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Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) is located on the "Amalfitana" coastal road (province road 163 or Amalfitana (SS 163)). Hotel's address is S.S. Amalfitana, 9, 84011 Amalfi (Salerno), Italy. Phone: +39 089 871012.

Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) as seen from the "Amalfitana" coastal road (province road 163 or Amalfitana (SS 163)) approaching from the Amalfi town. The hotel is located about 1 km from the Amalfi center in the direction towards Positano.

Often, if a person stayed in a hotel you are interested in and you want to know this person's opinion about it, you ask a simple but wise question: Would you stay in this hotel again?

This question is really good - it cuts through all the noise and occasional petty grievances any traveler may experience at any hotel regardless of whether it is good or bad. This question makes us go right to the essence of your experience with the hotel and balance all pros and cons to come up with very practical vision of the facilities and service. So, after staying in Santa Caterina Hotel for several days in a suite with the price tag of €1040 (taxes and breakfast included, 2011 prices), what is my answer to the question? Surprisingly for the hotel of this caliber and reputation, I say "It depends."

Why I am so uncertain about staying in a place that enjoys the second top ranking according to reviews submitted to Tripadvisor.com by hotel's 209 guests (as of this moment) who spend time at this hotel? Let's find out.

I would like to start off by saying that I love luxury (and who doesn't) and my decision to finally spend some time at Santa Caterina hotel kept filling me with great expectations. Could it be that my expectations were unrealistic? I do not think so. Anyway, keep reading - and if you feel that it is too much, watch for green (meaning good things) and pink (meaning things are not good) colors.

This photo shows Hotel Santa Caterina from the road SS 163. The hotel is a large property with several structures built on a rock with many terraces overlooking the sea.

View on Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) from the other side, from the point located on one of hotel's terraces. The structure hosting elevator shaft to the beach is in the front of the picture.

Inside Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) - lobby and bar area. The entrance to the hotel is in the background. Bar "La Terrazza" is on the right side of the picture.

Inside Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) - an area adjacent to the bar. Hotel offers free internet access (including Wi-Fi access); if you do not have your own computer or iPad, there is a public PC located in this room (see it in the background).

Our expectations were not higher than of any other five-star luxury hotel I stayed (including San Pietro di Positano which is about 8.5 mile or 14 km from Santa Caterina). I knew what I wanted simply because what I have already had in other places. In our experience Santa Caterina turned out to be a very good hotel but not a great one!

Santa Caterina is a beautiful hotel, in a stunning location. If you do not know, Santa Caterina is located outside Amalfi town on Strada Statale Amalfitana (SS 163) - technically this is Pastena-Lone, a village (frazione) in the municipality of Amalfi. The driving distance from the center of Amalfi to the hotel is 0.7 mile (1.2 km). This location isolates Santa Caterina from noises of the town and at the same time gives hotel guests a chance to enjoy the views of Amalfi which are especially romantic when it is getting dark with lights of the marina and the town itself.

However, this very same isolation creates a problem if after having been fed up with the hotel's restaurant you want to stay a bit closer to an action and, say, have a dinner in a restaurant located in Amalfi. True, Santa Caterina hotel offers shuttle. Unfortunately, it is scheduled to run every 30 minutes and stops running at 6:30 PM.

Another view on the main lobby area at the Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) - the bar is on the right (empty during daytime but stuffed with bottles in the evening). In the background, you can see the reception desk.

I could not but take a picture of this beautiful Vietri majolica floor in Santa Caterina hotel (Amalfi, Italy) in the bar area.

Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) - Bar "La Terrazza" and its terrace. The bar is well stocked with well known brands of whiskey, brandy, grappa and other types of spirits.

This is the terrace of "La Terrazza" bar at Santa Caterina hotel. During daytime it offers breathtaking views on the sea, coast line and Amalfi town (although during the day it can be a rather hot place to spend time). In the evening, the terrace is a beautiful place to spend some time after dinner enjoying your digestivo (after dinner drink) and coffee while observing the lights of the Amalfi Coast.

With an arrangement like this, your options are: to get a taxi (to and from your restaurant of choice - €10 in 2011) or walk. The latter is absolutely doable - the problem is - you will have to walk along SS 163 (which may not even have sidewalks and not pleasant anyway at late hours with cars passing you). Or, you can use Salita (stairway) Santa Caterina connecting the street along Amalfi's marina with the SS 163 beyond the second tunnel (and you still have to use SS 163 for the last part of your exercise). Having done it once, I would never recommend the "stairway" - it's dark and smells (very convenient place to urinate). No matter what crime rate in Amalfi is, you just do not venture into places like this.

