We wandered into Abano which is 10 kilometers inland from Padua in August 1987 and decided that compared to a lot of the tourist holiday places in Italy, and we have been to many ,it was just right fo us.Spotlessly clean very few children and loads of people of our type ,not so young and not looking for cheapness. The town is a famous spa and caters for people with age related problems. The hotel caters in house for all the medical problems that they undertake to try to alleviate The Trieste is first class and is full board so it's not for the younger types who like to look for diffferent restuarants for every meal. The restuarant is typically Modern Italian with a full waiter service and every meal if you want ,can be as many as 7 or 8 courses with a very varied menu. Ther are 4 pools one Olympic size and the others heated spa water with all the usual features Jacuzis, and a Niagara (water raining on you). There is no problem at all with beds round the pools as there is plenty of room for everyone. The rooms range from economy to super grade suites which can be very luxurious, you pays your money and takes your choice. We usually take the same middle range room only for the reason that we feel it is ours. After visiting there for the 35th time I think that I own it. Whenever we go we meet people that have been there many times before, that in itself is a good reccomendation
Whenever we go we feel that we are coming home. I have no connection with the Hotel other than money, I give and they take!!!!!!!!

When we arrived it was as if we entered a time-warp. The hotel has a great deal of positive physical attributes. The lobby is beautifully appointed, the room and bathroom were large. Their grounds and pools are lovely. The hotel was also very clean overall. The beds (two twins, not a queen) were the hardest we have ever stayed on. We saw matress pads being brought to other rooms.

What you need to be aware of are the rules. Bathrobe usage and specific colour are dictated but provided. The pools require bathing caps (we ignored this). Pants for lunch and lounge suits for dinner.

We found the hotel to be very formal. More in the rigid sense of the word. The clientel is primarily seniors, mostly German. The front desk is not proficient in English. We would not recommend this hotel for families with children, as there were virtually none there.

The worst aspect of our stay was the customer service. Minor requests were ignored or misinterpreted for example, a request for wine glasses to the room. They brought a bottle of wine and then did not return with the actual request. We were not permitted to iron clothes in our room.

The most troubling was that the air conditioning was turned off. We slept with the windows open and were rewarded with multiple mosquito bites. The front desk made no apologies and ignored our request to turn on the A/C. Many other rooms also had their windows wide open.

We stayed here for 8 days end of June travelled independently (Jet2 to Venice) and chose b & b - it was obvious the hotel prefer you to have full board but we wanted to visit places and have fexibility so think we made the right decision. The hotel dinner menu is not a la carte and is expensive, the dining room is also very large with no view. Breakfast however can be taken on the terrace on the first floor. Great place to go to recuperate after surgery or illness. Beautiful pools but if you want lunch by the pool it is a set price of about 40 euros (if you have full board they even charge an extra 7.50 euros if you take lunch in the pool side outside small restaurant. Food only available there betwen 1 - 2.15 and no room service other than continental breakfast. In other respects nice if a little dated hotel, we stayed in 'elegance' room overlooking the pools which was clean and pleasant, but a little dated and the beds a little too hard for me, bathrooms nice. Rooms in newer wing would probably be nicer. Well situated on quiet central pedestrianised area where you can walk to all the towns facilities. Restaurants limited outside the hotels (as the hotels all seem to encourage full board arrangement) but there are a few good ones within walking distance. Quite a few new buildings of shops and offices not all of them occupied yet but some nice shops. Most people speak a little english but visitors are mostly german, french or italian with americans visiting from beginning July. Good base to visit Venice (much cheaper and quieter than venice) or Padua which is about 30 mins drive, also the hillside villages but was just too hot for sightseeing on our visit. June/ July is apparently their low season so check on offers. Good for pampering treatments and relaxation.