Hotel Metropole Bellagio - Lake Como

Operator and Date: Inghams -May 2005

Opinion submitted in June 2005 by : Maggie Tucker -Worcs. 58

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Right from the start although arriving late we were served with a hot dinner and  a welcome cocktail by  the maitre'd Franco and his staff who throughout my stay were always friendly and efficient.  The food every evening was excellent  with plenty of fresh fish and excellent pasta.  

One tip there is a terrace on floor 4 which is not often used in the evening.  So I used to sit up there in the evening enjoying the wonderful views overlooking the lake.  (The hotel is right on the lake front)  

Unfortunately my holiday was marred for on my last day due to a bad fall I had through tripping over the strap to my hold-all as I was rushing to get on the mini-bus to the airport.  The hotel reception staff were very kind and helped mop up the blood and provide ice for my face.  When I got to Milan Airport the Inghams Rep. Vicky took me the First Aid Room where I was given 6 stiches in the wound under my nose by a very handsome Italian doctor.Luckily I had both Insurance and my Ell form, so did not pay for treatment! Also thank goodness I had travelled with a tour company and not independandly both Inghams and their outstanding rep. Vicky  were excellent, and I cannot thank them enough.

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Italy - Lake Garda

Hotel Al Fiore - Peschiera, Garda

Operator and Date: 2006

Opinion submitted in July 2006 by :

Operator and Date: Independant

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

If you like Italian food you will love this hotel, it is 3 star but the food is worthy of 5 star, excellent, 4 choice of starters, 4 choice of main menu and an abundance of desserts.I stayed half board, and lunchtimes many tour operators brought coaches for luch beacuse the food is so wonderful. We were the only english couple there but were made so very welcome. No towels on sunbeds. 

Fantastic Hotel i cannot praise it enough.

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Hotel All Azzurro - Limone

Operator and Date: Crystal Lakes May 2007

Opinion submitted in June 2007 by : John crawford & Gwyneth crawford N.Ireland 51,49

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Hotel All' Auzzurro very nice hotel staff are so friendly food is ok they wont over feed you to much must be to do with healthy eating it is good to get free drinks with your meal wine, beer, soft drinks, the only thing the location of the hotel isn't handy for coach trips it is ok if you are fit but if you have walking difficulties its not so easy the day you arrive the transfer coach drops you and you are met with a golf buggie which takes you down to the hotel 

we were there for 14 nights a bit to long of stay in one place if i had known we would have had a 2 centre holiday which would have been better but you live and learn when going for trips you need to make sure that you are on the coach sometime people have been forgotten about so you need to check with your rep that you are on the list so reps are not well experianced in the job i think they should be well trained  long before the season gets started cause when you ask the rep about somethings or places of interest they dont seem to know or they can be forgetful as well though we would come back again to lake garda only to southern end verona airport that is another experiance it is one you wouldn't forget very small for an international airport could do with making bigger so confusing with it being so small if you are interest in buying newspaper so expensive 6 euros (£4.10 ) sterling

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Hotel All Azzurro - Limone

Operator and Date: Page & Moy - May 2006

Opinion submitted in May 2006 by : R Stone - Sussex (60, 63)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The hotel did not seem geared up to fully functioning at its season opening date of start of May. The staff were friendly, but the dinner service was disorganised on the first day. The food was adequate, but did not rate 4 stars. The drinks were free with meals (not discovered by us until the last day), as was free mid-afternoon tea/coffee plus biscuits (4 - 5 p.m.).

The hotel was right by the lakeside so rooms had excellent views; the ferry stopping place was only 30 yards away. The pool is unheated but is on the terrace overlooking the lake.

Small shops, bars, restaurants were all along the lakeside only a few steps from hotel; only tradespeople traffic (and local Polizia car) travel along, so outside tables offer good views across lake to hills, villages - a very attractive location.

A good regular ferry service operates to Malcesine (attractive village with small castle - well worth going in with ramparts walk, museum), and Riva, Torbole.

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Hotel All Azzurro - Limone

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thompson

Opinion submitted in July 2004 by : duncan mcgregor

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

we enjoyed our stay in limone the hotel all,azzurro was clean and tidy the food was good with a great selection,the location of the hotel is right by the lake side looking out to spectacular views over the lake,trip to jacky bar is a must if you like good music,also trip to venice is a must

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Hotel Alla Torre - Garda

Operator and Date: island getaways - Oct 2005

Opinion submitted in Nov 2005 by : 43, 38.

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

have just returned from a first class holiday in the italian lakes.from the flight out until our return .the hotel was ideally placed in the centre of garda and was spotless and very well run.the trips to venice and verona were excellant,and overall a good value for money holiday.