I mentioned San Pietro di Positano, a hotel which is in a similar location (outside Positano). Their shuttle available any time. You just wait several minutes until the car shows up after another ride. And if you are in Positano, you can actually call the hotel, and they will pick you up.

Could it be an oversight? I do not think so, and I know for fact that guests complain about this - the problem is being mentioned even in very positive reviews on Tripadvisor.com. I think this approach is an integral part of the hotel's management mentality.

Ultimately, it is all about a customer value proposition - what a vendor promises a customer will receive in return for the customer's payment. Poorly organized shuttle service is just a small detail, but as you will see, the value proposition at Santa Caterina is really dubious at times.

If you like grappa, "La Terrazza" bar (Hotel Santa Caterina, Amalfi, Italy) is the right place to be. In the bar, you can find some of the most exquisite brands of this liquor.

Another view on the terrace of the "La Terrazza" bar at Santa Caterina hotel (Amalfi, Italy). This picture also gives an idea of the "Santa Caterina" restaurant at the hotel. The row of tables on another terrace under the canopy visible in the background belongs to this restaurant opened for breakfast and dinner.

"Santa Caterina" restaurant at Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy). The restaurant has two areas: inside (seen in the picture) and outside. The latter offers a romantic sitting especially if you get a table at the edge of the terrace. However, the drawback of this place in the restaurant is smaller tables and possibility of mosquitoes.

With this photo I tried to convey how it can feel sitting "alfresco" on the "Santa Caterina" restaurant (Santa Caterina Hotel, Amalfi, Italy) terrace during breakfast time. And I have to admit that real life experience is much (I mean much, much) better one than looking at this photo.

The restaurant is actually very good. The food is very good overall and having dinner on its outside terrace is extremely romantic - views from the restaurant are stunning as from any other place at the hotel; live music is offered every day. The service is immaculate. So, eating dinner, sipping nice wine (the wine list is quite impressive) and enjoying majestic views of Amalfi Coast - what else one would want?

Let me first quote the hotel's web site, its part where the Restaurant Santa Caterina is presented: "The classic Amalfitan recipes have made the restaurant of the Hotel Santa Caterina a landmark of international cuisine." I say it's a stretch. By the way, have you noticed that I often say "good" or even "very good"? That's the whole thing about Santa Caterina Hotel - it is often only "good" or "very good", and not "great." The same is true about hotel's restaurants.

In my view, the food is good and made of high quality ingredients but not more than that. For claims made by the hotel's management, it is flat in taste. Moreover, it seems that attempts to show creativity resulted in losing most precious flavors of the local cuisine. If you do not trust my judgement, let me draw your attention to the fact that the restaurant is not mentioned in the Michelin Guide - quite the opposite to the claims made on hotel's Web site that the restaurant is "recognized by the most authoritative guidebooks worldwide." What can be more authoritative than Michelin reviews?

Can Santa Caterina afford a better chef? You bet. But for the moment, Santa Caterina makes it difficult for its guests to go and explore other dining places in Amalfi (including those awarded by a Michelin star). By the way, opposite to Santa Caterina, San Pietro di Positano has a Michelin awarded restaurant.

A couple of tables ready for guests coming for a romantic dinner at the restaurant "Santa Caterina" (at the namesake hotel in Amalfi, Italy).

The second restaurant in Santa Caterina hotel is "Al Mare" located on a terrace just above hotel's private beach. That's normally where lunch is served. "Al Mare" is less formal and offers pizza at lunch. On some occasions this restaurant is open for dinner - the photo shows how "Al Mare" looks in the evening.

Next to the "Al Mare" restaurant is a terrace where refreshments are served when "Al Mare" is opened in the evening. It's a cozy place usually with live music.

Another cozy place at Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) - this picturesque terrace is located next to the hotel's Spa. A good thing about this terrace is that even in hot days it offers a breeze.

Not only Santa Caterina Hotel enjoys premium location, but a lot of effort is dedicated to maintenance of its premises. Especially impressive and beautiful are its gardens with lemon and orange trees.

