Hotel Mare e Pineta

Very nice hotel with a beautiful beach area. Staff very friendly and the food is excellent. Rooms are plain but comfortable, clean and very spacious. Stayed there for two nights on a business trip. The area is really nice and the beach is really special.

I have been coming here every year since I was born with my family and our family friends. The food is consistently special, a huge buffet for breakfast with made to order eggs and bacon etc, and a fabulous restaurant that serves a buffet of antipasti followed by a full four course traditional italian menu, which can be altered to suit your needs. I would highly recommend full board. The staff are friendly and attentive, the swimming pool is absolutely enormous and there is a wonderful swimming instructor if ever you want your children to learn how to swim. The beach is well maintained and beach beds are included in the price, which is a breath of fresh air after visiting places like cannes (50 euros !)
The best time to go is mid-end of July, the town's outdoor bars are packed with young italian holiday makers and so makes a great holiday for friends OR family.
The whole town rents bicycles during the summer and it is the easiest way to get around, or to burn some calories cycling in the woods after a 4 course meal !
The only downside of this hotel are the slightly outdated bedrooms. I would personally recommend staying in the main building of the hotel, however, if you want a balcony, your better off staying at the villa regina, the newer block, where the rooms are spacious but even more sparsely decorated!
If you take full board, this hotel is really wonderful value for money, and a wonderful time will be had by the whole family.

Unusual, old school hotel with loads of pluses and a few downsides.

First, the resort - smart, upscale, not blingy, loads of well-to-do north Italians with holiday homes, plenty of good bars and restaurants - and awesome gelaterias, but not primarily a young person's resort. Built a century ago, there are no fine old buildings, but that's more than compensated for by generally low-built, wide streets shaded by massive umbrella pines and beautifully landscaped garden-roundabouts at junctions - very freindly locals too. The resort is only a few streets deep with a big buffer of lovely pine woods at the back where you can walk, run or cycle in peace - cycling is big here and renting a bike is the best way to get around

The beach is less good - the usual long strip of crowded Adriatric sand with a greyish, featureless sea which the Italians call 'the ditch' - no lovely coves or rocks for kids to play in

Close by - a kilometre or so - is much older Cervia, a Venetian town built back from the sea - lovely place with big piazza, nice shops, restaurants, cafes etc and very friendly. The sea front here is tackier than Milano Maritimo tho'

OK - the hotel: big upsides are decent-sized grounds with a massive swimming pool which never gets crowded, even at peak season. Many of the facilities are a bit dated, but solidly made and the space and lovely, big umprella pines more than make up - the reception area has also recently been nicely updated. Other nearby hotels are much more cramped, especially the glitzier Palace, owned by the same group and a little pricier and also 5 star and right on the beach, but with far less space and a tiny pool

Rooms are medium sized and a shade spartan and bathrooms on the small side for a 4* and they could do with better pillows - however, in the Villa Regina, the main extension, you get a big balcony

Most people go half or full board and the food is superb, with massive antipasto buffets at lunch and dinner, followed by four more courses and on Saturday night they go to town with the best buffet i've had anywhere - you can also eat lunch by the beach and the hotel has much more beach space than other hotels, plus tennis courts. Prices include beach beds and a beach hut

Service is excellent and there is a nice feel in the evenings, with a range of ages, kids playing etc etc - internet is free, but only in the public areas

Mare e Pineta is not cheap and Milano Marittimo may not be to everyone's taste, but if you want a very relaxing time with excellent food and service plus an old-style feel, this is a great place to come. Weather is unreliable outside of May-early Sept and mid July to late Aug is peak season - so best time to come if you can is May/June, early July or late Aug/early Sept