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Hotel Alla Torre - Garda

Operator and Date: Inghams, August 2004

Opinion submitted in Nov 2004 by : Dave Harrison - Hartlepool (53,53)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Hotel is 50m. from lakeside on edge of Old Town.  Very convenient location for town and ferries.  Atmosphere was excellent especially at night but it could get a little bit noisy. Room was excellent but the hotel has a quirky lift which only goes to the second floor (we were on the third floor!)but the view from the window made up for the inconvenience.

We hired a car from the local Europcar office which was a big mistake.  The guy in the office is not very helpful when things go wrong (Our car broke down three times).  Don't bother with car hire - use the ferries on the Lake - they are relatively cheap and a lot less hassle than the roads.
The holiday package was very good - the Inghams reps had it just right

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Ambassador Suite Hotel - Riva Del Garda

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - June 2005

Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Michelle 38, Jason 36

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The Ambassador Suite Hotel is situated approx 1km (approx 15 min walk) outside of the actual town of Riva del Garda, however there are plenty of bars and shops along the route into town, so it doesn't seem far or isolated.  The hotel is family owned and the accommodation and public areas are spotlessly clean, bright and tasteful.

Continental breakfast never quite suits British holiday makers, but there was plenty of fruit, bread, cold meats etc on offer. The staff were friendly, and polite at all times, and the little bar was a great meeting place in the evening for all nationalities.

Riva del Garda is a very beautiful place and the weather is varied due to its position under the mountains. The lake breezes offer respite from the sun as some days were very hot. There are plenty of restaurants and bars everywhere and you can eat out as cheaply or as expensively as you wish.

We went on 5 organised trips to Innsbruck, Venice by Night, Mantova/Sirgurta, the Dolomites and lastly a lake tour which were professionally run and the guide was excellent. Travel around the lake yourself is easy to do, using either cycle, ferry or bus and it's certainly worth visiting Malcesine, Lazise & Simoine.

I wouldn't recommend this as a family holiday unless your children enjoyed watersports and they is little else to do, however everyone else THIS PLACE IS JUST PERFECT and I will most definately be returning in the very near future.

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Ambassador Suite Hotel - Riva Del Garda

Operator and Date: Topflight - 2005

Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : Graham Lamb- Cork(47,45,21)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The hotel is situated 100 yds off Viale Rovereto, the main Riva-Torbole road, near the harbour of Porto San Nicolo.
3 of us stayed in a nice room, divided by a wardrobe, with ensuite bathroom (incl bidet), which was cleaned if we were all out by 11am with fresh towels supplied also as many times as we needed them. We chose to have a couple of breakfasts there, which were fine with a selection of juices, fresh bread, pastries, jams, fresh coffee/tea, fruit, yoghurts, cold meats, tomato & boiled eggs, but as we had a balcony overlooking Riva and it's impressive mountain, we chose to purchase our own breakfasts and  the occasional lunch(local Eurospar(friendly staff) or Co-op five mins away) in order to eat& gaze out on the vista.

You could use free bike facility if needed, but we were happy to walk the half mile into Riva town, as there were plenty of shops& restaurants en route, though the lake walk is much more scenic and recommended if you're not in a rush.
Riva del garda is a lovely old town, with a myriad of cobbled streets& alleyways full of shops selling leathercraft& murano glass& dotted among pizzerias& bars,  which surround the main square and it's impressive stone clock tower. It is not necessarily a place for night-life if discos& clubs are what you're looking for but rather a place to enjoy outdoor performances(we had a red Indian rock group serenading us), &pavement artists at work in a carnival atmosphere where observation is the done thing next to the lapping waters of the lake.

Recommended restaurants:
La Colombera- found in the residential area five mins from our hotel in Brione area, but well-signposted. It was fabulous to sit under the grapevines in the softly lit rustic courtyard as the chef served up some excellent meat dishes(I had wild boar cutlets which were massive& fabulous to taste-returned following week to have them again!)
Restel de Fer- evening only restaurant, but this little gem is on the list of best restaurants in Riva, and we soon found out why-don't be put off by Italian only menu outside as they have English menus inside, and you wait in armchairs before being served by the professional maitre'd and the friendly host; we had three courses but you only need have two if required-soup and steaks were excellent but the highlight of the evening was the desserts such as chocolate fondu, which was a fountain of dark& white chocolate sauce, above an array of fresh fruit.
Bella Napoli- Recommended previously and found at the top of the fascinating alley Via Fume-you can't sit outside but take the step down into the wood-panelled interior and taste the best and biggest pizzas(and calzone) in riva!
Cinese Lago D'Oro-This Chinese restaurant is found further down Via Fume's alleyway and provides a nice inexpensive change when eating out constantly; friendly staff provide a range of dishes(duck is recommended) with rice ordered separately, serving spaghetti instead of noodles.

