End of September 2012. Fantastic hotel, incredible location. The new pool terrace overlooking the bay, was a particular highlight! Fantastic view from the breakfast room/restaurant and main bar terrace too. Beware that you will need a car though, as the best restaurants are in the old town, which is €23 each way in a taxi. Apart from that, it's great. We just used tripadvisor for restaurant reviews, didn't disappoint!

We stayed here from 23rd to 30th September. We arrived early (10:30) but were still given an introduction, a chance to get "freshened up" and somewhere to put our luggage. We then went down to the beach for a few hours until our rooms were ready (15:00).

The beach is lovely. Accessible by some steps (no disabled access) but easy to get to. Every room has two sun loungers and a parasol which are numbered, so there's no need to rush to the beach to reserve a spot. The only change to this is when it gets windy and the sea gets rough. As the sea come in further, they remove some of the front loungers. When the wind picks up, they put a red flag up to state no swimming, but it gets rough so that's a good idea! The rough seas can bring seaweed up onto the beach, and it takes a day or two for it to get clean again.

The bed is very hard, and they are just two singles pushed together (although this becoming more and more popular in hotels I've found). The aircon does have much range of temperature, but it's more than enough. The bed linen it quite "rough" and there's not much of it! There's no tea/coffee making facilities, no iron and the shower is very small. But it's nice enough and cleaned daily.

You seat yourself for breakfast, so don't wait around for someone to come and sit you down. Breakfast is served between 08:00 and 10:00. Breakfast comprises of cereals, cakes, croissants, scrambled egg, bacon, bread, fresh fruit, yoghurts, hams, cheeses, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, juices, etc, so there's plenty to fill your stomach on! Tea and coffee is self service, which I wouldn't expect from a 4-star hotel, but it's not the end of the world, and the machine is easy to use (and very nice).

There is somewhere to get lunch on site each day (between 12:00 and 14:00) which is nice enough. They do a standard menu of salads and then change their hot food menu every day. Sit yourself down and they bring over some bread rolls, traditional Sardinian flat bread and some bread sticks. Food is brought to you quick enough, but not so quick that it is pre-prepared. The Parma ham and melon is nice :)

Dinner is quite a short sitting (between 19:30 and 21:00). You should reserve a table if you're not half board, as it can get busy with the half board guests. Just book it at reception during the day. Before you sit down, grab a basket of bread, as this is self-service. Also try and sneak some olive oil and white wine vinegar, as this goes lovely on the bread rolls :) Their dinner setup is a bit alien to me, but we went along with it anyway. To have their full dinner menu (starter, first course, main course and dessert) is going to set you back about 60 Euros! The starter, which is essentially a buffet of sea food, pastas, meats, etc is 22 Euros! A bit steep in my eyes, so I'd have just a first and a main if I was feeling hungry. A first course (normally pasta) is anything from 8 to 12 Euros. The main course (normally a meat or fish) is anything from 10 to 15 Euros. It comes with veg, so you don't need to order the extra veg which is at the bottom of the menu. The menu isn't very clear about what options there are for dessert, so just ask. It's normally fresh fruit, gelato, fruit with gelato or a cake. As for drinks, even the "cheap" bottles of white wine (16 Euros) are nice. Two of them are fizzy (frizzante) so check if you don't want a fizzy wine.

Off of food for a second!!! The swimming pool is accessible by going out the front and up he steps to the left. Which seems a bit of an awkward way to get there. Outside of lunch hours you can walk through the outside bit of the restaurant to get there. But this is close between 12:00 and 15:00. The pool is open from 10:30 - 13:00 and then 15:00 - 18:30. You can still sunbathe outside of these hours. Although the pool is shut, you can lie by the side. Most people go for lunch during the two hour closed period though. The pool is cold! It's not heated, and the sun doesn't do a good job of warming it up! Just jump (subtly) straight in and that's the easiest way to get used to the temperature. It's lovely and clean. It says not drinks on the safety sign, but I think plastic bottles are ok as long as you use the bins provided.