Santa Caterina is half sitting on a cliff and half built into it. And it seems like architects and gardeners have made a terrific job taking advantage of every bit of the hotel's location and design. There are several structures on the property with the main building you enter from the road being the largest. This building houses the lobby and reception area, restaurant, bar, several terraces, SPA, a small shop and, of course, rooms. The elevator shaft is accessible off the main building - elevator rides are pleasant since its cabin has wide windows providing as you go up or down the same spectacular views on the sea and Amalfi. There are several smaller buildings where suites and private honeymoon suites are located.

The hotel decor is elegant and done in traditional white themes typical for the area including the painted ceramic tiles in the lobby and other places. I already mentioned gardens - they are sitting on several levels of terraces connected by stairways (about 170 rather high steps if you want to exercise yourself instead of using the elevator). Gardens are very green - they are watered and carefully pruned. My only wish the hotel had more flowers.

Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) is sitting on the rock with structures built into the stone. To make the place livable, a lot of terraces where created all over the place. There are many passages and green corners with various plants that provide deep shadows.

This passage hanging over the cliff is just an illustration of typical environment guests find at Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy).

Occasionally, you will come across some beautiful flowers like this. However, flowers are rare at Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) in comparison to some other luxury hotels in the area.

This looks like a pool on one of the terraces at Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy). It seems like having free access, and lounge chairs are there.

You have already seen positive and some negative comments in the review. You will see more of the latter as I continue with my remarks relate to the value proposition at Hotel Santa Caterina. However, it is the area of managerial competence and marketing. I would like specifically stress that the hotel staff, those who contribute most to make staying at the hotel enjoyable, are very well trained and efficient - they know what to do, and when they do something, it is done in a well-organized and competent way with grace and smile.

For example, I did not notice any relationship between receiving a tip and the degree of service provided. Do not get me wrong - we never tried to provoke personnel with this type of things. But it is almost inevitable to have situations where the tests like this take place. I remember when we came the first time to the "beach", an area near the sea with the swimming pool and the Beach Club, I did not have my wallet (hence, no tips). But to the best of my observations, I did not notice that quality of the service we received that day was affected in any way.

Looking at this sign, "La follia Amalfitana", I should say that the place is reserved perhaps to the guests of "Follia Amalfitana" honeymoon suite - one of the best suites at the hotel. The suite has large terrace with a jacuzzi pool overlooking the sea and a shell-shaped king size bed.

This long passage covered by lemon trees connects the main building at Santa Caterina hotel (Amalfi, Italy) and a smaller one where several suites are located.

This photo shows how terraces have been designed at Santa Caterina hotel (Amalfi, Italy). In the foreground (right side) is the top of elevator tower connecting main building with beach area. If you do not want to use the elevator, there is another way to reach the beach (and "Al Mare" restaurant) - stairways connecting terraces (only about 180 steps totally).

This photo was taken from the same spot as the previous one with camera looking down on the Santa Caterina's beach.

Santa Caterina Hotel (Amalfi, Italy) - fitness Center with a sea view (Source: Santa Caterina Hotel)

Let's have a closer look at the bar (Beach Club at Santa Caterina hotel, Amalfi, Italy).

A basket with lemons and oranges (both from the gardens of Hotel Santa Caterina, Amalfi, Italy) make the Beach Club bar appearance more joyful.

Beach Club area (including swimming pool, bar, small gym, showers, restrooms) is one of the best things at Santa Caterina Hotel. You probably will want to use the hotel's elevator to reach the Club. It is a short ride but nonetheless spectacular - through its window you can one more time to take a look at the magnificent panorama of the Amalfi Coast.

When you exit at the bottom of the shaft housing an elevator, you get into a small landing platform with doors to changing cabins and restrooms. Another door will lead you to a gym. A short stairway goes down to an intermediate level with entrance to the Al Mare restaurant with a fairly large terrace at its side. At this point, several more steps and you at the wide beach area with solarium and a heated swimming pool with sea water.

Because of the nature of the Amalfi's shore line with mostly cliffs going right into the water, there is no traditional beach with sand (or pebbles) gently going into the water. Instead, the beach area at Santa Caterina is designed as an ample concrete flat deck. To go into the sea, you use one of the two vertical ladders - they go right into the water like you've seen in many swimming pools.