DISAPPOINTMENTS:
Leon D'Oro- also on Via Fume where you tend to wait inside before getting a seat outside on a candle-lit table. Despite the best efforts of the friendly slipper-wearing hostess, and a good variety of local dishes on offer, we found our meals not as hot as they should be and small portion-wise. (ie prawn-tail& lemon risotto)
Pizza Bavaria- On Viale Rovereto and has camping site at the back, which must provide most of its clients. The waitress ignored us for 15 mins because we hadn't decided on our order, and the pizzas were burnt and below average.

Recommended Gelateria:
There are lots of excellent gelaterias in and around Riva to get excellent ice-cream, but Bar Flora on Viale Rovereto was the tops for us. We selected a choice of flavours for take-out purposes, and sat in to gorge ourselves on their magnificent ice-cream cocktail dishes ie lampone(raspberry& lemon ice-cream with raspberries&sorbet topped with fresh cream)  

PLACES TO VISIT:
Well-worth a 20 minute walk up to the Bastione tower where you get magnificent views of Riva and the lake. Don't bother with Cascate de Varone, as the local waterfall is located inside a narrow cave, soaking you with chlorine-infested water.
Took trips on the ferry to the lovely cobbled towns of  Limone and Malcesine(you stay on the Riva ferry to travel from Limone to reach Malcesine); Limone is very picturesque with narrow steep cobbled alleyways, whereas Malcesine has more to do, with lots of lovely shops, bars& pizzerias winding up to the castle(excellent gelateria by castle). The castle is superb value for money with brilliant views across the lake and across it's town& harbour. We took the cable car from Malcesine to Mount Baldo after 4pm which made it cheaper(12 euro return) and stopped off at the excellent restaurant at the summit, though it was cooler and cloudier.

EXCURSIONS:
If staying for two weeks it's worth visiting Innsbruck across the Brenner pass, two& a half hours by coach, crossing the spectacular Europa bridge into the lovely city set in a valley surrounded by the Alps. Worth seeing are the Hofburg imperial palace, the Swarovski crystal gallery and the golden balcony.  
Also visited Venice where we chose the sunset trip at approx 50 euros, returning late after a trip where we paid 40 euros extra to include a gondola ride for six to the Rialto bridge, a tour of the sights, and a lagoon cruise of the nearby islands, with a cheap four course meal included. Excellent choice of 2.50 sandwiches at the Rialto bridge. A beautiful city which can be observed by paying to travel by elevator up San Marco's clock tower opposite, the Basilica& doge's palace.

Milan& Bergamo is also worth a visit as it was only 40 euros for a two hour coach journey; we arrived in Milan at about 11am but once you get through the industrial suburbs you can really appreciate the beautiful trendy inner city, with it's magnificent cathedral(much better& cheaper than Basilica in Venice and allowed to take photos), piazza, Victor Emmanuel gallery with its' designer shops in it's marble floored arcade, and La Scala theatre across it's tram-laden streets. We had lunch whilst observing the beautiful people and their dogs strolling through the sunshine by the cathedral. Bergamo in the afternoon trip is a nice trip into the past visiting the 14th century old town and it's fascinating alleyways full of little craft shops&bakeries selling yellow bird cakes, and pizza slices.

Local Wine tour is also recommended visiting a Trentino vineyard where you get given a couple of bottles to take away after various samples! The singing on the coach by the English& Irish afterwards left a lot to be desired!    

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Hotel Astoria - Garda

Operator and Date: Crystal Holidays - May 2007

Opinion submitted in June 2007 by : Gordon Leitch - Edinburgh (59 + 60)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We were very apprehensive about staying at the Astoria Hotel, based on previous reviews,
however the Hotel has recently been re-furbished, and very tastefully done.Our room was very comfortable, although some guests complained that they were on the small side, however brilliant weather kept us outside!! Reception staff were especially friendly and helpful. Rooms and all Public areas were spotlessly clean. Food was adequate, but felt that the Dining Room was too compact. Excellent location for Buses and Ferries.
The Frog Museum and Gardens were a joy to behold. Suggest the Hotel has a competition to "Guess how many Frogs there are".
We had a wonderful time,7 days was not long enough. We will definitely be back to the Hotel Astoria and Lake Garda.

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Hotel Augusta - Malcesine

Operator and Date: Independant -June 2007

Opinion submitted in July 2007 by : Geoff-Coventry (59,58)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Booked flights with Ryanair, hotels via internet.
We arrived at Brescia airport to 34 degree heat, took coach which links with flight to Verona bus station and taxi to hotel.
Verona.
Lovely city, well worth a visit ,shoppers delight if you like designer labels. Small enough to explore on foot, found some great wine bars away from the Arena Square with wine at £1 a glass. The main square with market during the day is best. 
Malcesine.
Took local transport from Bus station, £2.75 for a 2 hour journey. electronic board which shows

Hotel Augusta.
Short walk from Bus station, very friendly greeting from Marina at Hotel which is family owned. We had booked a room with lake view and what a view, with large balcony to match.Best balcony & view ever.
The hotel is in a great position, short walk to town and next to the Monte Baldo cable car with a couple mini markets near by.
Plenty of space in the room, lots of storage, large bed, safe & air-con if needed. We enjoyed the garden with pool, Jacuzzi, arm chairs, table tennis, could have spent many relaxing afternoons here but there was too much to do.
Excellent breakfast was taken while watching the cyclists and hikers heading for the cable car in the morning sun.
British tour company's use the hotel but most of the clientele were Germans who can drive here through the Alps, all contributed to the relaxing atmosphere.
Great hotel at reasonable price. They also arrange airport pickup and drop off at 10Euro p.p.each way.