Now onto the area itself. The hotel is only 10-15 minutes from the airport, but the taxi companies charge about 25 Euros to get to the hotel from the airport (each way)! It's cheaper to get a taxi from the airport (although you may have to wait 5-10 minutes) as to pre-book one was going to cost £40 (50 Euros) each way! The hotel is not close to any amenities. It's a taxi journey, drive or long walk to Alghero! A taxi cost us another 25 Euros each way. In hindsight, I would probably have hired a car. There was plenty of free parking on the beach on the lead up to Aghero, and then a 20-30 minute walk along the beach into town would have been bearable. Algghero itself is very small. It's a maze of little streets which can only be identified by the road names! So take a map. We got on a tour bus (as we do on most holidays) which leaves from by the harbour. It costs 18 Euros, lasts two hours, and travels right up to Neptunes Grotto. It stops along the way so you can get on/off as you please. The sights are great, so take a camera. There's plenty of restaurants in Alghero, so you won't struggle to find something to eat, although a lot of the shops/restaurants close between 13:00 and 16:00! You can get a taxi from a taxi rank next to the tourist information centre which is about 100m (if that) up the hill from the harbour.

We only left the hote twice, once to go to Alghero, and once to go on a wine/olive evening at a local vineyard. It... was... brilliant! You can find it on Trip Advisor under Azienda Agricola Leda' d'Ittiri. Book in advance, as they run English and Italian speaking tours during the week. It costs 20 Euros per person, and comprises of a talk about the history of the vineyard and local area, a tour and talk of the vineyard and the olive groves, some tasting of wine, cheese, bread, olives, olive oil and sausage. It's great value! It runs between 17:30 to 19:30, although if you're getting a taxi back, get it to pick you up at 20:00 as it can overrun. You also get the opportunity to buy some oil or wine, so take some cash as it's lovely! A taxi from the hotel cost us 30 Euros each way, which is a bit steep, as it's about 10-15 minutes away.

I think I've waffled on enough now, so I'm going to do a little summary, and then some positives and negatives of the hotel.

SUMMARY - Sardinia was lovely. The scenery is great, the weather was lovely, and the food was great. The hotel definitely gets its 4-starts on the location front, rather than service. In hindsight I would have hired a car, as we would have seen more of the island that way. The hotel is "basic". There are things that I have seen in other hotels that I would have expected in this hotel (covered below). I would stay here again, but only on the basis that we hired a car or stayed half board.

POSITIVES - The location is amazing. So peaceful and views are lovely. The beach is well kept, although after a storm/windy period, it gets rough and the beach gets covered in debris/seaweed. The pool is very well kept, although it could do with being heated! Breakfast has a good selection. I'm not a fan of continental breakfasts, but there was enough choice to keep me happy.

NEGATIVES - The rooms are simple. There is no iron, no tea/coffee making facilities, and the shower is tiny! It has a minibar, but it's not very cold. There's no vegetarian options (or very few, boring ones) on the dinner menu. It's very much meat or fish, and not much else. The starter buffer is ridiculously priced at 22 Euros. That's more than the most expensive main course! I think if they dropped the price more people would pay for it, but we definitely didn't. If you're going half board, then don't let this put you off.

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We stayed here for one night prior to our return to the UK after one week of staying on the east side of the island. We had a see view room which had a fantastic view over the (basically) private beach and gave us an amazing sunrise view the next morning. We were greeted on our arrival to our room with a hand written card, chocolates, and a Sardinian Liqueur which was a lovely touch. We did get a bus (20 mins/€1.50) to the old town rather than eat in the hotel but that's only because it was our last night and we wanted to see Alghero but the hotel menu looked good (albeit limited). All in all, a great hotel to relax by the beach during the day, but I would recommend getting that bus into town for the evening. Especially for the amazing view on top of the fortified wall overlooking the harbour and lots of restaurants with delicious and well-priced food. Enjoy. Would definitely return to Sardinia!

We loved our stay at Hotel Dei Pini. The hotel staff are very helpful and throughout the hotel we received great service. The hotel beach is beautiful and the view from the newly finished pool is amazing. Our room was great and we had a very relaxing stay. While the hotel is 10 mins from the main town Alghero having the shuttel bus and public bus available and right at the hotel doorstep made it not an issue and was nice to be amoungst the stunning surrounds the hotel has to offer