The swimming pool area and the Beach Club as most other facilities are reserved exclusively for hotel's guests. The area is open from mid-April to October, from 8.00 to 19.00. There are several staff members who will help you find a place on the deck to your liking; there are chairs, chaise-longues, small tables, umbrellas and beach towels. There are a couple of nice showers with fresh water right on the deck.

I already mentioned gym. The fitness center is small but well equipped - you will have everything you need to step, press, crunch, run, bend. The gym is open from 8.00 am to 22.00. As far as its size, I think it has been designed to accept the actual traffic which is not that high - in my observations, the gym stays mostly empty.

Beach Club facilities include a bar - a cozy place above the concrete deck where you have a drink or play cards. If you want you can take drinks to your chaise longue (or they can be brought to you, but you have to come to order them yourself).

Very close to the Beach Club is the restaurant Al Mare (At the Sea). it is rather large and opened usually for lunch (from May to October). It has its own menu with some dishes available only at Al Mare (for example pizza) but essentially it is the same cuisine as at the hotel's main restaurant, Santa Caterina. However, since the expectations are much lower for Al Mare, I do not think my criticism regarding the main restaurant can be applied here.

One more thing to mention about Al Mare is that usually once or sometimes twice a week, the main restaurant is closed and, instead, the dinner is served at Al Mare. At nights like this, guests can come earlier and have an aperitif and small appetizers at the large terrace near Al Mare. It has its own bar facility; tables and chairs are arranged on the terrace under umbrellas. They are really not needed but once lights are turned on (including decorative mini-lights) the whole setting becomes even more inviting. And not to forget - there is usually a live music and sometimes singing.

View on Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) and its elevator tower connecting main hotel premisses and the beach. By the way, the elevator ride is rather spectacular since its cabin has wide windows providing views on the sea and Amalfi as you go up or down.

Santa Caterina's beach area (Amalfi, Italy) is called Beach Club. Nicely looking structure in the photo is the Club's bar. It has a terrace with several tables where you can sip your drinks (also served on the deck).

Deck area of the Beach Club at Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) with sun loungers, chairs, beach umbrellas as well as a swimming pool. There is no beach in a true sense of the word - two vertical stairs go right into the water.

This room is considered to be a junior suite at Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) - we spent several days in it. It is rather spacious by European standards, but I have to say that this is the only positive comment I can make about this room.

A junior suite at Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy). One of the biggest problems with this room is that it is very damp - two humidifiers found in the room upon arrival running full time cannot solve the problem. All our clothing in the closet quickly acquired unpleasant feeling of being not completely dry. I do not think that for the room with a price tag approaching $1,100/night it is acceptable.

This photo illustrates the furniture in the room - if you look at the right chair you can actually see that it is completely sagged (even if its cushion looks OK). "Welcome" sweats on the table between the chairs are a nice gesture, but we would prefer to have better furniture than furniture like this.

Italian hotels are not the best place to find good mattresses - Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) is not an exception. Or did the management know that in such damp room any decent mattress would turn green from mold in a matter of days? Also, if you look at the photo and compare it with photos published on hotel's Web site, you will see a difference. In fact some rooms on site look better than our "suite."

An example of a room decor at Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy). Are these my eyes, or you agree with me that the picture is not framed correctly and needs to be rotated counter clockwise several degrees?

Junior suite at Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) - the suite's terrace, view from the terrace onto the room entrance. If not the lack of privacy (which effectively prevented us from using the terrace), it would be rather cozy.

Junior suite at Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) - the suite's terrace. This branch with ripening oranges certainly adds to the character of the place.

Junior suite at Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) - the suite's terrace. If not the lack of privacy, it would be quite good. Unfortunately, the whole terrace is exposed to people using the passage above (on top of the stone wall of the left side of the picture). Same way, there is a utility passage at the foundation of the terrace (right side of the photo) used extensively by workers taking care of the garden.

Again, about value proposition

If you are reading carefully this review (which is so far has been mostly positive), you may be wondering, why I have doubts regarding coming back to Santa Caterina Hotel. The answer is simple - because of our room (or "junior suite with sea view" according to our reservation). Unless I am sure 100% that I will get something substantially better than what we have had during our visit, I am not staying at Santa Caterina in the room like this for €1040/night (€950 plus taxes). It does not cost that much. It does not come even close to this price tag. I better go to another hotel where I know for fact I can get better accommodation for the same or better price. Where? For example, at San Pietro di Positano or Le Sirenuse (also in Positano).