Malcesine/Lake Garda. Beautiful spot. sporty place, mountain biking, wind surfing, para gliding, hiking and sailing. If you don't like the wind the further south on the lake the better, Malcesine was ok and we hate the wind.
The cable car to Monte Baldo is a must, it is cooler at the top ,14 degrees at 10am. We walked down, took five hours. You can get off at the first station on the way down and walk from there, very popular. Could not find a book of walks but when you visit the castle buy the guide book, walks are in the book.
We visited Riva and Limone by boat, buy a day ticket, 14Euro. Malcesine is best resort at north end of the lake.
Evenings were spent eating and drinking, plenty of choice, found it cheaper than home to eat, beer was £2.80 for 40cl of good lager, wine was cheaper.
The town is a maze of narrow cobbled streets, fair range of shops especially leather.
Not a lot for children, the south of the lake is more suitable with its theme parks but you don't get the mountain scenery.
Took a trip to the Dolomites, a long day but worth it, took cable car to mountain top, it snowed, very rare in late June.

If like us you were looking for a change from a beach holiday, give it a try, we will go again, quite fancy the paragliding from Monte Baldo.

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Hotel Augusta - Malcesine

Operator and Date: Independant - June 2007

Opinion submitted in June 2007 by : Dave McNeill - Peterborough  Ages 60 & 52

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Just returned today after 13 nights at the Hotel Augusta, Malcesine.  We stayed in the villa and it was worth every euro for the de-lux room overlooking the lake and Castle (what a picture postcard view we had) We booked it all ourselves and the courtesy bus (Taxi) was spot on. The family Benedetti couldnt have been more helpful and friendly and they keep their Hotel & Villa spotlessly clean. Although breakfast was much the same each day everything was really fresh and tasty (we never left the table hungary!!!!) and it set you up for the day very nicely.  The pool was very clean, free sunbeds and no-one putting towels out early. The free whirlpool spa was heaven (15 minutes on the hour every hour) all set in a really tidy garden with plenty of trees for shade if you wanted to keep cooler. We went 9th to 22nd June 2007 and by the time we left it was mid 30s every day. 

Malcesine is a quiant little town of alleyways and small squares and harbours(its like a maze) with loads of Ristorantes and Pizzerias all doing much the same menus just prices vary whether your watching the lake or in a square or alleyway. We tried lots and then found a really friendly family run, spotlessly clean and all freshly cooked establishment (they even do a chicken curry if you really need one!! and the only place you will get one) its in a lane called Vic.Casella that runs across between 2 of the downhill lanes and its called AQUARIUS you will find the lady ever so friendly she speaks excellent english and you will soon feel like one of the family (who all help to run the place). Try it you wont be dissappointed.  Some of the places just seem to serve you and want you out and can be very surly with it - NOT at AQUARIUS.

We used the local buses and boats to get about all very reasonable and reliable. Our first impression of Malcesine was "how will we fill our evening for 13 nights" - but - once we found our way around and fell into the laid back friendly atmosphere of the place - no problem- and we have arrived home feeling like we have had a really wonderful relaxing holiday and some special memories of people and places in Malcesine. Thanks especially to the Benedetti Family and the Hotel Augusta.

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Hotel Augusta - Malcesine

Operator and Date: Independent - June 2005

Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Gill Luker - Wallington (44, 44, 42, 42, 76)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Hotel Augusta is a lovely hotel, our superior double rooms had a fantastic view of the castle in Malcesine but my father's single room was quite small and did not have the lovely view (having said that, it was not expensive).  Also they had no lifts so we had to lug the suitcases upstairs.  However, they were extremely helpful and welcoming when we arrived at 10 pm. 

We booked everything ourselves by e-mail and saved at least £200 each on brochure prices.  The hotel arranged a free airport transfer, which was excellent both ways.  They only do bed and breakfast but that left us free to enjoy the many good places to eat in Malcesine.  It is definitely more scenic than the wider part of the lake and we were surprised at how 'buzzing' the resort was.  If you want a quieter resort on the same part of the lake, Limone was also lovely.

