The Grand Hotel Rimini

Our hotel on the Adriatic: three stays in, full board by choice, and the same umbrella waiting on the beach

Since 1908 • Fellini's Grand • Full Board Worth Booking

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🏖️ The Stay at a Glance

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Location: Marina Centro

On Rimini's seafront, the beach across the garden

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The Room We Book

Sea view with a balcony, over the pines

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Board: Full

Breakfast on the patio, lunch at the beach, dinner under chandeliers

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Since: 1908

The Liberty-style landmark of the Riviera

🏛️ Why We Keep Coming Back

Some hotels you review; this one we return to. We found the Grand the first time by looking for a serious pool, and the first visit ran eight nights: the first few days at the pool, which was lovely, until I found my umbrella and the beach, and that was that. The pattern has held ever since: the same wing, long walks up the coast in the morning, the umbrella waiting when I get back. The Grand has stood on this seafront since 1908, the white wedding-cake landmark Fellini grew up gazing at and later made famous, and it wears its age the right way: polished, unhurried, and completely certain of what it is. It is also, quietly, where Rimini's famous stay: we have shared the dining room with film stars, singers, and entire football clubs, all in town for one event or another. Last visit they upgraded us without our asking. We would have come back anyway.

🗝️ The Stay

Ask for the main building and you sleep among the antiques: proper old-world rooms, herringbone floors, chandeliers, balcony doors that open onto pine tops and sea. The staff is the other half of it, top notch and simply always there, the kind of service that makes a stay first class without ever hovering. The first coffee of the morning happens standing at the balcony railing, looking down the umbrella rows before anyone is under them. And here is the honest version of the beach was wonderful: I do not particularly like sand, and the Grand's beach won me over anyway, because the ritual barely touches it. Your umbrella, your lettered row, the loungers, the table set, towels folded, and nothing required of you until lunch. Sand optional, sea included.

🍽️ The Table

We book full board here, which we do almost nowhere else, and every meal earns its place. Breakfast is a buffet served inside or out on the patio, with as much cappuccino as you care to order and eggs any way you want them: omelets, bacon, fresh fruit piled as high as your conscience allows. Lunch is a buffet down at the beach, and it is incredible; you walk up from your umbrella and walk back to it. Dinner moves to the formal dining room, chandeliers overhead, a proper menu with real choices at every course. And in July and August the hotel throws a buffet on the patio three nights a week with live entertainment: a crudo bar, fish, meats, a cheese bar, a dessert bar, and a band playing while the seafront cools off. It is the best argument for a summer booking we know.

🧭 Booking It Right

Ask for a room in the main building; that is where the antiques and the old-world rooms are, and a booking site will not tell you to ask. Take the sea view with a balcony; the pines-and-Adriatic view is the hotel, and the supplement is the best money of the trip. Take the full board; it reads as an extravagance and eats like a bargain, and it removes every dinner decision from a beach day. And go in August at least once, on purpose: the whole of Italy takes its holiday, half of it seemingly at this hotel, and the buffet nights, the music, and the full Italian summer in full voice are the point, not the price. June and September trade the show for softer rates and an emptier beach; we keep choosing the show. And whenever you go, walk out to the promenade after dinner and turn around: the facade at blue hour is the last photograph of every stay.

Since 1908 on the Seafront

The Building & Garden

The white Liberty landmark, its garden of pines and roses, the fountain, and the pool.

The white Liberty facade of the Grand Hotel Rimini seen across its garden and umbrella pines — **The Grand from the garden**Worth the walk across the lawn to see the whole white facade at once, pines and all.

Garden path with rose beds and umbrella pines in the grounds of the Grand Hotel Rimini — **The garden path**Rose beds, gravel, and umbrella pines between the hotel and the sea.

The garden fountain of the Grand Hotel Rimini, a trident-bearing figure above rearing sea horses — **The four-horses fountain**Close enough to see what is actually going on: a trident-bearing figure on top, tritons seated on the bowl rim, and four rearing sea horses at the base, horse in front and fish behind.

The Grand Hotel Rimini outdoor pool lit at dusk — **The pool is why I booked**I went looking for a big pool the first time and this one was fantastic.

