Hotel Smeraldo

We stayed at the Hotel Smeraldo while on a coach holiday a few weeks ago. It is beautifully situated very close to the large sandy beach/restaurants/promenade. It has a very well cared for garden to the front which, had we had time, we would probably have sat in. Our room at the front of the hotel was excellent. Spotlessly clean with an enormous comfy bed, massive wet-room style bathroom and a balcony looking towards the sea (with chairs & table). There were plenty of toiletries provided and the towels were changed several times during the week we were there. Contrary to other reviews, we were very impressed by the reception from the staff. Without exception they were all friendly, polite and eager to help. We were on a half-board holiday. Breakfast was a basic, standard continental breakfast with as much tea/coffee as you wanted. Dinner each night was a 3-course affair. We were given the choice of 2 main courses during the previous nights meal. Personally, I enjoyed all the meals - starters included a really good home-made minestrone soup and pasta/ham. Listening to other travellers, the main courses were a mixed bag ( I really enjoyed all mine ) with the meatloaf being perhaps the weakest! Desserts were really good - crème caramel, mousse, pineapple cake etc. The portions, apart from the pasta, weren't huge but as there were 3 courses they were perfectly adequate. We decided before we went that if the meals were bad or too small we would go out and eat but no-one from our group of 27 had to do that. You could get hot drinks in the reception at any time - however, on our visit the bar didn't appear to be available. That was no problem at all for us as we wouldn't have bothered anyway. If we had wanted alcohol there is a nice looking place literally on the next corner where we were advised to go. All in all, I can recommend Hotel Smeraldo highly, based on our stay there.