We had no complaints about the hotel and all the staff were very friendly but, if booking again, we would try to get a hotel right on the lakeside, of which there are quite a few.  Hotel Augusta is only 10 minutes walk from the town centre and lake but even that can seem a lot in 34 degree heat!  We had air-conditioning in our rooms for 5 Euro per day, which was a boon.  There was a busy road running alongside the hotel, but this seems very common with a lot of the hotels we saw.  

We did the day trip to Venice and enjoyed the Gondola rides but it was a long day and very rushed.  If you go on the hour long Lagoon trip, get there early so you can sit outside on the boat - sitting inside was extremely hot and tedious.

The beaches in Malcesine and Limone are all pebbles so you need jelly shoes or similar to swim in the lake, but it is well worth it to be swimming with mountains surrounding you.

All in all, we had an excellent holiday and would definitely visit Lake Garda again.

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Hotel Aurora - Tombole

Operator and Date: Newmarket Travel - Date Not Specified

Opinion submitted in May 2004 by : Murray - Edinburgh (41, 42)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

First of all, we should say that we had an excellent budget holiday and the Lake Garda area was quite stunning, the people friendly and the food (when eating outside the hotel!) excellent - we usually go to the Sorrento/Naples area, so it was quite a surprise that the area was so Alpine, with many German/Swiss people around).

We obtained this holiday cheap on teletext from Newmarket Travel about 4 weeks before departing (and it was allocation on arrival) - so we were never going to worry too much about the quality of the dinners as we could eat out with the money we saved - just as well too!

We ended up in the Hotel Aurora in Torbole on the northern tip of Lake Garda. Torbole is very popular with windsurfers, cyclists and (on Sundays) motorbikers, but is actually quite small and quiet - the livelier town of Riva is only 3km away and costs about 8 Euros for a taxi at night.  The hotel itself was situated on the noisy main road and roundabout into the town, but we fortunately asked straight away at check-in for a quiet room and were given a nice, quite spacious and clean room in an annex at the back that was situated well back from the road (even the small balcony was quiet).  

Breakfasts were continental and consisted of a very limited choice of cereal (which they put out the night before), jam, cheese, ham, rolls and a large bowl of yoghurt.  Coffee, tea and juice were also provided - this never varied throughout the week and could have benefited from some eggs and toast at least.

Throughout our stay, the staff worked very hard but seemed to be very disorganised, resulting in many "Fawlty Towers" moments, which had us laughing but understandably upset some of the older guests who perhaps hadn't ate so well at lunchtime!  For example, quite often you would get a bowl of potatoes on your shared table ten minutes before the meat arrived, only for the waiter to forget to give you the veg until the after we had all finished the food put in front of us.  

If you ordered wine, the waiter would dash off before you told them the rest of the order (water, beer etc) resulting in confusion and delays all round.  We actually started going out for a meal at night instead (The Surf Grill especially recommended) and stopped worrying about it - oh, yes and from night one we were all instructed to put our linen napkins in envelopes and put our names on them - these envelope then turned up with the same unwashed napkins every night for the whole week (we pinched paper napkins from the kitchen instead - a bit healthier!) - it's strange because we were supplied with a plentiful supply of clean fluffy towels every day! (so why not napkins at dinner time?)

We did have a lovely week travelling around the lake - preferring the boats (the big car ferries have a bar!) to the buses.  Recommended places are Gardaland (great value and some superb attractions), Limone (our favourite place for lunch - try Jacky's), and Malcesine (cable car to top of mountain a must).
We will definitely go back at some point, but will probably stay in either Riva or Malcesine as they are bigger and livelier (with better hotels!)

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Bellevue San Lorenzo - Malcesine, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: inghams - aug 2006

Opinion submitted in August 2006 by : jim(68,68)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We arrived here on a twin centre holiday after spending a week in the Dolomites in the friendliest hotel we have ever stayed in. This   hotel therefore had to be pretty good to compete. Initially we were disappointed .The food in the restaurant was very good but our particular waiter was both arrogant and lazy which spoilt it a bit. He pushed the food over like a plate of school dinners and was too lazy to explain what the choice of sweets were and so on . One day, in his haste, he tipped over my glass of wine. He never said sorry or offered to refill it. Fortunately this was offset by the other waiters who were more considerate, especially the younger ones.

Again the swimming pool, now relocated was stunning, but there were never enough towels for the sunbeds. The hotel operates a policy of not displaying prices for drinks, but puts them on you bill for final payment (in cash only, no credit cards accepted).

The walk to the town is a bit of a hazard .I counted 100 steep steps to the beach road ,but we avoided these by walking a little way along the road and the dropping down a lesser incline to the beach road.
We had a room overlooking the lake in the annexe which houses the sauna and spa and is near the swimming pool.It was adequate and with the very hot summer a portable fan had been provided.

