Tui Magic Life Calabria - All Inclusive

I have one complaint about this resort. The reception staff were RUDE!!! They pretended they could only speak a little English and that they couldn’t understand you, and they just did not want to help. Me and my husband witnessed a member of staff “Silvia” tell a lady who had been given an uncomfortable wheelchair that disability was not important to the hotel. She refused to get her a new wheelchair. Only when her husband asked to speak to the hotel manager did she decide she would change the wheelchair for them. Our room was not ready until 3.30pm (room 2112). Baring in mind that the weekly flight from Manchester is at 6am on a Saturday, so common sense would be to ensure rooms are ready for when guests arrive at around 12.30pm - since most of us had been travelling since around 1/2am the morning before. Again, Silvia was rude to us, shrugging shoulders and rolling eyes whilst we stood begging for our room, with two exhausted young children. She said she couldn’t speak English and asked another member of staff to tell us it would be ready at 3pm at the latest. It wasn’t ready until 30 mins after this so we were left for 3 hours in 30+ degree heat with two young children and juggling through luggage for suitable clothing and sun cream. Less than ideal. The next poor exchange with reception staff was a young, curly haired lady with a bit of a lisp. I only mention this as she was quite distinctive but I’ve forgotten her name. This young lady had forgotten to book us a shuttle bus into Pizzo. Rather than owning up to her mistake, she lied and said that there was traffic and a technical issue in Pizzo so our bus had got stuck and wouldn’t be arriving. She then spoke in Italian to her friend, and with my husband being Italian he understood her telling the other member of staff that she’d not booked it. With a little help from the amazing tui rep in customer relations we did end up with our shuttle to Pizzo for the evening. Funnily there wasn’t any traffic at all. Go figure! Besides these awful exchanges the rest of the hotel, staff, food and amenities were excellent. I’d bet it’s impossible to get through all the activities on offer in one week with even mountain biking and water sports offered. The splash park was fantastic for my 4 year old and the walk to the beach was gorgeous. The hammocks and quiet zone were such a unique feature. The restaurants were fantastic and it’s one of the cleanest hotels we have ever been to. Grazi tui magic life Calabria!

Very sad to say it’s our 13th day out of 14 and we leave this beautiful resort feeling suntanned, content and a little heavier than when we left home. We stayed in the Exclusive area and really have had a super time here. Early on in the holiday we felt a little isolated geographically but once you’ve had a couple of trips out to Tropea and Pizzo you settle into Calabrian way of life and just relax and go with the flow. Congratulations to all the Tui Magic Life staff who are so pleasant and friendly and really can’t do enough for you. The site has beautifully manicured gardens throughout and is without doubt the cleanest resort I’ve ever stayed in. The a la carte restaurants are good but our Private Buffet is amazing. Franco and his family (once you’ve stayed here you will understand why I’ve used that phrase!) offer amazing food with so much choice every day for the many nationalities to visit. Pasta always great choice and always fresh and al dente (Seafood marinara linguini simply the best!) pizza fresh, crisp and wonderful. Salads, vegetables and various meats and fish (sea bass to die for!) main courses too many to mention. Veal, rabbit if you want! Beef, chicken and pork if not 🤣. Specials served up by Philippo and Frederico are great! Super pool bar and a big shoutout to Annamaria for keeping us refreshed!! The beach is also wonderful. You must come on a Sunday for the beach barbecue with a brilliant live band, help yourself beer, wines etc. My wife used the spa and spoke highly of the manager Stefania. Entertainment is plentiful and there’s something for all tastes. Once again I must congratulate the management and all the staff at this beautiful resort and I hope we’ll return in the future. NB There’s only one English TV channel but we wouldn’t be put off because of this!

I learned to windsurf! It wasn't just included free, but I got like twelve hours of one-on-one expert coaching for 200€ extra, which was pretty amazing. I also got some fun mountain biking, and the family did some tennis lessons and yoga and all kinds of stuff. The food was good—there was some great Birra Flea craft beer—and the evening shows were things we'd have paid extra to go and see, but didn't have to. I especially liked the peaceful "chill-out zone" of hammocks in the shady forest between the hotel and the beach.

