I was looking for a hotel in the Padua region because I still had a few white spots on my map of Italy. After some research, I was interested in the Esplanade in Montegrotto Terme. It was in a good location and looked quite modern. The rooms included a suite with a whirlpool on the terrace and sauna, which looked neat. Nevertheless, it was a big unknown for me, I had never heard of the hotel before. In terms of price, the suite was not cheap at around €900 per night; a few years ago I wouldn't have paid that for a fairly normal-looking 5-star hotel, even if it was the largest suite.
When booking, it was possible to book half board for €40 more per night. Even if I wanted to eat out one evening, it was a good deal. I booked it because even if I hadn't eaten out twice, it would still have paid off according to my bill. In the end it was actually a very good deal, but more on that later.
When we arrived at the hotel they managed to piss me off a bit at first. There was work going on at the entrance gate, only one gate was open which I later found out was the exit. Do you drive through there now?

After I got out, I realised that it was the only access road to the hotel. So I just drove through. The hotel itself didn't look like my usual hotels. Even if you couldn't deny certain modernisations, it was a rather ugly building.


It looked a bit nicer at the entrance.


​​​​​​​