My friend and myself decided to 'get away from it all' and were recommended this hotel by a friend of hers that it was a good place to go to for adults and children. With three chlldren under the age of 15 we thought that a recommended hotel would be the best option ... arrival: checked-in on Tuesday evening and were told that the two rooms weren't next to each other, but on seperate floors - thankfully the rooms were right above one another and right next to the stair case. We were told that there wasn't any chance of moving rooms as the hotel was full. Day one: breakfast - with no indication from the 'helpful' staff, we blagged our way to the dining room and sat at a table, again, with no guidance from the staff as to where we could sit, or how it 'works'. Buffet style breakfast - not a problem, fruit, croissants, bread rolls, fruit juice - all in abundance, but if you really want your cooked breakfast - you will be disappointed - the scrambled eggs look like chopped up thick custard and the bacon is so fatty you can just about make out the ;meat'. No offer of tea or coffee we had to go to the bar to order it and felt like we were putting the staff out, even though my friend was trying her best with the Italian language. Beach: again, no offer of information from the reception staff, who don't wear a uniform and who look like they have slept in their clothes.... The free beach were there are no sunbeds is a good 30 mnute walk along the front, not a problem, but with 3 children in blistering heat, it would have been good to have had some indication as to how far it was. Day 2: we asked about the sunbeds on the beach which belongs to the hotel - 15 euro's buys you two beds and a parasol, but what the hotel fails to tell you is that you need to take your ticket with you to the beach hut to be allocated a sunbed - you can't choose where you want to sit....... Third day - the air conditioning in our room started leaking water all over the place, and as it hadn't kept the room even cool for the three days prior, clearly this had been broken since day one, we didn't bother to report it - the 'helpful' staff wouldn't have done anything about it. To top it all, all three children on seperate days, received very nasty cuts to their legs or feet from the swimming pool where the tiles are broken and clearly the maintenance of the pool is low on the hotel managements priority. Needless to say, I personally, wouldn't go back to this hotel with children, it is in a good location, right near the ice cream parlour which does superb ice cream and is always busy, it is in the centre of the main strip so if you want a reasonably cheap few days away, go prepared with a phrase book, plenty of plasters, and a lot of patience to get your point across!

Worst hotel experience we had in years.After moving to our family(twin) room we've been asked if possible for us to move after second night to different room.It was huge inconvenience for us because of children and necessary packing of bags but we agree ,especially that we were promised upgrade it room.After second night we found ourself in a worst room with air condition broken.Called the reception and received answer that there is nothing they can do ( engineer works 6 days and obviously today was his day off).Nobody from managment were available.Phoned Thomas Cook as booked accomodation through them and they could not get any futher even on next day.
There are plenty of hotels around with similar prices so look around is you don;t want similar experience especially when travelling with children.Hotel poorly managed and 3 * only.

Good things:
-- The staff were helpful, most spoke English, genuinely tried to help
-- Our room was clean, with plenty of space
-- breakfast was good and plentiful, thanks god there were scrambled eggs and sausages, because the rest was mostly cakes and donuts
-- Most of the guests were families with children, mostly Italians and Russians, no "Brits abroad" problem

Bad things:
-- There is no free parking at the hotel! Do not believe the hotel description. Parking generally was a nightmare in Rimini. If you are lucky to get a space at the back of the hotel (5 spaces only), you can then pay 5euros per day to the hotel reception. If the places are gone you can park on the street at an extortionate amount of money, again if you are lucky to find a space.
-- Bad food at dinner. There was a starters buffet, which was ok, but got a bit boring as it didn't change during our whole stay. Then 2 main courses via the menu. The first one was always pasta, which was never fresh or delicious. We think they didn't actually cook it on the premises, but rather reheated it from a precooked/frozen state. You can buy better pastas in your local sainsbury.
The second course was very tiny and a bit hit and miss. On one ocassion my partner had a piece of steak which was fantastic, best he ever tasted. But on other ocasions quite average.
The biggest disappointment was a dessert choice, simply put, there there was hardly any choice. Half way through the dinners they would bring some desserts which was not enough to go round. So first lucky ones to run and grab one, will have their dessert. We eventually decided to go to the ice-cream shop round the corner.
-- We travelled with a child and got one triple bed in the room with one triple cover. Apparently paying a full price for 3 people doesn't get you a separate bed for a child. I had to share a bed with my 9 year old son and had 7 sleepless nights, as he would fidget in bed.
- there were no balcony or fascilities to dry the swimming gear in our room. Hotel also doesn't provide towels for the pool.
-- watch out for the final bill. They did tried to put some minibar charges which we didn't use.
-- Hotel is not 100m away from train station.More like 15 min walk.

A few words about the resort:
Very busy, loud and crowded. Not a picturesque area at all. The amount of shops and restaurants is overwhelming. However San Marino was beautiful.
The sun lounger on the beach is 15 euros, and you are not allowed to stay on your towel. If you want to stay on your towel you have to walk 15-20 min to a public beach.

My wife and I stayed 4 nights at La Gradisca, Anna-Marie and staff were superb, very friendly, helpful, nothing was too much trouble. All spoke good English. We booked our room at a bargain price, consequently it was not the best, small, clean, no view, nice bathroom, tv, air-con, we were offered a better room for a small increase, did not bother, apart from sleeping we spent very little time in room. The breakfast was good, plenty of selection. The location is excellent, approx 10 mins (through the park) to station, 15-20 mins into old town, 5 mins to beach, large supermarket 10 mins. From airport No. 9 bus, (1 euro) to station, then No. 11 bus to stop 12 (all on the same ticket). G&F Ormskirk