The Liberty wing and corner tower of the Grand Hotel Rimini seen from a room terrace — **The Wing from the Terrace**The corner tower and the wing, photographed from a room terrace with the room's own door standing open behind. The small balconies stacked along the wing are the ordinary ones, which is the whole point of the frame.

Among the Antiques

The Rooms

Main-building rooms with herringbone floors, chandeliers, and balconies over the pines.

Hotel room with herringbone floor, chandelier and a balcony door at the Grand Hotel Rimini — **Herringbone floors, chandelier, balcony door**The rooms kept their old bones, and the doors open onto the pines.

Made double bed in an old-world guest room at the Grand Hotel Rimini — **The bed, made and waiting**Old-world comfort with the sea a balcony away.

Antique writing table and chairs in a Grand Hotel Rimini guest room — **A corner to sit**An antique writing table and chairs in the main-building room.

Hotel room with fluted pilasters, a red patterned rug and armchairs at a marquetry table — **A Different Room Entirely**Fluted pilasters flanking the bed wall, a red patterned rug, armchairs pulled up to a marquetry table. This is not the room in the frames above it and the differences are not subtle.

Tufted headboard with the hotel monogram on the pillows and Murano glass sconces — **Monogrammed Pillows**The hotel's monogram on the pillows, an oval medallion in the tufting, and white Murano glass flowers on either side instead of shaded sconces.

Inlaid walnut bureau in a hotel room with the hotel's own headed paper on the slope — **Headed Paper, Still**An inlaid walnut bureau with the hotel's own headed paper laid out on the slope. Nobody writes letters any more and they put it out anyway.

White Murano glass flower sconce on a hotel room wall — **Murano Flowers**White glass flowers, each one blown separately and wired onto the frame. Worth stopping at rather than walking past.

Open French door from a hotel room onto its private sea-facing terrace — **The Door You Leave Open**The French door from the room straight out onto the terrace. In August you open it in the morning and it stays open.

A wide private terrace with loungers and seating, the balustrade and the Adriatic beyond — **Loungers, Seating, Sea**Two loungers, a rattan seating group, the carved balustrade with its Liberty urn, umbrella pines to one side and the beach umbrellas beyond. Shot at 14mm, so read the furniture for scale rather than the depth.

Welcome fruit and a chocolate under a glass cloche on an inlaid table in a hotel room — **Waiting on Arrival**Fruit and a chocolate under a glass cloche on the inlaid table, there when the door opened.

Behind the Second Door

The Bathroom

Twenty three published frames of this hotel and not one of them was the bathroom, which on a stay page is a gap rather than a modesty. Room 107's is the most distinctive interior in the batch: a barrel vault, brown mosaic with a gilt Greek key border, and a chandelier over the tub.

Barrel-vaulted hotel bathroom with a corner tub, mosaic tiling and a crystal chandelier — **A Chandelier Over the Tub**A barrel vault, a corner tub, brown mosaic to the ceiling and a crystal chandelier hanging over all of it. Nobody builds a bathroom like this now.

Twin basin console on turned legs against brown mosaic tiling with a Greek key border — **Twin Basins, Turned Legs**A twin basin console standing on turned legs rather than built into a slab, against mosaic with a gilt Greek key border.

Quadrant glass shower beside a shuttered window in a mosaic-tiled hotel bathroom — **Shower and Shutter**A quadrant glass shower next to a shuttered window. The shutter is the giveaway that this room was not designed around plumbing.

Folded bathrobe on a painted stool in a hotel bathroom — **Folded and Waiting**A bathrobe folded on a painted stool. Small thing, and it is the sort of small thing you notice on a third stay.

Old-World Grand

Inside the Grand

Columns, chandeliers, marble, and the mosaic that names the place underfoot.

Inlaid marquetry console table in the lobby of the Grand Hotel Rimini — **The inlaid console in the lobby**You walk past this table a dozen times a day before you actually stop and look at it.

Columned salon with chandeliers inside the Grand Hotel Rimini — **The grand salon**Columns, chandeliers, and the quiet between meals.

