Grand Hotel Terme - Castrocaro Terme, Italy     

Our son was born in May 2006 and was just about old enough to fly with us for a short Summer break away in August. We went to the web, searched Ryanair for a cheap flight and found a bargain flight to Bologna. In typical Ryanair style, we found that what they called Bologna, was in fact Forli. But not to worry; further investigation revealed that although 50 or so kilometres down the autostrada from Bologna, it was well situated close to Rimini, San Marino and Ravenna. So the next step was finding a hotel nearby. We struck gold on Last Minute.com with the Grand Hotel Castrocaro at Castrocaro Terme, offering 4 star luxury at just ?34 a night! Not each...for the room, including a fantastic buffet breakfast! The hotel was a design classic, an Art Deco building of 1939 vintage, restored to retain all its features in 2000. We were given a lovely large room, high ceilinged, beautiful decor, lovely furnishings, marble in the bathroom, very comfortable. The hotel has lovely parkland around it, with both outside and inside pools. The town is also very pretty, clean and tidy, with lots of flowers everywhere, in common with lots of Spa towns. We hired a little Fiat Panda diesel from Hertz at the airport (?19 a day) and in 8 days had visited Bologna twice, Venice and Florence, Rimini, Milano Marritimo, Ravenna, San Marino and many other delightful places within reasonable travelling distance. A fantastic stay and a memorable holiday. The price? Although August is the busiest and most expensive time to holiday there, I can only surmise that because it is inland and a Spa resort hotel, it is low season for them. Normal price is more like ?80 / ?100 a room.

The service was very good, as well as the food. Their breakfast offers unlimited choice, and you can have it over wonderful views over the park. Th emanagement was flexible enough to allow me to leave my suitcare at their reception desk after having checked out. The live music at the bar is an added bonus. On the down side: room 170 doesn't have a good view; the receptionist seemed unwilling to take telephone messages for me while I wasn't in my room. Overall a good stay though.