I said this hotel had a lot to live up to, and by the end of the week we had warmed to it. The location is wonderful and the North  end of Lake Garda is beautiful. A lovely holiday

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Bellevue San Lorenzo - Malcesine, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - May 2005

Opinion submitted in Aug 2005 by : Mrs L. Chumbley - Essex (42)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Below Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

What a disapointment!! - we wondered why when booking, this hotel had only a 3star rating when it was the same price as a 4star, but on arrival, decided that the tourist board had been far too generous with their stars!  We were met by very unfriendly staff - the hotel is situated on an extremely busy main road, between 2 bends.  It really is a case of taking your life into your hands every time you wish to venture into town to cross this road! - If you want to walk down to the lake, which the brochure describes as 'descending a few steps' - this itself is a marathon excercise! - we counted about 86 steps - all of which are steep, uneven, with no hand rail.  We wondered throughout our whole stay how the elderly or infirm managed?  Make sure that your room has a balcony or patio - ours had neither, and we were kept awake all night by the constant hum of traffic.

The only good thing about this hotel was the food .. maybe that's how it got its 3 stars???  - Oh yes, and make sure that the pool is in order before you leave - it was out of action for our whole stay! -Take our advice, and go for something else!

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Benacus Hotel -  Riva del Garda

Operator and Date: Crystal Lakes - September 2005

Opinion submitted in Nov 2005 by : Pauline and Ken Mason - early 50's

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We booked a weeks coach tour holiday with Crystal Lakes.  This was the first time we had been on a coach tour abroad and did not know what to expect.  We had our personal Crystal rep/guide with us the whole week, apart from our free day.  She had a table in the dining room and joined us for every meal.  Emma was always available for help and advice and even just a chat. There were 27 in our party - a mixture of different ages that seemed to get along really well. 

The Hotel had lovely views of Riva del Garda and the start of the Lake.  The Benacus was very comfortable and clean, the staff polite, friendly and very accommodating.  The food was varied, tasteful, well presented and contained some local recipes.  Usually there were 3/4 choices for the evening meal for which orders were taken at breakfast.

The old town of Riva del Garda must be seen; there are many alleyways and buildings to visit.  The newer area by the Marina can be reached by a lovely stroll along the shore paths, visiting many cafes and ice cream parlours of course! We had day tours to Lake Como, Venice, Vacenza as well as a ferry ride on the lake itself.  For anyone who wants a change from city or beach holidays, this is just the ticket.

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Hotel Berna - Limone

Operator and Date: Crystal june 2006

Opinion submitted in July 2006 by : michael pellington  (61,60)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Paid for lake view did not recive no early booking bottle of wine provided.Rep did not attend hotel untill thusday although complaned on sunday,rep tried to get Lake View room but hotel said this was not possible Went for wife's 60 th Birthday not a good impresion.

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Hotel Berna - Limone

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - June 2006

Opinion submitted in June 2006 by : Karen Donne (50+)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

I thought the Berna was very good value, and very clean.  Rooms were a nice size, we had a lovely lake view and balcony. Towels and bedding changed every day. The only grouse I had was that the air-conditioning which was advertised in the Thomson brochure was not working. We then found out from another (regular) guest that it has not worked for at least two years! Luckily although the weather was beautiful, it was not so hot that it was a problem. 

In spite of this, I would recommend this hotel as being good value for money, and the resort of Limone is lovely. 

A week is long enough to spend there as it's quite small, but lots of other lovely places to visit by ferry if you want a change of scenery.

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Hotel Berna - Limone

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson June 2006

Opinion submitted in June 2006 by : Jackie Dix - Bristol 50+

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The hotel was excellent considering its rating was only 3 star. The rooms were newly refurbished, and spotlessly clean. Food was as expected, adequate but basic. Staff were charming and friendly. There is a pool bar with a pizzeria where you can get a very cheap lunch, also a good place for a snack or coffe is the Limonaia Hotel (just up the steps by the side of the pool bar, and turn left). Limone is a small but lovely resort - very quiet, but lots of nice little bars you can have a drink in the evening while gazing at the beautiful lake. A 10 minute walk down an incline from the hotel takes you into town. There were two open air concerts while we were there, one on the edge of the lake in town, and one in the park behind the hotel. These were free to all, and it was wonderful to listen to ( a mixture of Italian songs, and American standards)

 I would recommend this hotel as being very good value. 

The resort is predominately a German one, but this was no problem even though the World Cup was on - we all had a laugh together! 

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Hotel Berna - Limone

Operator and Date: Page & Moy, May 2006

Opinion submitted in May 2006 by : Dave & Sue Newson (57, 55)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We have just returned from a wonderful holiday based in Limone on Lake Garda.  