Liberty-era lobby with columns, mirrors and chandeliers at the Grand Hotel Rimini — **The Liberty lobby**The old-world entrance hall, all marble and mirrors.

Mosaic compass rose reading Grand Hotel Rimini set into the stone floor — **The compass on the floor**The hotel's name set in stone underfoot at the entrance.

Gilt console and carved mirror with a crimson armchair on the hotel's marble floor — **Gilt and Crimson**A gilt console under a carved mirror with a crimson armchair beside it, standing on the marble. The public rooms are full of these arrangements and none of them is roped off.

Chandeliers and moulded plasterwork on the ceiling of the hotel dining room — **Look Up at Dinner**The dining room ceiling, moulded plaster and a run of chandeliers. Easy to sit under for a week without once looking at it.

Marquetry longcase clock in a corner of the Grand Hotel Rimini — **The Clock in the Corner**A marquetry longcase clock standing in a corner of the public rooms, doing its job.

Your Lettered Row

Sea & Beach

The private beach: the dressed umbrella, the lettered rows, and the sea beyond.

A single dressed beach umbrella and lounger on the Grand Hotel Rimini private beach — **The umbrella I ask for by name**Towels folded, table set, and nothing to do until lunch.

Rows of beach umbrellas in the morning seen from above at the Grand Hotel Rimini — **Morning over the umbrella rows**This is what I look at with the first coffee, before the beach fills up.

Lettered rows of umbrellas and loungers on the Grand Hotel Rimini private beach — **Our lettered row**Every row has its letter, and you learn yours by the second day.

White parasols and loungers on the sand under a blue sky at the Grand Hotel Rimini beach — **White parasols, blue sky**The Grand's stretch of beach on a clear morning.

A dressed lounger under a parasol with rows of closed parasols and the sea behind — **Your Lounger, Dressed**A made-up lounger under its parasol with the closed rows running away behind it. The hotel's beach is set out this way every morning before anyone arrives.

The Adriatic seen from under a beach parasol at the hotel's private beach — **The View from Underneath**The Adriatic framed by the parasol you are lying under, which is the view you actually get for most of the day.

Full Board Worth Booking

The Table

Breakfast on the patio, lunch at the beach, and dinner under the chandeliers.

A whole fish carved and deboned tableside in the Grand Hotel Rimini dining room — **Whole fish, carved and deboned with skill**We book full board here, and this is the reason why.

Plated duck course with orange in the Grand Hotel Rimini dining room — **Dinner, plated**The formal dining room turns out a proper menu every night.

Seafood plate with langoustine and scallop from the Grand Hotel Rimini beach buffet — **From the beach buffet**Langoustine, scallop, and fish carried up from the shore at lunch.

Plate of prosciutto and cheese with fig from the Grand Hotel Rimini buffet — **Prosciutto and cheese**The cheese bar with the great Italian names on little placards.

Plated sorbet dessert at the Grand Hotel Rimini — **Something to finish**The dessert bar sends you off happy every night.

The Grand Hotel Rimini drawn in line on the crest of a dinner plate — **The Hotel on the Plate**The building itself, drawn in line on the crest of the dinner service. A small piece of self-regard and entirely earned.

Sea bass raviolotti with citrus beurre blanc and fennel — **Raviolotti di Branzino**Sea bass raviolotti in a citrus beurre blanc with fennel. Named from the printed menu of 23 August rather than from the plate.

Lemon cremeux with fresh fruit and passion fruit — **Cremoso al Limone**Lemon cremoso with fresh fruit and passion fruit. Full board means the dessert arrives whether or not you asked for it.

**Panzerotti al Radicchio**Radicchio panzerotti with leek cream, speck and black pepper. The menu spells it panzerotti and so do we.

Roasted veal loin with asparagus tips and Mornay sauce — **Lombetto di Vitello**Roast veal loin with asparagus tips under Mornay. This is the register the kitchen works in at dinner: old school, done properly, not chasing anything.

Dulcey blond chocolate with raspberry on a gold charger — **Dulcey and Raspberry**Blond chocolate with raspberry, served on a gold charger. Dulcey is the Valrhona blond the menu names.

