Accademia - Rimini, Italy 

After weather forecast predicted snow in the mountains, we changed plans and ended up in Rimini for a four day beach break with our two year old daughter. Hotel Accademia was the perfect choice: Situated in a quite neigbourhood of Rimini and just a minute away from the beach, we could very well relax. Rooms are of high standard, as much as all the meals (all offered by buffet with different choices). Breakfast in the garden is best time to chill out, as much as the drink before diner in front of the hotel. As the hotel has not so many rooms, it never gets crowded and the atmosphere is very family stile. After dinner, one can join the Italians walking along the seaside or playing again with the children in the sand of the very well kept beach. The hotel has air condition which was very welcomed as we sleep well at night. Yes, it is not the Liguria sea, but with all the activities for small children and the space on the beach, for our needs it was perfect, with the hotel as perfect base. Only mistake we made: We booked via venere.com, directly by the hotel we would have gotten a better deal. Make sure you book at least half board and the sun lounges on the beach, I would even say that full board is a great deal as the restaurants seemed not to have the same standard as the hotel, were not cheap, and from the beach to the hotel it takes 1 minute.

My friend and I escaped to Rimini for a 5 night stay a week ago and had a fabulous time. We did not expect good weather and so were not surprised when we had rain and temperatures similar to back in England with the falling autumn leaves to boot. The Accademia Hotel was great - Antonella and her team are wonderful and made us feel very welcome. Lovely comfortable room, warm and cosy and with a free mini bar for soft drinks. We would like to keep this a secret because we feel it will become very popular, but, to be fair to the hotel, it deserves all praise. A 20 minute walk from the station but only a few hundred metres from the beach for warmer weather visitors and in any case the buses are frequent (No's 4 & 8). Ravenna by train and San Marino by bus were lovely and we must return again to visit Bologna and to sample a summer stay.