Small Country Big Attraction – You have to visit San Marino!

San Marino is a country in Europe totally surrounded by Italy. It is the fifth smallest country in the world, the world’s oldest republic, and has a population of only about 30,000 people! However, don’t let the small size fool you. Its an amazing country to visit and worth at least an overnight stay which is what I recently did. Its an extremely beautiful country. I felt like I was in a fairytale. Its also a fascinating place. For example, their country is run by two heads of state called Captains Regent, who are elected every six months! Also, some publications I read online said that at times, their one prison only had one prisoner!

Getting There: San Marino has no airport. The closest one is about 26 minutes away in Rimini, Italy. However, I drove from Milan which is about a 3.5 hour drive. Another city close by is Bologna; about 1.5 hours drive. This was my 72nd country! Note that there is no border control. You will know that you have entered the country because of this sign, and the license plates will change.

Where to stay: The capital is where we stayed and is also called San Marino. The whole country is only 61 sq kms (23 sq miles) big! We stayed at the Titano Suites. It was centrally located, and includes parking. Upon arrival at the lot, someone will come with a golf cart to park your car, transfer your bags to the cart, and then take you to the hotel which is steps from the parliament building. Note that the country is divided into 9 castelli or castles (this is like their version of provinces or states). The hotel only has a 4.2 Google rating though I think it should be higher. The room I booked, the Cesta suite, was well laid out, extremely clean, and had nice views. Here is a view from the large balcony in the day. Notice the tourists. One benefit of staying overnight is that most tourists will leave when the sun sets and you will literally have the whole capital to yourself in the evening. The only downside to this hotel I can think of is they did not have a gym.

Here are some vids from the balcony in the early morning. Notice, there is no one in the streets.

Here is a view of the valley from our bed.

Where to eat: We ate three meals in the San Marino.

Dinner – La Terrazza: This was the hotel’s restaurant and was really good. If you go, try to get a seat with a view of the parliament building. We started with a local wine.

…and then started off with some pasta which was good…

…and then had San Marino beef for our main; it was cooked perfectly and very delicious…

…and finished with dessert…

Overall, service was good, the food was delicious and the setting was good. I liked the fact that they had locally sourced food and wine on the menu. I would recommend and return.

Our next meal was breakfast which was included with the room. It was ok, to me, in most places around the world, breakfast is breakfast.

Lunch – Ristorante Bolognese: We had lunch at this restaurant in San Marino. We had the Bolognese pasta, and a piada. A piada is a local sandwich which basically replaces sliced bread for flatbread.

The pasta was fairly bland and the “sandwich” was nothing special. I was pretty disappointed by this restaurant. The only good thing was the service and they gave us some limoncello and pistachio liqueur to end the meal. The pistachio liqueur was really tasty.

Things to do

I will now give you a run down of things to do in San Marino.

Shopping

San Marino Outlet Experience – The nice thing about shopping in San Marino is that tourists save the VAT. The savings are immediate and done at the till as opposed to other European countries which require you to get customs stamps and refunds at the airport. In San Marino, you will save 15% off the ticketed price. This outlet mall has some good stores including D&G and Moorer.

Other things to do

Get your passport stamped – The tourist office in San Marino will stamp your passport for a 5 Euro fee. The stamp itself is very nice.

The office is also attached to the coin and stamp museum. You can get a museum pass which grants access to many museums in the country. Also, you can buy some unique coins and stamps of the country.

Visit the Parliament – This was a cool thing to see.

Just outside the above chamber is a bust of Abraham Lincoln who admired the country.

Visit the three towers – This is an absolute must do in the day and night. In the day, you can enter the towers as well (except for the third one). The walk to all three towers from the hotel takes about 2 hours with picture taking. Add another 2 for going inside.