We recently took a trip to Mark Warner Sardinia and their Perdepera Resort. The first thing I noticed when I started talking to friends about Mark Warner holidays was how ingrained they are in so many people’s childhoods. Even over emails when discussing work I would hear ‘Oh I just saw you went away with Mark Warner! I used to love their clubs as a kid!’ They’ve been running their holidays for 30 years and I think it’s safe to say there is a ‘Mark Warner way’. I’m just not 100% sure we are the right fit for the Mark Warner Way. Read on to find out why.
Mark Warner Sardinia
Those who are signed up for that way of holidaying become loyal returning customers year after year and I can see why. There were things about our trip to Mark Warner Sardinia resort ‘Perdepera’ that we liked but there were also things we thought could be improved.
Starting from the start of our trip and our flight. We had never flown with British Airways before and found them fantastic, their staff were amazing, the legroom and seats were brilliant and I’m pretty partial to their complimentary G&T too. We’ve never flown on a chartered flight before and it made things a lot easier. We were met at the airport in Sardinia by friendly Mark Warner staff and directed to our coaches whilst our bags were tagged to arrive at our rooms. The coach transfer was two hours but it was air-conditioned and quite a lovely scenic route so was pretty easy with the kids, I liked how our journey was broken up a bit by a plane and coach so we could stretch our legs a bit too.
We arrived at around 8pm a little after the buffet dinner starts so we all headed first to the restaurant and were again really impressed with the service, the air conditioning and the food. This particular Mark Warner holiday is all-inclusive so you get full board plus wine which was a definite plus as you can end up spending so much on meals when in a different country I think. We clinked our wine glasses and smiled ‘happy holidays!’ to each other.
After this we headed to our room it was initially extremely hot for a few hours which was quite hard at that time of night especially with kids but the air con once it had kicked in worked really well for the rest of our stay. It would have been great if the air con had been turned on before our arrival especially arriving late at night and needing to sleep.
The next morning we rushed out for breakfast before briefing on the resort by the MarkWarner staff for all guests at 8.30am and then for Wilf to attend mini club by 9 am. We had another few meetings to attend that morning to explain the facilities on offer and the timings for certain things. Mark Warner has a great range of facilities and highly trained staff who run activities including sailing, wind-sailing, tennis, and mountain biking. There was also a scuba-diving instructor based at the hotel with tuition that could be booked at an additional cost.
Mark Warner Sardinia Childcare
One thing that I’ll probably mention a few times during these posts is just how good the childcare is. Wilf’s key worker was Chloe who was fantastic and he did so many activities with her that he would probably never had done with us on a normal trip. They are quite well known for just how top rated their kids clubs and childcare is and I totally agree that we had only praise for how well he was looked after there. This particular resort doesn’t have a baby club which we knew and were fine with because we wouldn’t have put Mabli in anything like that yet as we just think she’s too little (she was 6 months at the time of our trip) but that’s just a personal choice.
For someone like me who’s work is predominantly on-line I did find the wifi situation a bit tricky. We were prepared before hand for there to be no wifi in our rooms and only found outside receptions and at the bar but this was quite infrequent and didn’t work for 80% of our time there.
When it did work I was able to work by the bar looking out at the pool and marvel at what a great work life balance I had with a refreshing cocktail in hand. When it didn’t work (five days out of the seven) I found it quite stressful not being able to meet deadlines of check email. That being said if you are after a holiday where you want to completely switch off and un-plug (and really thats how holiday should be shouldn’t they?) then I think the lack of wifi really shouldn’t be an issue but should be explained before hand.
Sardinia Holiday
We were all quite tired from all the travelling on the first day so after Wilf had finished up for the day we headed to lunch which had such a great variety of choice even for veggies! Tom eats fish and he had lots to chose from all freshly caught too. The staff at the hotel are a mix of Italians and English and both were really brilliant. The Italian staff doted on Mabli so much and were so quick in getting us water and wine and very understanding about the mess she made (we did clean up too obviously).
