A little quirk of mine is that I have always loved holiday resorts. Something for everyone, all in one place. All of us sharing the same focus: to have fun and enjoy ourselves.
I know they’re not considered chic, and it’s much more glamorous to rent a villa with friends. But I don’t really like going on holiday with other people, they’re too irritating. Nothing makes me happier than a hotel. And a resort? Best of all. I love them for their pure unadulterated holiday-themed escapism. I get enough real life from my daily walk across the A40 to North Acton Tube station; the last thing I want is it lunging itself into my holidays, too.
Forte Village, just a short 40-minute hop from picturesque (and highly underrated, in my opinion) Sardinian capital, Cagliari, is everything that a resort should be. Excellent facilities, incredible restaurants and a perfect setting across acres of pristine coastline.
Think the cerulean sea glittering in the sun, palm fronds swaying gently in the breeze. Uniformed people tending to flawless swimming pools. Exquisite Italian food everywhere you go, of course. A tiki bar selling deliciously strong euphoria-inducing cocktails on bar stools inches from the sea. Everything perfect and glamorous and still like the opening scenes of a Bret Easton Ellis novel. All this plus the most incredible spa replete with six healing thalassotherapy pools, a fencing centre, boxing, table tennis, diving, an Olympic-sized outdoor pool…. As I said, something for everyone. The resort boasts more than 700 rooms and includes eight separate hotels, 13 villas and 40 super swanky suites all dotted along more than 120 acres of seafront and camouflaged by over 3,000 species of plants. It’s big — there are roughly 1,100 staff in high season including 80 gardeners, but it feels extraordinarily quiet and tranquil.
Did I mention how much kids adore it there? My 10-year-old leapt out of bed every morning to go to the football club, run by coaches from Real Madrid, and had to be prised away at 10pm. My three-year-old loved the kids’ club and the little toy train they take every day around the grounds. There’s a great range of family-friendly fun restaurants from Brazilian to Sardinian to one of the most beautiful glass-fronted fish restaurants on the sea. Every night there was live music and dancing in the square.
But mainly, after a week at Forte Village I felt years younger and totally refreshed. Maybe it was just the pure escapism of it all. But even with Easyjet hideousness on either side of the trip I was able to completely rejuvenate in the perfect idyll.
Even if the person you think you are hates resorts, you’ll love it there I promise you.
Forte Village, Sardinia, from £573 per night for a family of four on half-board basis, excluding drinks (fortevillageresort.com)
