After leaving Montegrotto Terme, we headed south to Porto Ercole. For years I had wanted to stay at Il Pellicano, one of the legendary classic hotels on the Italian coast.
I had decided to book the hotel quite early in 2022. When choosing a room, I was particularly attracted to the Argentario suite as it has its own pool. I like that sort of thing. At just under �2,200 per night, it wasn't cheap and was the most expensive option in the hotel, but it appealed to me too much. The surcharge for a master suite was around �600 per night. When I looked again in mid-2023 to see if there were any special offers (naive idea, I know), I saw that the prices had doubled in the meantime. During my dates (second half of October, shortly before the end of the season), the smaller suites now cost around �3000 and when they were available, the Argentario suite cost around �4000. I wouldn't have booked it for that, so I was lucky again.
Even on the way, you realise that you're not going to a metropolis. Porto Ercole is located on a peninsula that is characterised by tourism. To reach the hotel itself, you have to take a narrow winding road.
You ring the bell at a gate and then drive to the main building.



The main house breathes the air of the past, but I mean that in a positive way. Much is dominated by the pelican. There is a lobby area on the right.




The centre is the main room with seating and a view of the terrace.







Next to it is the bar area, behind it the restaurant (more on this later).

I don't normally say much about welcome gifts. It's usually a bottle of wine that I don't like and regularly spoil (same goes for champagne). Here, however, the first gift (which was not an official Virtuoso inclusion) was a voucher for a boat trip, which of course I love.

But there's also a lot waiting on our living room table. That's definitely above average

Now compared to the company retreat hotel from the 70s, this is what I would expect when paying... how much????

The advance purchase price is about on the upper level of what I can imagine paying for a great hotel if I had the money, but damn. the other price, that's more than my montly expenses, including mortgage and a fairly nice car.

It was a flexible booking, not an advanced purchase. It was exactly 2184 € per night. Not really a bargain, unfortunately Feltrenelli and Passalaqua were also pretty much around €2200 on the trip. The company retreat in the 70s was a different price category at around €958 including half board.
In general, prices have lost all reference to reality. The fascinating thing is that the hotels are often fully booked despite prices from €2000, €4000 to €5000 for a standard or even junior suite.
It's also important to remember that I travelled in October, which is the absolute low season in some of the hotels I visited, just before they close. They charge different prices in summer. To be honest, I was a bit annoyed with myself after the trip when I added everything up. A lot of money had already been spent. If you add to that the trip in February, which was still overpriced in comparison, you shouldn't even think about it. At the moment, I'm still determined not to go on such crazy trips again this year.

958 is still too much if the hotel looks like that... even with all the service and all that.

Flex booking, but booked in advance. Anyway outside my price category, the one night is what I have budgeted for hotels for a week plus for my driving holiday this summer (not sure if realistic... revenue management in hotels has gotten a bit too good.)

No question about it. Fair would be between 400 and 500.

I hope it's realistic. It's still a reasonable amount per night and should give you something decent. Nevertheless I know prices are crazy in all categories. Same for fuel and even electricity.

Yeah, the days when I could comfortably budget 10 EUR per 100km in fuel cost are gone. But well, what can one do.

I used to aim at 100 EUR per night average within Europe for a reasonable 4*. Yeah some places it was optimistic, but for every Paris where I paid 130 I could find a Berlin where I paid 70. Not anymore, I don't think,
Looking at my plans for the summer, anything under 150 will be a big win, anything under 200 acceptable, and some places are just like forget it, this is not for you anymore (and I'm not talking south of France either)

You can stay in the Pellicano in the main house and then in several small cottages. The latter are the most expensive options. You can get there from the main house via a small road with a footpath running alongside it.











There is also a tennis court.

The other part is behind the main house. First you reach the terrace.

Below this is the outdoor restaurant, which also serves a casual menu in the evening. However, it was already closed during our stay.


Then you walk through an absolutely marvellous rosemary hedge.








As you can see in the last photo, you then reach the pool.

Behind it is the exit to the sea, more on this later.

Yes, it's a gift and a very cool one from my point of view. The Monopoly is based on the Group's hotels.

Let's move on to the room. The suite occupies the upper floor of a small cottage.