The hotel is not one of the best we have ever stayed in but after getting them to move us from the dreadful room in the unrefurbished block (only spent one night in that room) we were quite happy here.  The new room was spacious with a big four piece bathroom, no lake view but we couldn't have endured another night in the 'broom cupboard'  The food is perfectly adequate for a three star hotel, salad buffet to start, then waiter service for soup or pasta course, main course and sweet.  We had free drinks with evening meal a choice of either a jug of wine, bottle of water, lager or soft drink.  The sweet was a bit disappointing as it was ice cream every night.  There was a choice of three or four things for each course and you made your selection the night before by ticking the menu.  

We went on several excursions, Venice, Verona, Visit to a vineyard with wine tasting and a lake tour.  We thoroughly enjoyed all the tours and the Page & Moy rep 'B' is excellent and a wonderful ambassador for the company.When we went to Venice she arranged everything, making a list of what everyone wanted to do and then telephoning ahead to arrange a 3 course lunch with a drink for 13 euros and negotiating a good price for the gondolas and lagoon tour.  In Verona we had to use the official licensed guide who was excellent and 'B' still accompanied us because as she says 'I love to learn, she seemed inexhaustable even though she wore high heeled shoes for all the excursions!  

The lake tour was another lovely day, first by coach stopping off at Bardolino and Sirmione where we had lunch and then by boat (about an hour) up to Salou for tea and ice cream before picking up the coach again, a magical day.  We enjoyed going up Monte Baldo in the cable car and walking on the top ( a bit like Snowdonia) and there is a good restaurant on the top.  Limone itself is a charming resort with little cobbled streets and lovely shops down by the lake and in the back streets.  Can recommend the 'Hotel Le Palme' where we enjoyed a good lunch on the terrace overlooking the lake. 

All in all a lovely holiday and we will definately return to Lake Garda again.

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Hotel Bisesti Garda - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - July 2005

Opinion submitted in Nov 2005 by : Gordon Hardman - Bury (52,45)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Hotel situated just off the main road into Garda,but as it was set back from the road was relatively undisturbed by traffic noise.Only a 5 minute walk to the main front and only 5 minutes from the bus station.
The Hotel itself was well maintained and the pool and public areas were all more than adequate for a smallish hotel.The food was acceptable but if you wanted anything a bit more up-market there are plenty of restaurants in Garda.

As this was our first trip to Garda we found this hotel an excellent base from which to get out and explore,nothing too fancy with excellent staff and First Choice reps were excellent as well,all in all we had a really good holiday here and would probably go back again.

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Hotel Bisesti Garda - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice-June 2005

Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Mark Taylor - Lancashire  (42,39)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Below Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The hotel ia a 3*,and we booked because the brochure said the food rating was excellent. We had stayed in a 3* on the lake before,booking through the same operator,where the food was rated as very good and was in fact excellent(Leonardo da Vinci - Limone).

We therefore were anticipating some memorable food. What a complete let down; chips(in various disguises)with nearly every meal,overcooked(by a few days!) veg,not fully defrosted deserts,a salad buffet where items were not refilled,but the most shameing was a pizza starter ordered by my wife, which on arrival resembled a slice of breeze block covered in something as inedible.Needless to say we ate out,even with booking half board,most nights.   
The breakfasts were okay but there was no cooked food,except for toast if the toaster was working.
We did however swap our dinner for lunch on a couple of occasions and on both occasions the lunch was good which led me to assume that as the lunch and dinner menus were the same,the food for dinner was cooked at the same time as lunch.

The hotel staff were friendly and helpful and the place was clean.Its location meant that it was ideal for exploring the rest of the lake by ferry(very relaxing)or bus(very cheap and punctual) and also further afield such as Verona and Venice by bus.

All the resorts around the lake are very picturesque but for the best restaurants (and we tried a few) and night-life i would pick Bardolino.

Overall the holiday was fantastic spoiled only by the hotel food which was definately not to our choice.However a lot of people at the hotel said they came back year after year,they were mostly in their late 50's and 60's,but we most certainly will not.Though it will not put us off Italy,we've been coming for 5 years and this is our first bad experience.        

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Hotel Bristol - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: The Holiday Company - 2007

Opinion submitted in April 2007 by : Liverpool

Resort Rating: Average

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This was our first time to Lake Garda and was really looking forward to it. The hotel staff wasn't friendly but the hotel was very clean and tidy, the cleaner was friendler!! The hotel is situated on a very busy main road the noise was terrible our room was on the front of the road so we were woken up every morning about 6.00 Clock aslo the coaches we coming and going all day. The Main town was a least a good 30-40 min walk. We often got a taxi back to the hotel.

The weather was good, but again we couldn't really sit out by the pool because of the traffic.

I would go back to Lake Garda but to a differnt hotel.

