Forte Village in southern Sardinia is a resort that doesn’t just tolerate children but welcomes them with wide open arms.
By this, I mean that they can access (almost) all areas, they can roam wherever they please, and they can dine at any time in any of its 21 restaurants – even the five with Michelin-starred chefs.
In fact, the only child-free zone in the 123-acre resort is the truly splendid outdoor Acquaforte thalassotherapy spa, which is strictly adult only.
“You can’t be a family resort and then tell affluent people what to do with their children,” Forte Village Regional Manager UK George Kyriacou tells me. “An agent might read this and worry that their client will pay a lot of money for a holiday and end up next to a screaming baby, and we say yes, they might, and they will have to wait for the tantrum to pass.”
In reality, I doubt there is much screaming at the Forte Village, even in the summer peak when families make up around 60% of its clientele. I saw many young children and some babies during my three-night visit in May, and all were quiet and well-behaved. On several occasions, multiple families were dining in the same restaurant, but I never heard a peep from the children.
Privately owned Forte Village is the sort of place that attracts well-heeled, well-off families whose offspring are, I assume, well used to white-tablecloth dining and (quietly) entertaining themselves while in the presence of grown-ups. And if they don’t, I expect their nanny will whisk them away at the first hint of a tantrum.
“We do have two buffet restaurants, which are very popular with families, most of them don’t eat in the gourmet restaurants,” explains George.
All Forte Village hotel rates include breakfast and dinner, with guests entitled to dine in the evening in a choice of restaurants. How many restaurants are included in the price depends on the level of accommodation (to be honest, I found this quite complicated) but every guest can choose from at least four restaurants and they can book any of the others for a supplement.
I can see why families would be drawn to the resort, with its incredible sports centre, which offers 26 different sports from football to fencing, and even padel. It also has training academies (some led by ex-professionals) offering two hours of tuition every weekday morning, which cost €450-€600 for a week, depending on the sport.
There’s even a sizeable go-kart track (situated well away from the accommodation), but no golf, though there is a 27-hole course within a 10-minute drive.
Forte Village also has a kids club with supervised activities such as baking and farm visits, from 9am to 6pm every day, which is free except for babies and infants in nappies. There’s also a babysitting service.
Accommodation is spread across several hotels and 13 luxury villas, each with its own vibe, its own USP – all connected by paths weaving between high hedges and lush vegetation – creating a sense of space, calm and seclusion wherever you wander.
I am staying at the five-star Hotel Il Castello (above), the first built by Charles Forte, who developed the resort in the 1970s. Worth noting is that this is the only accommodation with sea views, the rest all look out to the stunning mountains or the beautiful gardens.
In total, Forte Village offer 42 different room types. At the entry level, is the Hotel Le Palme, which has super-cute bungalows, ideal for families. At the opposite end of the scale are secluded four-bedroom villas with pools, which come with a rockstar price tag of around £180,000 a week in peak season.
All the accommodation offers understated luxury. It’s not polished – I notice flaky paint and chipped wood even in the most expensive of the expensive villas. Rather, I’d liken it to a Birkin bag – slightly worn, but classy.
What you’re paying for is the seclusion, the sense of space, the privacy, the great choice of dining and, of course, the sports facilities. “Half of the footballers in the Premiership come here with their families, they like to look after their bodies,” adds George.
The resort sleeps 1,500, and there are 1,300 guests there during my stay, but at times it feels as if there is no-one else around. The main pool and the beach are busy in the afternoons, but there are no queues for the restaurants; service is swift and – crucially – there’s no noise and definitely no crying babies.
It’s easy to see why guests rarely venture outside the resort, even though the nearest town – Pula – is only a short drive away. “I’d say 99% of our guests don’t go out,” says George. “If they do, they are more likely to charter a boat, which we can arrange for them if they like.”
The UK market is the second biggest for Forte Village, behind Italy, and more than one in five of its guests are British. Probably the only reason it isn’t more popular is the scarcity of direct flights to Cagliari.
Ryanair has a year-round service from London Stansted and British Airways flies from London Gatwick from May to October, but there are no flights from UK regional airports.
There are more flights to the north of the island, to both Olbia and Alghero airports, opening up the option of selling Forte Village as part of a Sardinia multi-centre holiday.
Linsey McNeill was a guest of Specialist Holidays Group, which has family packages available via its Sovereign brand from £1,129 per person for a week in September, half-board in a Deluxe Family Bungalow at the Hotel Bouganville, including flights and transfers and free stays for up to two children. A week for a couple in a Deluxe Bungalow in the Hotel Bouganville in September costs from £1,949 per person, including half-board, flights and transfers.
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