Another thing worth mentioning about the rooms at Mark Warner Sardinia is that as it’s more of a traditional Italian-style room it doesn’t have a kettle or any drink-making facilities. We knew this in advance by looking at Trip Advisor and took a travel kettle with us (have to have my cup of tea in the morning!). The buffet breakfast serves coffee both from a machine and also filter coffee from a thermos but we did see guests who’d been previously and had brought their own cafetiere. The room was also very tired and had more of a ‘camping’ feel than a luxury accommodation.
On the second day we tried to get into the activities on offer a bit more. Tom is quite keen on cycling as he rides to work every day and as Bristol is so hilly he’s at a pretty good fitness level because of it! He took a short bicycle excursion with the cycling instructor there to a local town to pick up some bits and bobs. As well as wanted to get some cycling in, one of the reasons he (and other guests) were keen to go on this trip to the town was to pick up water. You can’t actually drink the water at the resort and although it’s provided at all meal times in between those times you need to buy it from the bar at €2 a bottle which I did think was quite steep, especially with kids and with so much sporting activities in the sun.
Tom said the instructor was brilliant and he also went on a trip with him later in the week up one of the mountains to some pretty waterfalls! You can see them in the video below, it’s great that there was someone on hand to have mapped out some great routes beforehand and take guests to these amazing views.
If I’m honest the main downside to this trip was how tired the rooms were. The shower in particular was quite hard work and the shower curtain kept sticking to us as it was quite a small space in a hot room. I would say that with young children you tend to spend quite a bit of time in your room on holidays, taking naps or having quiet time in between actives and we found it quite hard to do so with the rooms provided. There was an outside area with plastic garden furniture which we ended up sitting on quite a bit but again in the sun that’s quite tricky with littles. It’s worth bearing in mind that we had a triple room and not a superior room which I know has been updated recently. I think once these ones are updated it would make a huge difference to the comfort of the guests staying.I think we would have been fine with the room if we knew we were looking at a very budget accommodation. However, thinking it was more of a high-end holiday I think as paying customers we would have felt even more surprised than we did.
All inclusive holiday Sardinia
I think it’s also worth mentioning that we have two very little children (4 and 7 months) and if you had teenagers or perhaps children over 8 it wouldn’t be such an issue as you would be out of the room so much. That being said I think it’s always worth while to ensure the bed you stay in on a trip is super comfy especially if you’re doing so much sports which unfortunately these weren’t. That being said the maids were brilliant and the the cleanliness of the rooms was faultless.
The pool at Mark Warner Sardinia was fairly small but brilliant for all ages of children. There was a smallish baby pool and then a shallow area where they ran aqua fit and a deeper area for kids to play with inflatables and splash about. There was also a separate adults-only pool near the spa facilities which was blissful, I only managed a morning here once but I think if we’d had older kids that were both in a club it would be great to chill out there and read a good book. Which on the subject of holiday books, I read ‘Luckiest Girl Alive’ and I would recommend picking it up!
In terms of activities I did at Mark Warner Sardinia, I only really tried out the yoga but it was lovely being able to do it on the beach, especially the relaxation techniques. Nothing better than closing your eyes and just hearing the sea and feeling the sun on your face, much better than at a gym for sure!
There is a lot said about the price of Mark Warner holidays. For example, this holiday with two adults, one child and a baby it would have cost around 3k during the week we stayed. I always feel hesitant to say whether something is well-priced or not because its so subjective to people’s individual circumstances. However, if you consider two adults both taking part in half day activities daily, plus childcare, food and wine, accommodation, flights and transfers I do think its well priced. For our family who only took part in three classes and found the accommodation quite hard work with small children, I think we probably didn’t get as much out of it as others with older children might of.
I’m not sure Mark Warner Holidays are for us and wanted to post a Mark Warner review as travel peices are always our honest opinion. Personally, if I were looking for a similar experience but for less money I would go with a Eurocamp holiday or if I wanted a bit more luxury I would recommend this hotel in Tenerife.
We were sent on this Mark Warner Sardinia holiday as part of the ‘Mark Warner Mums’ ambassador program but all words and thoughts are my own. We were also offered a winter holiday but due to our experience decided that Mark Warner Holidays might not be the best fit for us.
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