5 star hotel for a 3 star price!

This hotel is a great place to spend your holiday in Riccione! There are many hotels to choose from here, but not all of them are kept up-to-date inside and outside. It is hard to believe this is only a “3 star” hotel; the service is top-notch. The Rex is over 70 years old but looks like new, inside and out. The staff are incredibly friendly and do speak English. The Rex has a prime position in the first row of hotels, so you have a great ocean view from here. Of course, the beach is just across the street. In the lobby there is a bar and a lounge with a great view of the beach, a perfect place to hang out when you’re tired of being in the sun but still want to enjoy the view. There is plenty of parking here, which is frequently a concern at other hotels, especially those in busy tourist locations like Riccione.

The restaurant here is also very, very good and of course you should be ordering seafood! One of the dishes we ordered was spaghetti with prawns; the pasta was made there and cooked perfectly; the prawns were fresh. Very tasty! We also ordered grilled fish, salad, and dessert. Everything was exactly as good as one would expect. They also have an abundant breakfast buffet that is very impressive. All of the food, especially the seafood, was very fresh. If you just need a lunchtime snack, make sure to order a piadina. It’s a local specialty that is what we Americans would call a tortilla with some cheese and meat in the middle, usually heated. They can do this, too, if you don’t want anything fancy. We’ve stayed at other hotels where the meals have ranged from OK to mediocre, and I’ve come to expect that any restaurant in a hotel is probably goint to disappoint; I can honestly say that the Rex matches some of the best non-hotel restaurants we’ve dined at. The rate we paid, we thought was really quite reasonable considering the quality of everything from the location to the room to the staff to the food.

The hotel does have wifi and it works well and is fast. We’ve stayed before at hotels that advertised wifi but it did not work very fast or at all at times.

The location of the Rex is ideal for enjoying the shopping available in Riccione. There is a lot to do here, this is not one of those tired seaside towns whose glory days were 50 or more years ago and everything is decaying or rundown and the retail is limited to shops selling cheap beach gear and no-name clothing and shoes. Riccione is a trendy place – sort of the Miami of the Italian Adriatic coast – with discos, a waterpark, and always something going on during the weekends such as street fairs. In addition to this, the Republic of San Marino is close by and due to its tax haven status, there are many stores there belonging to the finest designer houses like Gucci and Prada where one can go shopping for luxury goods at a reduced price. San Marino is also a really interesting place to visit, just plan ahead because parking is scarce; it’s not necessarily a place you would want to just drop in on, on the spur of the moment. For instance, weekends during high season are impossible because everyone goes there. Make sure to ask the Rex staff about visiting there so you can plan appropriately for when to go and how to get around.

Make sure to also ask the staff about the fascinating history of the Rex.