Hotel Rosa, three generations at the foot of the First Tower

Inside San Marino’s walls there’s one question that shapes half the trip, and it’s where to leave the car. Hotel Rosa has the easiest answer I’ve found in the Città, its own car park with covered garage spaces and open-air bays, free if you book direct. Add the fact that it sits at the foot of the Guaita and has been run by the same family since 1965, and you can see why it’s the three-star I’d look at first.

A family hotel below the First Tower

The Rosa is at Via Lapicidi Marini 23, between the old walls and right below the First Tower. The same family has run it for three generations, it has opened all year since 1965, and it bills itself as a Città three-star. In my view the location is its strongest card. You step out of the door and within a few minutes you’re at the entrance to the Guaita tower, which for me is the one of the three most worth your time. If you’re up early, you’ll have it nearly to yourself before the coaches arrive.

A curiosity. In one of its offers the hotel calls itself the highest in the Republic. Hotel La Rocca, a few steps away, says exactly the same about itself. I’ve no way of checking which of them wins on altitude, so I’m calling it a draw.

How does parking work at Hotel Rosa?

This is what sets it apart, and it pays to understand the routine, because between 09:00 and 19:00 only authorised vehicles may enter the old town. The hotel asks you to send your number plate and type of car two days before you arrive, or when you book if it’s last minute. On arrival you leave the car briefly in public car park P6 and walk 100 metres to the hotel, just past the Wax Museum. At reception you’re given a paper pass, and with that you drive up to its car park.

The private parking runs from 14:00 on the day you arrive to 11:00 on the day you leave, and it’s free if you book on the website, by email or by phone. If on a given day you can’t get in between 09:00 and 19:00 because of an event or a police order, the hotel gives you a public car park ticket and you drive up after 19:00. For anyone who’d rather keep things simple, the hotel mentions an agreed rate of €4 a day in P6 and P7, both 100 metres away. The general car park charges are in parking in San Marino.

The hotel claims it’s the only one in the old town with its own parking. I haven’t been able to check that hotel by hotel, but I can tell you that inside the walls nothing is scarcer.

The rooms and breakfast

There are 18 rooms, recently furnished, with parquet floors. All have air conditioning, satellite TV with foreign channels, free Wi-Fi, a phone, minibar, safe, radio and a private bathroom with a hairdryer. The hotel talks about views over the Montefeltro valleys, so when booking I’d ask whether the room faces the valley or the street.

Breakfast is a sweet and savoury buffet, with home-made cakes, doughnuts, biscuits, cereals, toast, cold meats, cheese and eggs. It’s the kind of breakfast that keeps you going until mid-afternoon, and in hilly San Marino that’s welcome.

No restaurant, and what that means

The Rosa doesn’t serve lunch or dinner. For both it points you to old-town restaurants it has arrangements with for guests, and the bar is open every day until midnight. I don’t see that as a drawback in a hotel inside the Città, where plenty of places are a short walk away. For picking a table, see where to eat in San Marino.

Reception is staffed round the clock. On request they’ll organise a transfer to San Marino’s bus station, and for a fee to Rimini airport and railway station, about 25 kilometres away.

Who it suits, and the alternative next door

I’d recommend it to anyone driving who wants to sleep inside the walls without paying for parking, to those who want the towers on their doorstep, and to people who value a family welcome over a grand lobby. I wouldn’t choose it if you need a restaurant on site or four-star services, which you’ll find among San Marino’s luxury hotels.

If the Rosa is full, a few steps away on Salita alla Rocca is Hotel La Rocca, also family-run, with rooms for three or four, though without parking of its own.