Casadelmar

Some background: while I love a luxurious accommodation, I typically don’t drive while on vacation. However, everyone recommended that we rent a car in Corsica, and so we did, but we didn’t much care about what kind of car we got. We ended up with a small Toyota SUV, which was fine for our purposes. However, when we pulled up to Casadelmar in it, we were repeatedly asked whether we were at the right hotel, whether we in fact had a reservation at Casadelmar, and whether perhaps we had confused our hotel for Casadelmar (we hadn’t). After that slight hiccup, we were shown to our beautiful room. It had a small w/c right next to the front door, but the separate shower, tub, and sinks were great (even if the bathrobes were scratchy). Our room had a spectacular view and was incredibly private. But the walk to it was through a carpeted hallway that was extremely humid even in mid-Sept. The biggest downside was the unfriendly, unhelpful, and pretentious staff. When we checked in, they mentioned a ferry to their sister property, La Plage Casadelmar. We decided to eat at the restaurant our last night and hoped to take the ferry as we had been getting a bottle or two of wine at dinner. When we inquired, they directed us to contact the restaurant ourselves for a reservation. When we did, we discovered that the first seating was 8pm (20:00), which was reasonable, but when we asked about the ferry times, they said we could take it. Upon further inquiry, but only when asked, they said it stopped at 7:30pm (19:30) and suggested we just try and get a taxi. We ended up eating at Terramea, which was a less than 5 min. drive, and absolutely amazing. The biggest disappointment was the 2** Michelin restaurant. We were seated at a table crawling with bugs. When we inquired about new utensils given the bugs, we were very reluctantly provided some but with huffing and eyerolls—terribly surprising for the caliber of the restaurant. The initial small bites to whet the appetite were terrible—one was almost inedible (one was a hard, stale beignet; “beignet” was their description). The rest of the tasting menu was fine but uninspired—with the exception of a gift from the chef of veal ravioli in veal jus with truffles and the desserts. Everything else was fine but not at the level of a 2** Michelin meal. Everything at the hotel was overpriced, but the rooms were luxurious and comfortable—and the location was great for us as we explored natural waterfalls and pools about an hour north, Bonifacio about 40 minutes south, and three beaches all between 15-30 minutes away. A highlight of the hotel was the infinity pool that was nearly perfect—it included a very attentive staff member who quickly replaced towels after anyone left. We were by far the youngest guests that we saw, but the hotel provided a great base for those wanting more luxury in their accommodations.

Stunning property. For me, the pool deck sealed the deal. That said, my room was stunning, the bathroom was a complete indulgence, the bar is exquisite. Food was fab! Our dinner was artistic and delicious. I did not use any of the other services.