in a replica village, and they are ok. Only 1 uk channel (news), a big shower, twin beds, no views. In fact as they look onto the village 'road' and have no net curtains you need to keep the shutters or curtains closed. I found the room very dark & depressing. Better use the hotels rooms that have been upgraded,; marble batrooms, flat screen tv, fridge, quiet pool & restaurant.

If you like tennis there are 28 courts & good coaches. Apparently the sea sports are good too. The restaurants remind me of the school canteen: incredibly noisy, with seating at formica tables for 8 and miles to walk to choose your food. Families on holiday complained that they never ate quietly as a family , as everyone was jumping up & going off to collect their food. And there are no tables for 4. The food was OK, but no fresh orange juice & bad coffee at breakfast. Wine is included, but it is not good, ok once or twice, but you cannot buy a better bottle of wine or eat in a better restaurant by paying. I hated the whole eating experience here, I who loves my food, couldn't be bothered to eat.

The evening show I saw was like a prefect's pantomine & we left after 20 minutes. I am told this is one of the oldest Club meds, & that there are better ones. This ws my first experience & not one I would attempt again.

London, England
3 posts
1 review
4 helpful votes
4. Re: Club Med Kamarina
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We stayed at Club Med Kamarina in the hotel end of May/early June, one adult and one seven year old boy. We have been at other Club Meds (Ixtapa, Sandpiper), and are going to Club Med Cancun this December, so we are familiar with the Club Med format. Club Med Karmarina in quite huge, the largest Club Med. It has a hotel with balconies and one or two story villagio buildings (no private outside space ionteh Villagio) to stay in. The hotel has its own separate beach and pool (smaller than the main one), bar, and restaurant and is somewhat more oriented toward adults than children. The hotel is a bit dated, although the rooms have been done again fairly recently; the third (top) floor is currently being refurbished as luxury suites. I recommend asking to stay in the wing nearest the hotel pool (hotel is shaped like a very open V), as it is quieter and has far better views. If you are on the first floor with sea view you need to be at the very end of the hall (nearest to the pool) to actually see the sea. The other wing’s sea views are not as nice as they also look out over some drab buildings and poly-tenting farms not on Club Med land (and which surely were not there when the hotel was built). That wing’s garden views aren’t as nice as the other’s either, so really push to get the wing near the pool. The villagio rooms are more dated in décor and are rather dark – but very centrally located unlike the hotel. It can take about 15 minutes to get from the hotel to the children’s club for example. The main pool is enormous and there are copious loungers on various tiers. The main beach has boating, café, bar etc and is nice (but not nearly as nice as Ixtapa’s beach, which is grand). Kamarina also has a nice minigolf course, as well as all the sports etc they advertise on the web. Staff at the mini club were a bit hit and miss but the ‘misses’ were still OK (again at Ixtapa they were all fantastic). All languages were spoken at the mini clubs. It was British school half term, but not French or Italian, so not many non-British school age children were there. Kamarina was not full our week, but the day before we left there was a huge influx as it is an Italian holiday and became a lot more crowded (but still lots of space). Overall English-only speakers will be fine at Kamarina, although a bit of French or Italian helps if you can, especially when G O s sit at your table. Kamarina is certainly three tridents only – could do with updating the villagio rooms, hotel halls, and some widespread fresh paint, but truthfully after the first day’s running around you won’t care or notice. The public areas’ toilets/washrooms are all very new and well-designed. As seasoned Club Med-ders know, you only sleep in your room anyhow. One thing – the welcoming point building when you get off the bus is quite the worst part – don’t lose heart! (Club Med should tear this down and rebuild – it gives a unnecessarily poor first impression). All the Club Med favourites are here at Kamarina (I hear they’ve done away with some of this at Cancun, that’s bad!); crazy signs, mad quizzes, pool aerobics, trapeze shows, family tournaments, singer/keyboardist playing Volare to great audience appreciation, cheesy (but well choreographed) evening shows. They tried out a new show when we were there – a Western show. I thought, what, a French Western? Hmm. But actually it was a spaghetti western (mais oui!), and that aspect was quite amusing, complete with twangy music and stylised slo-mo fighting between Goodies and Baddies. Michele the Chef de Village is everywhere and he is quite friendly. Restaurants/ cafes are plentiful (5) – ‘Volcano’ specialises in italian buffet and we loved this. ‘Dune’ is best for families w/ children and largest. Food was good and plentiful, good seafood. Less fresh fruit than the other Club Meds we have seen though. Weather – take note that it can be very windy in Sicily, and for three days it blew so much although sunny that you could not use the beach for the incredible whipping sand in the air, and the water was red flag so no swimming/sailing. There was heavy competition around the pool for the comparatively sheltered areas! Lots of excursions on offer, which we did not take up as the bus ride was always about 2 hours and my son wouldn’t stand for it on top of the 2 hour bus ride getting there from the airport in the first place. So overall, we certainly enjoyed ourselves; however next spring half term I think we’ll try Club Med Palmiye in Turkey.

5. Re: Club Med Kamarina

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