Grand Hotel Torre Fara

My wife and I have stayed here 3 summers in a row, the first time was for our honeymoon. It is an exceptional hotel for the price. Chiavari is a beautiful town to visit. Maybe it is cultural, or something I don't understand, but the managers can seem a bit cold/serious. However, the wait staff and especially the bartenders are extremely friendly and nice. The breakfast buffet is amazing, the dinner is pretty good. Location is nice, we usually taxi from the station on arrival, but walk to the train station on departure (about 12 minutes). It is nicer than hotels I have paid 2 to 3 times the price for in the US. Take the ferry in the morning to Portofino and make sure to take the later return ferry in the afternoon!

Check in was great, professional.. room ok , although first floor, looking at the train tracks.. we wanted to have lunch downstairs and the bartender dismissed us. Said he had no tables, come back in an hour? Half the room was empty and plenty tables outside. Maybe they thought we were not hotel guests. We had lunch in a. Nearby restaurant. Had dinner upstairs which was nice however my filet was tough, pasta was good. Service friendly, but not there yet. Chef and the restaurant have a lot of promise but it needs work. Breakfast was great.. views are beautiful. Just need to tight things up a little bit..

Nickel and dime everything. We stayed in a 2 bedroom apartment at approximately 1000 Euros a night and hotel was still charging for everything imaginable. Beach towels, you get 1 per person at check-in and if you want to change them for fresh ones, its 5 euros per towel. Really...also, beach chair rentals are ridiculous. 50 euros for 2 chairs for a half day. We had no balcony in our apartment, and in a day where the beach were closed (forecasted thunder storms) we could not sit outside Seaview at the bar, if we weren't buying. Seriously guys, at a 1000 euros per night you should be ashamed to keep adding ridiculous cost on top of cost. How about you just adjust your prices a little higher and just include everything. Positive notes are that the rooms are very roomy, modern, clean and comfortable. The cleaning staff does a great job as does the wait staff at the breakfast. The breakfast was included, surprisingly, it was good, but there is very little variety from day to day. Front desk staff during the week seems to very friendly and knowledgeable. We checked in in the weekend and almost seemed to be bothering the ladies at the front desk. I don't know that i would stay again.