After our usual annual argument over packing and setting off from home at 2am to catch the early flight it was a welcome sight to see Tui uniformed staff waiting on arrival directing us to a bus to the hotel. The bus took around 20 minutes to get to the hotel from the Airport and the hotel were superbly organised for our arrival, it took minutes to find our details and check in. The hotel is lovely, a sprawling tree lined campus with several 2 and 3 level apartment blocks with terracotta tiled roofs in a classic Mediterranean style. It is very clean and well maintained. Purple flowering vines cover most of the walls giving the whole place a satisfying Italian summer feel. Our room was a split level mezzanine family room with plenty of storage for my family’s 4 suitcases of clothes (plus my 2 pairs of swimming shorts). The beds are large and comfy. The pillows however are inexplicable. Not hard enough to be supportive but very lumpy and too soft. One is too few, two is too many. Despite the very friendly (and slightly confused) staff complying with my multiple requests to swap the pillows, every single one was exactly the same. If you do happen to have space in your luggage I would thoroughly recommend packing your own. By the end of the holiday I enjoyed walking around the hotel giving 45 degree angled nods to fellow pillow sufferers. We quickly orientated ourselves, it takes around a few minutes to walk from the main pool area to the tennis and football courts on the outskirts of the campus. The main pool is very large (and bracingly cold!) with a small pool bar in the middle and the main “Wunderbar” and buffet restaurant at the other end. Alongside the pool is the main stage and amphitheater meaning that all the entertainment is focussed in one central area around the main pool. This is great in the evening, making it very easy to move from the restaurant to the evening entertainment, especially when full of pasta and pizza. It’s not so great however when your room happens to overlook said area meaning that, even if you don’t want to, you will be listening to all the live entertainment until midnight every night as if the live band are sat on your balcony. If you value an early night avoid Block 1 rooms numbered 1001-1010 or 1101-1110. We did struggle to find any quiet areas in the evening to sit and play games (one of our children is autistic and sensitive to sound) so something to bear in mind if this is important to you. If you are the family still dancing in the bar at midnight then you’ll be fine. There was plenty of entertainment in the evenings, various bands and tribute acts, all were a very good standard for the holiday circuit. There was also bingo and karaoke in the Wunderbar area. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to all of them while I tried to sleep each night. Kids Club. Not that we don’t enjoy family time but the kids club was a very important part of our holiday. It was well organised with morning and afternoon sessions.

We returned for our second visit arriving Saturday 25th May, staying for one week. Having already been we knew our way around and took advantage of pre-booking preferred rooms in block 6 - away from the busy Wunderbar / Entertainment areas. A lovely relaxed week ensued, special mentions for Anna, Bruno, Joe and Luana who go the extra mile to ensure you are well looked after. A good tip - just accept that Italian guests simply cannot queue for anything! Numerous occasions they went straight to the front of queues, spoke in native tongues and got served before anyone else; that was annoying. Also, note that the Wunderbar does not allow shirtless service. There is a microscopic sign somewhere that states service will be refused without a t-shirt/shirt. Overall a lovely break, Italy is a beautiful place.

Stayed 11 to 18 May as a couple. This four-star complex and the staff exceeded all expectations. Our room was spotless and ultra clean with staff outside forever keeping the whole site clean and immaculate - stunning plants all over the place. The main pool is huge and clean - it's also never in the shade and so is always a reasonable temperature. There is a buzzing entertainment scene - discos/parties - one on the beach - loads to do, including walking in the woodland area and various other activities (mountain biking etc). I'm a bit of a coffee connoisseur - the coffee is fab - even from the machines. The beach is maintained to an incredibly high standard of cleanliness - not a fag dimp in sight. The quality of the food and the choice is amazing. They have a singer in the entertainment team called Werdy. He has a monumentally brilliant voice - a superstar level talent (and I don't say that lightly). Expect to see him headlining major music events soon - an absolutely great guy to go with the talent. As with any holiday complex, some things are better than others, but the negatives are so minor that they don't merit a mention. This place felt like a five-star resort. Colossally brilliant holiday.

The resort was big, clean and spacious. The pools were substantially large, always with room to swim and play. The food was fabulous, especially at the main buffet and the beach restaurant. The staff were all friendly, polite and provided excellent service. The chill out area on the way to the beach was an added extra providing comfortable hammocks to relax. The room was spacious and well designed providing two floors and a balcony area, perfect for a family. The lack of safety on the water slides was concerning with up to 4 children at once time trying to go down the slides at the same time.