# "sensational" timeshares in Europe?



## abdibile (Mar 14, 2008)

This forum offers lot of info about US (and surrounding areas like carribean), but as I am living in Europe, I am also interested in European timeshare units.

For US it is quite clear which are the most sought after timeshare resorts everyone dreams of getting an exchange into:

e.g.:
Harbourside Atlantis
Manhattan Club
Westin St. Johns

But what does Europe have to offer?

Of course London and Paris are nice, but to see a city I would not be in the hotel/resort too much of the time, so a (cheap) hotel would do fine for me.

What are the "sensational" resorts in Europe which could be deemed to be equivalent to the above mentioned?

I have seen the Marriott Son Antem in Mallorca which is quite nice, the two Spanish Marriotts near Marbella do also look good.

And there is Anfi del Mar in Gran Canaria (which I have been to and did not really understand how it could be ranked top 10 in the TUG ratings especially if compared to new US resorts).

What else?

Any suggestions what I could dream of exchanging into someday?


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## silvib (Mar 14, 2008)

We used to own a week at the St Mellion T/S, Saltash, Cornwall in England.  They were beautiful, individual houses - I'm going back to the 80's here, so hopefully they're still looking good.  We had a 2 bed house, and the separate dining room converted into a 3rd bedroom.  It was beautiful and lovely views of the golf course.  The Cornish coastal villages are a delight to visit, as are the stately homes open to the public mainly during the summer months.  It's quite close to Plymouth, which is good sized city and we always used to enjoy it.  Of course it doesn't have the weather of Spain, but the sight-seeing is great.


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## Fletcher921 (Mar 15, 2008)

We stayed in Kilconquhar in Scotland - a three bedroom house on a great estate.  It was wonderful.


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## Carolinian (Mar 15, 2008)

Kilconquer, especially if you can get into the manor house itself, which we were fortunate enought to do.

Chateau de Maulmont, France

Stouts Hill, England

several in Venice


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## Ireland'sCall (Mar 15, 2008)

Have been to the   3  Spanish Marriotts...all excellent.
G


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## mav (Mar 15, 2008)

De Vere at Belton Woods, De Vere at Slaley Hall,  Hilton Craigendarroch come swiftly to mind. I also really  enjoyed  Edinburgh Residence.
    I have also been to non rated European resorts I really liked.


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## nonutrix (Mar 15, 2008)

Hilton Craigendorroch!  Fantastic units, great location!

nonutrix


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## Laurie (Mar 15, 2008)

Haven't been to 2 of the ones you wanted comparisons to - however I can compare to Manhattan Club where we have been (which while a great place to stay, isn't actually that special inside - it's the location). It's hard for me to totally separate resort itself from location - locations are bigger components of my dreams than luxury. With that in mind: 

European resorts we've been to that were as nice or nicer than Manhattan Club:

Anfi or now Alpin Palace, Murren

Mondi-Holiday resorts in Austria (been to Grundlsee, and soon to be at Bellevue, which gets good reviews)

Pestana or Carlton -whichever they are now - resorts in Madeira (stayed in 1and saw another)

There is another Funchal, Madeira resort whose name escapes me at the moment which is very highly rated, tho we haven't been.

Anfi resorts in Gran Canaria- we weren't that bowled over by the 1-BR unit either - but did you get inside a 3-BR penthouse? We did, and it was pretty spectacular. In my case I wasn't as taken with the location though.

Cameron House, Scotland - probably overrated but at least = if not nicer than Manhattan Club. (And Kilconquhar but already mentioned.)

Cala Pi on Mallorca - we loved it

Villacana in Estepona - 2-BR or greater


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## sandra kraft (Mar 15, 2008)

*sensation exchanges in France*

I am looking for a sensational timeshare in France.  Is anybody familiar with Meditterranee Paradise in Saint Raphael or Residence Vacances No. 6 in Nice?  I can find no reviews for either resort and am so perplexed as what to do.  Any recommendations as to what resorts are good and what ones are not so good?  We want to stay in the French Riveria area as that is closest to my son-in-law's family.  This is a surprise 50th birthday gift to him.  Any help would be very much appreciated.

Sandy


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## silvib (Mar 15, 2008)

mav said:


> De Vere at Belton Woods, De Vere at Slaley Hall,  Hilton Craigendarroch come swiftly to mind. I also really  enjoyed  Edinburgh Residence.
> I have also been to non rated European resorts I really liked.



I am originally from the north east of England and De Vere at Slaley Hall is in a pretty part of the country.  We played the golf course there about 15 years' ago - it was in winter, very, very cold, the ponds had frozen over and you had to carry your clubs so the ground didn't get damaged (by pull carts).  Quite what we were doing playing in those temps I don't know.


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## Blues (Mar 15, 2008)

Laurie said:


> Villacana in Estepona - 2-BR or greater



Really, *really* emphasize the "2 BR or greater".  Read my review of this resort, in which we first had a 1 BR, then were upgraded to 3 BR.  3 BR unit was nice.  The 1 BR unit was very substandard.    Indeed, even for the 3 BR, I'd rate it nice, but a long ways from "sensational" as the title of this thread states.


