I booked the Hotel Medi on the strength of the reviews on TripAdvisor - and it was a good choice.

We wanted to break up our long drive down the Adriatic coast, and didn't want to stay in a big city. Alba Adriatica looked like it would fit the bill. We only stayed one night, and arrived near dark and left in the morning. The town is easy to navigate, and close to the autostrada. We got directions from a helpful man at a newstand, and found the hotel right away. Parking was easy and free.

The Hotel Medi is about a block from the beach - it took all of 5 minutes to get there. The beach is lovely, with small pebbles, lots of shells, and small waves. Of course this was November and we didn't swim, but it did look inviting. See the photos for further info.

I used Venere.com to book the hotel (they are very good for Italian hotels and I used them a lot on this trip). The cost was 60 euros a night, a bargain. This included breakfast, and as I said parking was free behind the hotel.

The hotel style is very clean and modern. The room is well furnished with desk, dresser, queen-sized bed, flat screen TV with satellite, and wireless internet. We rearranged the room so that we could plug in the laptop easily (electrical outlet access was a continuing problem in Italian hotels), moving the desk closer to the window. The TV worked very well and so did the wireless. We had a nice big balcony looking out to the sea.

The bathroom was a bit small but had all that we needed. The shower was good and there was plenty of hot water.

Breakfast in the morning was substantial and FREE. A selection of cheeses and cold cuts (nice proscuitto), yoghurt, muesli, and breads. Coffee was made to order and delivered with a smile.

There is a good supermarket about 5 minutes away, and I saw several restaurants. We rarely eat in a restaurant while traveling, preferring to buy our own provisions and experience more of the daily life around us. (We carry a "picnic box" with materials for making salads, with oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, a sharp knife for fruits and bread. Our normal routine is to buy bread, cheese, cold cuts like proscuitto, and fruit and make those our lunches. There are lots of delis that can provide us with warm food if we want, and of course there is pizza, foccacia, and farinata to be found whenever desired. This is all much easier when you have a car!)


We were well satisfied with the Hotel Medi and actually if the weather had been a bit sunnier we probably would have stayed another day. But the warmer sunnier south was calling us and so we moved on.

I was not crazy about this hotel but might stay there again for the simple reason that they have high-speed Internet and it's right by the beach in Alba Adriatica. The room was very basic with no frills, same with the bathroom (shower only, as with most Italian hotels), very limited television channel selection. On the plus side, the room had a balcony overlooking the Adriatic about 100 meters away and a good view of the Abruzzese hills as well, so it was a nice place to hang out.

I found the staff not terribly helpful and in some cases a bit rude, but you're not staying at a hotel because of the staff. It''s a good location close to some of the main streets in Alba Adriatica and there is a supermarket within about 10 minutes walking distance. OK place, but don't come looking for luxury, more of a place to lay your head while you're enjoying the seaside (and hope that it's sunny).