Indeed, no matter how beautiful views are - be they from your own room or from a restaurant's terrace, no matter how nice the service at the hotel is, you have to sleep and spend anyway some considerable time in your room. The room we had cannot be qualified by any stretch of imagination as a junior suite at a 5-star hotel. May be it was our bad luck and most (or all) other rooms/suites are better and not like this? May be. But it is not really relevant because the existence of even one room at this price illustrates the mentality of hotel's management - those who make pricing decisions.

Room/Suite

The suite we had is located in a separate building - a one minute walk from the main one. By Italian standards, the room is certainly larger than most regular rooms. It has rather large patio and even a walk-in closet. However, by its floor plan, it is not a suite - there is a support column in the middle visually separating the space - but does this make the room a suite?

When we entered the room, our first sensation was that the whole space was damp - more like a a dank cave. As we understood quickly, hotel's management was perfectly aware of this problem with the room - there were two dehumidifiers on the floor - one in the closet, the second in the bathroom. They were working non-stop (obviously producing noise) but could not even alleviate the problem to say nothing about fixing it. If you take a shower in the evening, the towel would not dry by the time you get up in the morning. Moreover, all our closing on the next day after our arrival absorbed enough humidity from the air and become unpleasant to wear. Our humble understanding is that the humidity problem is a permanent one in this room. It comes from the fact that it is carved from the rock - in fact, in the bathroom, part of it was left exposed (and presented to us as a nice authentic feature).

The furniture in the room was old - one of the upholstered armchairs was completely sagged. It had a fitted slipcover and looked good, but was not usable for any prolonged sitting. The shabbiness of the place was obvious. Hotel's management had not even bothered to replace worn out literature and stationary. There was no pen in the room! Ironically, to complete the hotel's survey, I had to use my own!

Bed and linen

It is not unusual in Italian hotels to come across beds with horrible mattresses or cheap bed sheets and rough towels that more akin a sandpaper than something that is supposed to be friendly to human skin. Santa Caterina has not been different. On the positive side, I have to say that everyday room cleaning, making beds and replacing lined and towels were perfect. At times it was done as many times as needed. But still I do not appreciate crunchy towels at Santa Caterina as a substitute for the fine cotton I would hope to find in a Italian 5-star hotel.

Bathroom

The bathroom was large with a jacuzzi tab and nice toiletries (Bvlgary). Unfortunately, the shower (used most frequently) was not comfortable. Having large, "rain" type shower head, it was small and did not have a shelf for soap (there was one, but it was falling off and could not hold hotel format toiletries). So, keeping all that stuff on the floor we had to "twist the bones and bend the back" to retrieve what you needed - not a pretty exercise in a narrow shower.

Terrace

The terrace (I will call it patio to distinguish it from larger terraces on hotel's property) was also large with enough room for two chaise-longues, a table and two chairs. However, there were major minuses. First, it was not really sea view since one half of the sea was blocked by the building. Second, there was no privacy at all. Due to the overall design of the building, the room and the patio were on the same level or the same hotel terrace. Because of this, the patio was completely exposed to people walking on the terrace above and to a lesser degree to the terrace below. The terrace above happened to be a pathway from the main building to the one with our "suite" - you get the picture. In addition, the patio was surrounded by trees - nice, if not for with mosquitoes and other insects living inside the tree foliage.

We have never seen in a suite of five-star hotel an information package and stationary worn out to the degree we found in Hotel Santa Caterina. Inside the folder there were several not fresh sheets of blank paper and envelopes; there was no pen (there was a pencil next to the phone on the night table).

Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy), junior suite - we appreciated clean glasses and free bottles of water for every night.

Closet in our suite in Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) - this is a nice feature not found in most Italian hotels. Unfortunately, the humidity problem was in the closet too; in fact, one of the two humidifiers we found in the room was placed in the closet, and it did not help.

The bathroom in our suite at Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) was spacious enough and nicely appointed.

Another view on the bathroom in our suite at Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy).

Bathroom in our suite at Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) - closeup on toiletries. The line of Bvlgari toiletries were up to our expectation.

Junior suite at Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) - exit to the suite's terrace.

Junior suite at Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) - the view from its terrace is breathtaking. But does it justify the price of the suite with so many problems?

View from the grounds of Hotel Santa Caterina (Amalfi, Italy) to the mountains surrounding the hotel is also very impressive and adds to the charm of the place.