Hotel Principe Piemonte, Viareggio

We booked this Hotel through Crystal Italy a few weeks before we travelled . We paid approx £450 each for half board which compared with the brochure prices seemed too good to be true.

The Hotel is built on a junction and like quite a few other Hotels in Viareggio, its a very impressive building. Built on five floors, the entrance to the Hotel is through doors located on the corner at the junction of the two roads. There are four stone ...
...on the roof, is the Hotel swimming pool, but obviously thats not visible from ground level.

The five floors of the Hotel are all of different design. We found ourselves on the Art Deco Floor which suited us nicely. The whole Hotel was very tastefully decorated and looked as though it had been recently refurbished. Our room was well decorated with a comfortable bed, and equipped with TV with internet access, and a Mini bar which we ... more

We booked this Hotel through Crystal Italy a few weeks before we travelled . We paid approx £450 each for half board which compared with the brochure prices seemed too good to be true.

The Hotel is built on a junction and like quite a few other Hotels in Viareggio, its a very impressive building. Built on five floors, the entrance to the Hotel is through doors located on the corner at the junction of the two roads. There are four stone columns near the doors and the building itself is cream with brown shutters at the windows. At the very top of the building above the main entrance, theres an ornate semi circular facade withe the Hotels name inside. The other side of the facade on the roof, is the Hotel swimming pool, but obviously thats not visible from ground level.

The five floors of the Hotel are all of different design. We found ourselves on the Art Deco Floor which suited us nicely. The whole Hotel was very tastefully decorated and looked as though it had been recently refurbished. Our room was well decorated with a comfortable bed, and equipped with TV with internet access, and a Mini bar which we didn't use - we rarely do, preferring to drink in the Hotel bar or elsewhere. There was plenty of wardrobe space and other storage space, and even though it was not the largest room in the world, you certainly did not feel cramped.

The bathroom was very spacious and had a piped feed from the TV or radio so you could still here either whilst in the bathroom.

The bathroom was very large with a bath and seperate shower cubicle. It was all done out in good quality marble and well lit.

The view from our room looked out from the back of the Hotel over part of the town and towards the Tuscan Hills in the distance.

We stayed half board and when we compared what we had paid with the B & B brochure price, we thought we had stumbled onto a good thing. When we had our first meal there, we realised we had hit the jackpot! The food was very very good. All very Italian, very well presented all very tasty. The staff in the restaurant were very attentive. You merely had to think about another sip of wine or water and your glass would be filled.

Meals were served over five courses and were great as long as you were not in a rush. All the food we ate was superb but some of our favourites were several of the fish dishes and veal. By far the best suite on the menu was 'Semi freddo ai fici caramelati' - Delicious ice cream like semi freddo with caramelised fresh figs - the tase was absolutely wonderful. I'm sure the other sweets would have been good too but I had that on my second day there and liked it so much, it remianed on my personal menue for the rest of my stay ( the best sweet ever!). We've tried to recreate the dish back home with a degree of success but I think the Tuscan sea air is the vital missing ingredient.

There was an excellent wine list with a good choice available between about 20 and 70 euros, a small price to pay with the half board option!

Most of our meals were taken on the terrace which faces onto the side of the road. It is however screened in such a way so that you can seen the road and promenade at the other side, but anyone walking on the Hotel side of the road cannot see in as they are below the restaurant level. It was a great place to dine. Although it was next to the road, Viareggio is a fairly sedate place and the traffic was not a problem, even though we were fairly close to it.

Breakfast were also served on the outside terrace when available, or inside if not. It was buffet style with a very good choich of most breakfast meals you could wish to eat. The coffee was good, and I have it on good authority from my tea preferring wife that the tea was also fine.

Theres a very long Promenade in Viareggio which is just as well as the food at the Principe Di Piemonte was superb.

We used the rooftop pool which was OK but a little cramped at times. It is not very big due to it being on the roof and OK to cool off but not for a serious swim. There is a good view of the town though from the rooftop pool.

We never ventured onto the beach whilst we we there, as we never intended to go to Viareggio for a bach holiday - we just wanted it as a base to explore Tuscant from. The Hotel is about a mile and half from the railway station along good paths, although there is a bit a traffic. From the railway station, Tuscany is your oyster! You can easily get to Pisa, Lucca, Florence and anywhere else you care to want to visit.

All in all, I would highly recommend the town and this Hotel in particular is you consider staying on the Tuscan coast.  

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