Lunch on the Sand

The Beach Buffet

Lunch is served down at the beach rather than in the dining room, and it is a different proposition from dinner under the chandeliers. These frames were taken in the first minutes of service, before the beach came up to eat, so the counters are still whole. That is a head start and not a verdict on how busy the place gets.

Glass case of tarts and pastries above trays of cut fruit at the beach buffet — **Tarts and Cut Fruit**A glass case of tarts and pastries standing over the trays of cut fruit, at the far end from the hot counter.

Bread, breadsticks and focaccia in paper-lined baskets with the beach beyond — **Bread with a View**Breadsticks, focaccia and rolls in paper-lined baskets, with the beach through the window behind them.

The salad corner of the beach buffet, blue bowls of beans, carrots, prawns and octopus — **Angolo delle Insalate**The salad corner, chalkboard and all: beans, carrots, prawns, octopus, each in its own blue bowl.

Smoked salmon, prawns, octopus and marinated anchovies on the beach buffet — **Salmon, Prawns, Anchovies**Smoked salmon, prawns, octopus and marinated anchovies. This is a lunch buffet at a seaside hotel and it is not apologising for anything.

Couscous, farro salad and caprese in blue bowls under a Pesce e Crostacei board — **Couscous, Farro, Caprese**Couscous, farro salad and caprese in the blue bowls, under the Pesce e Crostacei board.

Chickpeas, grated carrot, tomatoes and olives on the beach buffet, the sea behind — **The Vegetable End**Chickpeas, grated carrot, tomatoes and olives in white dishes, with the sea through the windows behind them.

Trays of ravioli and maccheroni under covers on the beach buffet counter — **Still Under Cover**Ravioli and maccheroni waiting under their domes. Ten minutes into service and nothing has been served out of them yet.

Squid skewers, fried potatoes and white fish on a blue and white plate — **What Came Off It**Squid skewers, fried potatoes and white fish, on the blue and white beach service. The buffet is not a compromise for being on the sand.

Ravioli with clams and courgette on a blue and white plate — **Ravioli and Clams**Ravioli with clams and courgette. Second plate, same lunch, and nobody counts.

After the Sun Goes

Evenings

Sunset over the umbrellas, the fountain lit, and the seafront cooling off.

Sunset over the beach umbrellas with the Rimini ferris wheel down the shore — **Sunset from their stretch of beach**The umbrellas close, the light goes orange, and the wheel lights up down the shore.

The four-horses garden fountain lit at night outside the Grand Hotel Rimini — **The fountain after dark**The garden fountain lit at night on the walk back from dinner.

Night view over the garden and the dark Adriatic from the Grand Hotel Rimini — **The last look of the night**Sea and garden gone quiet after the buffet winds down.

Live Prices & Availability

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🏖️ Grand Hotel Rimini

Our booking link goes straight to the Grand's page; the Compare button shops the seafront if you want to see it beside its neighbors. Either way, ask for the sea view.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Grand Hotel Rimini worth it?

For us, three stays in: yes. You are paying for the last true grand hotel on this coast, a private beach run like a ritual, and a kitchen good enough to justify full board. If Rimini is a beach errand for you, plenty costs less; if the hotel is part of the holiday, this is the one.

What is full board like at the Grand?

Proper courses at lunch and dinner in the main dining room, fish carved and deboned with skill, and a staff that learns your table and your preferences by the second day. We book it deliberately: it turns the whole day into one long unhurried meal interrupted by swimming.

Which rooms should I ask for?

Sea view with a balcony, facing the pines and the Adriatic. The rooms kept their herringbone floors and chandeliers; the view finishes the argument. Ask early; the sea-facing rooms go first all summer.

What is the hotel's connection to Fellini?

Federico Fellini grew up in Rimini idolizing the Grand and put it at the heart of Amarcord; in later life he stayed here so often the hotel became part of his legend, and a suite now bears his name. The blue-hour facade you will photograph is the one he filmed.

What are the buffet nights like?

In July and August the Grand stages a buffet on the patio three nights a week with live entertainment: a crudo bar, fresh fish, carved meats, a cheese bar with the great Italian names on little placards, a dessert bar, and a band under the lamps while the evening cools. If your dates are flexible, they are worth planning around.

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