One of the advantages of the Argentario Suite is that you can park your car right outside the door. There is also a carport opposite, but they parked my car right next to the house, which I kept.

The suite has 2 bedrooms, which of course we didn't need. But then you have 2 bathrooms, which is an advantage.

The central room is the living room. It is a nice size with a fireplace, sitting area and dining area.








The furnishings are certainly not the latest trend, but that's part of the charm. What I liked were the many details.







The master bedroom was reached via a few steps. A mirrored wall gave it a spacious feel. The bed was immaculate.




A small corridor led off the bedroom, where the wardrobes and a make-up area were located.



The main bathroom was also accessed from here. On the plus side, it was large, had 2 washbasins, a modern bathtub and a window. What I didn't like was the open shower area with a wooden floor. Overall, I wasn't a fan, even though there was nothing wrong with the hardware.




What was less good was that I found a strange hair in the shower, for example. That could be cleaned better.
Then a few words about the second sleeping area. You can get there from the living room, the bedroom and a bathroom lead off the hallway, and there is also a corridor to the lower part of the house.

The bathroom was not huge, but OK for a second bathroom.


The second bedroom was a musty room (yes, it smelled rather unpleasant), really nothing nice. I find it hard to say that this is possible for a child. Unless you want to convince your offspring to go to holiday camp next time rather than bother their parents I would describe it as an emergency solution. But it was fine for storing suitcases.


Incidentally, the door to the basement was open one day, housekeeping had obviously forgotten to close it again. Not really cool. I called reception and asked them to lock the door. It would be good to have a bolt to lock the door from the inside.

But I mentioned something about a pool, so let's take a look at the terrace.



There is no pool here, but there is a beautiful view.




But there was still a small way to go.

On a second terrace, there it was: the pool. The first impression was very positive, because it really was a proper pool that would serve as the main pool in many a hotel. There was also a seating area (a little dirty), deckchairs and a shower. There was a second terrace a little higher up, but it was closed off.











So far, so beautiful. But the joy was somewhat dampened when I put my hand in the water. The pool was unheated and therefore very cold. Of course, I used it on principle, but it wasn't really a relaxing splash. Even the massage jets didn't help.

It must also be said that the pool was already showing its age. I think the counter-current system hasn't been working for a while.

The pool was very nice in the evening and I like a quick dip after dinner.

But it was a unique experience. Let me put it this way: the local mosquitoes still talk about the fool in the pool and the feast that went with it.

I already mentioned that we had a voucher for a boat trip. However, we were told every day that a trip was not possible due to the weather conditions. I thought it all looked normal and wondered what kind of nutshell of a boat it was. Of course, I had my snorkelling gear with me and had planned at least one snorkelling trip.
So I wanted to take a closer look at the beach, or rather the bathing area.
You can go down on foot or use a lift. However, the lift only made a good impression to a limited extent.




There were plenty of deckchairs, so the sign was rather superfluous and, in my opinion, irritating anyway.

You can only speak of a beach to a limited extent, it is more of a bathing area with sunbathing opportunities built up in steps. Even though a few people were sunbathing in the upper rows, I realised that swimming, snorkelling or boating were not really on the cards. It may well be that my life insurance would refuse to pay out if I tried to swim.




I also made a video.

Time for the first dinner.

The hotel has the casual Grill and the Pellicano Restaurant, which has one star. During our stay, the grill was closed as mentioned and both menus were offered in the main restaurant.
I have to be honest, I didn't like it, especially as a starred restaurant. Yes, the room has a wonderful wallpaper, but with an empty large table in the centre and a high volume, the atmosphere just wasn't right. It somehow felt a bit like half a storeroom. Perhaps OK as a casual restaurant, but not so great for a fine dining Michelin-starred restaurant.

We decided to eat from the grill menu on the first evening (except for dessert).

Some of the dishes were daily specials, such as the octopus and the truffle pasta.












The food was good, but also came with a hefty price tag. Sure, pasta with truffles is always a bit more expensive, but �90 is quite a lot. The price of the rice was a surprise, by the way - you're not told beforehand and I didn't ask.

Breakfast was served in the main restaurant, and the room was well suited for this.




There was a good buffet and dishes to order, but I didn't find them outstanding. Overall, however, we were satisfied.