Having just returned from a 2 week, half board, stay at the Hotel President I can confirm many of the good points made by other reviewers. The hotel location in Viareggio is perfect, being just across the road from the beach and lots of nearby cafes and restaurants. There is a long promenade along the front of the cafes and shops extending from the harbour area through to the next resort of Lido Camaiore, with easy flat walking. The hotel rooms are very clean with a fridge and flat screen tv and free safe, no tea of coffee making facilities. The hotel staff are first class, very friendly and helpful.

Viareggio is an attractive resort with beautiful art deco buildings, a large busy market in the town centre and a weekly street market on the promenade. Each evening and especially at weekends all the Italians like to walk up and down the promenade looking in the shops.

We used the Bagno Irene beach just across the road from the hotel. This is a family run beach establishment, very friendly and they will let you keep the same place on the beach for all your stay. Inclusive in the hotel package is an umbrella and 2 deck chairs, a sun lounger costs an additional 5 euros per day. For lunch we found the food at Irene to be first class with home made pasta dishes and very good salads and pizzas.

We did try the Bagno Balena and whilst this had a swimming pool, note swimming caps must be worn, and an extensive gym with exercise bikes and organised exercise classes, we found the staff particularly unfriendly.

The train station is around 15 mins walk from the hotel and it is easy to get to Lucca, Pisa and the towns of Cinque Terre. Tickets are cheap and can be easily obtained from machines with English touchscreens.

One point to note with the hotel is that there is traffic noise from the main road at the front. We had a room on the first floor at the front and if you are a light sleeper the traffic noise could be a problem. Also please note first floor rooms do not have a balcony, other floors do.

The evening meal in the half board option is a 4 course with starters, pasta course, main course and dessert. The menu changed every 2 to 3 days. The standard of food is generally good with a number of choices for each course. However the choice for the main meal was on occasion limited, for 2 days we had 3 variations of veal and 2 sea bream dishes on the same menu which if you didn't like either of these only left a choice of chicken. There is a good choice of wines, however if you do not wish to have a full bottle then you can buy wine by the glass, with a large glass of a good chianti Classico costing just 5 euros.

Even given the short comings we would definitely return to the President. We would however ask for a room on a higher floor to reduce the traffic noise and to get a balcony from which to enjoy the sea view.

My husband and 10 year old son stayed at the Hotel President on September 1st and 2nd 2012 and loved the experience of the hotel and the town. I am a firm believer that customer service is defined and earned when things go wrong, not when they go right. We had a mix up with the booking and we felt that the ladies at the front desk tried their best to find a solution and in the end the manager came through and made it right.

We stayed on the 3rd floor over looking the ocean and it was spectacular. The hotel is situated right in the centre of all of the shops, beach clubs, restaurants and is in the ideal location. There is a mini bar, small flat screen with satelite channels, wifi, and though the rooms weren't huge, they were a comfortable size and very clean.

All of Viareggio's beaches are private so you have to pay no matter where you want to sit. Hotel President is affiliated with the Irene Beach club for $10 euros a day or the Balena 2000 for $20 Euro's a day. The Irene is closer, has more of a family friendly feel to it where as the Belena 2000 or B2K has more of a health club feel. We preferred the B2K because it had a pool for our son and the ocean was too rough to swim in. We had the BEST seafood salads at the B2K.

The breakfast at the Hotel President had much more variety than we had seen in other hotels. Bacon, Eggs, Pasteries, Cereal, some fresh fruit - all served in the white table cloth restaurant.

We had our best meals in Viareggio. The front desk suggested the Amaro and the Pizzeria in the Church. Both were amazing. Please make a reservation as both the Amaro and the Pizzeria are very popular and hard to get into. The Amaro has beef and fish but our son had the best pasta we had ever tasted.

Make sure you rent a bike! There is a rental shop around the corner from the hotel and you can casually ride along the bike paths, see the town and the ocean.

We stayed here for 2 weeks w/c 25/08/2012.
Good points:
- location (opposite the main beachside promenade, central, 15 minutes brisk walk to train station for Pisa/Lucca/Florence, 10 minutes to buses and harbour, close to the best back street restaurants)
- staff (engagement pitched just right, helpful, attentative, multi-lingual, very polite and efficient)
- clean, fully functional, daily maids didn't turn aircon down nor off
- free wifi (useful for researching local restaurants with tripadvisor)
- good sea view (sadly no balcony but our room was at the cheapest rate)
- good fresh breakfast (included complimentary glass of sparkly wine each morning), and the staff only clear your table once you go: they meticulously wipe the table clean and replace the tablecloth for every setting
- good a la carte evening meal (best hotel meal in a long time, but priced as such, and there's better value to be had in local restaurants)
I researched our choice of hotel carefully before we went so we knew that the hotel has no gardens or pool, nothing external except car parking. Nor any entertainment. Thomson guests get "free" access to bagne Irene (two deckchairs and a sunshade on the beach) and Balena 2000 pool (poolside access and/or two deckchairs, one sunbed and a sunshade on the beach): for other guests it costs 10 euros and 20 euros respectively, per day. This is pretty standard for Viareggio, if you want more features you'll have to go to another resort. The promenade cafe/bars/restaurants are priced to reflect their position, we found the family-run bagne (beach) cafe-bars to be warm, welcoming and reasonably priced. There's a great selection of quality restaurants in the back streets: Il Trinchetto is wonderful for food and good value for money, Fubi's is fantastic but expensive: we went twice to each, more than a week apart, and both remembered us from our first visit. (Then again, we went to La Chiesina four times for its great pizzas: when busy they struggle to cope however.) But in Viareggio, forget about steak, stick to pizza/pasta/seafood. As you may notice, we did go for the food opportunities. Be aware that in Viareggio, there isn't much to do when its raining.

The location of the hotel is perfect with numerous restaurants within walking distance. Also close of main attractions in the area. Train station a ten minute walk away. Service is the hotel was excellent - we were greeted every time we passed reception. If we had a question all staff were extremely helpful. The rooms were spotlessly clean and comfortable. We had a balcony which was great to watch the world go by. Would certainly recommend this hotel to friends and family and will return.