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## Krystyna (Apr 1, 2008)

*my vote: Craigendarroch/Stouts Hill/Sutton Hall*

We really enjoy our HILTON CRAIGENDARROCH week in Scotland (May) and very pleased someone mentioned this lovely resort. No one mentioned  SUTTON HALL CLUB nr. York (England) a small but efficiently run place (nice to see they keep updating the units) and Sutton Hall is close to York/the Moors and Dales...and a small pub just a hop, skip away that serves excellent meals..and lastly (our recent buy) Stouts Hill Resort - small, friendly and well run and in a lovely part of the English countryside - TUG and Timeshare Today Magazine have printed my review. 

All 3 resorts were bought fairly recently as resales. 

If anyone has questions please contact us : twoexbrits@yahoo.ca

Krystyna/Richard...Simcoe, Ontario, Canada.


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## mav (Apr 1, 2008)

Yes, I agree, how could I have forgotten the  3 different times we  stayed at  Stouts Hill,   and  5 weeks over 3 separate trips to the UK at Brantridge Park ! Both very lovely resorts. We also really enjoyed the Marriott Ille de France by Euro Disney. We have stayed there twice. Anyone heading up North try those DeVere properties I previously mentioned . They are really top drawer. Not quite the  Four Seasons but close enough! But, as I said we really enjoyed other resorts in Europe that were not even rated. CLEAN  is the main thing with us!!!
   Edinburgh Residence is TOUGH to get. The heavens were smiling on us when that search matched.


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## CapriciousC (Apr 1, 2008)

We stayed at Marriott's Playa Andaluza last year and loved it!!  If it didn't take so long to get there from the west coast of the US, we would have purchased a week.  The villas are very nice, well-appointed, spacious, etc.  The grounds of the resort are lovely, and the location is very convenient.


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## Ginny (Apr 3, 2008)

Hotel Moulin de Vernegues, in Provence, was a very nice base for day trips. And the hotel is lovely, although we had a hotel room, not a suite. Who wants to cook in France? The food was fabulous. Day trip to Avignon, Aix, Arles, and the Luberon. Loved it!


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## 4catmom (May 6, 2008)

We own several timeshares that are "sensational" in looks as well as loacation, including Westin Kierland Villas and Marriott Newport Coast.  However, the most "sensational" timeshare we've been to (just returned from our second visit there on Saturday) is the Royal Regency in Vincennes, France.  Vincennes is at the end of the #1/yellow metro line, about a 20 minute ride to the heart of Paris.  The town has wonderful restaurants, bakeries, shopping and a fabulous wooded park.  The Royal Regency is a Sunterra/newly re-named Diamond Resort.  The rooms are quite frankly just adequate; I'm sure we would not be satisfied with them if they were in any other city, mainly because we're pretty spoiled with the posh resorts we've purchased.  But this is in Paris!  We already owned with five other timeshare outfits before we bought Sunterra/Diamond at Ka'anapali Beach on Maui last June.  But because we'd loved Vincennes we decided to become owners (not that Hawaii is chopped liver) just to make the exchange into Vincennes easier.  It was an instant exchange for us rather than a six month wait like in 2005 because we no longer have to go through Interval International.   We'll go back to Vincennes every couple of years -- we love the location!


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## Carol C (May 7, 2008)

Laurie said:


> Haven't been to 2 of the ones you wanted comparisons to - however I can compare to Manhattan Club where we have been (which while a great place to stay, isn't actually that special inside - it's the location). It's hard for me to totally separate resort itself from location - locations are bigger components of my dreams than luxury. With that in mind:
> 
> European resorts we've been to that were as nice or nicer than Manhattan Club:
> 
> ...



Steffen I also stayed at Cala Pi which now trades via II. It is a fantastic location on Mallorca, must better location than the Marriott as it's on a cala or  inlet to the sea, with a small beach down some steps from the resort. Their dining is excellent and they had wonderful entertainment some evenings, including topnotch flamenco. Everyone I met staying there was from Germany or Britain...I think we were the only gringos during that late June week. 

We also stayed at Cala de Mar which I also enjoyed, but the setting wasn't as picturesque. Although that one is an easy walk to good restaurants, shopping and beach without really needing a car. (But imo on Mallorca one truly needs to rent a car to enjoy all the island's charms.)


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## Sue S (May 7, 2008)

Laurie said:


> There is another Funchal, Madeira resort whose name escapes me at the moment which is very highly rated, tho we haven't been.



I think you mean the Royal Savoy in Funchal which is absolutely stunning.  Every suite has a sea view.  Even though we only stayed in a studio (which was really spacious) I'd say it was as good quality as the Marriott Marbella.  The larger suites are really dazzling.

(You can guess that I liked it  )


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## Conan (May 10, 2008)

I've just returned from Il Poggio in Tuscany, Italy.
Lovely property, very good (but costly) restaurant, comfortable units, stunning views.
Best of all, it's within an hour's drive of some of the world's greatest treasures of art and architecture (Siena, Montepulciano, Pienza, Orvieto).


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## wauhob3 (May 10, 2008)

nonutrix said:


> Hilton Craigendorroch!  Fantastic units, great location!
> 
> nonutrix



I second that!!! Opps make that a third it. I'm glad to see Stouts Hill listed we have it on hold but I need to confirm Spring Break dates before I confirm. Any opinons on that area in March?


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## Linda74 (May 13, 2008)

Just back from Il Poggio in Tuscany.  The surrounding countryside and views were awesome.


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