Swimming Holidays

Brilliant holiday. All the teams were amazing, from the sailing, tennis and biking teams, to the waiters and bar staff to the cleaners. They couldn’t have done more.
We did lots of activities every day. Bike rides, guided and non guided, (including e-bikes sometimes which were relatively cheap to hire), tennis lessons, pickle ball, sailing (including RYA Level 1), joyride in a catamaran, kayaking, paddle boarding, table tennis, yoga, Pilates, swimming.

This is our second year at Baia dei Mori we love the location and the activities. On of the main reasons we return is the fabulous kids club, our daughter was in Sea Urchins this year and had a blast - Fabulous, caring staff. The other reason for us is the restaurant. The staff are superb and so attentive. They are super proud of their food and heritage and rightfully so. Gianfranco, Paulo and Alessandro are brilliant as well as Giulia and Simona - who went the extra mile for us sorting out a table when we had a big storm. Luigi - (Gigi) consistently makes the best pasta we've ever had and we lived in mainland Italy for 7 years! He is a delight. kind and friendly and a real asset to you. We look forward to seeing the restaurant staff when we return. They all remembered us from last year, especially our daughter who enjoyed being the centre of attention.
We mentioned the cleaning to Frosty when we were there and understood there had been a few issues finding staff. We had our problem swiftly rectified.
The one area I would like to mention is the attitude to swimmers. John, your coach, was superb again this year. I had a series of lessons with him and he is so encouraging and knowledgeable. I made great improvements. I also saw him supporting several severely nervous swimmers and he was brilliant as I watched them come on in leaps and bounds. I also took part in the introduction to open water swimming, which was informative, challenging and enjoyable. My partner and I also joined in with the Water volleyball - huge fun with 20+ competitors on each team, which shows the interest. We also made use of the stroke improvers class and the toddler swims lead by John, again great . We turned up to the prize winners night, which was great fun, but were disappointed that swimming was not included. The reason given was that "It is not a Neilson core product".We are a family that came to Neilson for the first time last year and I have to say that means nothing to us. We did not understand the hierarchy of the sports as swimming was offered along side everything else. John told us he had selected winners in each category and prepared certificates for them and was not allowed to join in. I now know Neilson's origins are in Sailing etc, but please don't treat swimmers as second class citizens. Due to an injury I am unable to take part in windsurfing, tennis and cycling and have to carry out low-impact sports such as swimming. It would be nice to feel included and many other guests I spoke to felt the same and will be raising this with you separately. Please try and get John for the whole summer next year too!!

We loved being waved off to the airport by Frosty, Filippo and the team. The first time we've ever experienced that was with Neilson. Thank you for a great holiday.
We had a fab time and we will be returning next year!

Baia dei Mori is a wonderful resort overall. Being located in a nature reserve is very pictoresque. We had a wonderful time with a great range of activities.

However, there were a couple of downsides. One is the fact that the launch 'lane' at the beach is VERY narrow and gets extremely busy. For advanced sailors/windsurfers its not such an issue, as they can go further out into the bay. But for beginners/improvers it is a real pain having to try and stay within the designated area and not accidentally end up in the swimming area. As the wind can pretty much come from any direction, the lane really only favours cross-shore wind and makes it hard for people in onshore or cross/offshore winds to get out and back in.

With regards to local excursions - this needs improving. The bus trip to Porto Ottiolu was really nothing special and probably lasted too long given how quiet the marina is mid-week. If Neilson could organise/offer a trip to Olbia (perhaps starting early at 5.30pm) - that would have been far more interesting.