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Hotel Castell - Limone

Operator and Date: CRYSTAL - 2006

Opinion submitted in September 2006 by : DENISE MILLWARD- 40,44

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

AFTER BOOKING THE HOTEL CASTELL I COULD FIND VERY FEW REVIEWS ABOUT IT. ON OUR RETURN I CAN SEE WHY....PEOPLE ARE SURELY KEEPING TIGHT LIPPED ABOUT THIS LITTLE GEM OF A HOTEL.The view from our room was to die for, we left our balcony doors wide open every night in order for it to be the first thing we saw when we woke up. Most evenings after dinner we would sit on our balcony with a bottle of wine and just soak up the atmosphere whilst listening to the live music from the hotel below, which  is unheard of for us, as we would normally be in a bar in the resort. 

The pool and small garden were lovely, although we didnt spend much time here as there is lots to see and do around the lake. We went over to malcesine a few times and enjoyed a fab lunch for my 40th, riva was also lovely, but sirmione at the south of the lake was very touristy and we didnt enjoy it very much so were glad to head back to limone. i would recomend this hotel to anyone who rates a lake view as a top priority as it completely blew me away. we would deffinitely return to this hotel as do lots of people. Pleasant helpful staff, good food, clean towells everyday and the best views on the lake.... perfect. 

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Hotel Castell - Limone

Operator and Date: Crystal - September 2005

Opinion submitted in Oct 2005 by : Pauline, Mary & Maura

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Hotel Castell was very comfortable and the views of the lake and mountains from the balcony is breathtaking. The food was very good and the staff very friendly and helpful.   Many people we met in the hotel come back year after year and we certainly will be back to the Hotel Castell  The 107 steps to the centre are not bad at all.

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Hotel Castell - Limone

Operator and Date: Crystal - Sept 2004

Opinion submitted in Sept 2004 by : Pauline Gary 43,42

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Hotel Castell had an amazing view overlooking the Lake Garda in Limone 6* views at 3* prices.  Unfortunatley though you have to pay extra for the rooms with a view, much to the dismay of a few guests who had not been told this and did not get a view.  There are 107 steps to the centre but it mentions this in the brochure and it is not a problem as they are staggered.

The food was not up to 3* standards with tinned carrots and tinned potatoes one night, and some type of pasta to start every night but it was edable.

The room was clean if however a little basic but the view made up for it. 

We went to the Dolomites, Venice, Verona, and Florence but unfortunately the coaches are not allowed to collect from the Hotel so you have to walk about 12 mins to the centre to be collected and dropped off.  This is not easy when the coaches depart for the trips around 6am or 7am.  It would have been easier if we had been told to meet at the Hotel Splendid which was just down the road albeit a small narrow road for traffic.

Trips were brilliant but the tour guide felt on a number of trips that she had to talk constantly.  After a while you did tend to shut off regarding what she was saying. 

The holiday was splendid and we had a lovely time There was not many families around just maily middle aged and older couples.  I cannot fault Lake Garda and would certainly return at a future time

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Hotel Catullo - Malcesine

Operator and Date: Internet - June 2007

Opinion submitted in June 2007 by : Colin Jennings - Co Durham (56, 52)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The Hotel
We chose the Catullo because it was recommended to us by a friend.  It only has two stars but it's easily worth three.  We booked a front room overlooking the castle and Lake Garda.  The view was fantastic but we could have done with air conditioning or a fan.  The Catullo is ideally situated and there is ample parking.  The pool is great but we didn't try the gym.  We're vegetarian and we found breakfast adequate.  It would have been nicer if there had been fresh fruit juice and fresh fruit.  Maurizio and Fam are great - very helpful and laid-back.

The Resort
Malcesine is lovely with loads of winding cobbled streets and loads of places to eat.  Our favourite restaurant was Aquarius.  They have a vegetarian menu and we even ordered something that wasn't on the menu - penne al arrabiata - it was excellent. 

The cable car trip up to Monte Baldo wasn't cheap but it was great.  You're so high up, you're above clouds and there are fantastic views and cows with bells on - a bit Sound Of Music.

We visited Limone, Torbole and Riva with the one-day ferry pass and we preferred Malcesine.

We drove to Bolsano and got the cable car to Renon to see the earth pyramids (rock formations) and more great scenery.  Stick to the train at the top unless you're a serious walker.

This was our third holiday at the Italian Lakes and I'm sure we'll be going again.  If we go to Malcesine again, we'll definitely be staying at the Catullo.

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Hotel Catullo - Malcesine

Operator and Date: Crystal -  June 2006

Opinion submitted in July 2006 by : Claire Twist - Nottingham  (34,37)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Have just returned from a very pleasant stay at Hotel Catullo. This hotel is best described as small, friendly, comfortable and very clean. Our room, although small, was situated at the back of the hotel and the balcony had great views of Monte Baldo. Some of the rooms situated at the front of the hotel had views overlooking the Castle. The hotel itself was ideally situated in a peaceful location just a 5 minute walk away from the hustle and bustle of the town and a 2 minute walk from the Cable Car Station (don't let this put you off as you cannot hear any noise).

The breakfast buffet was served on the outside terrace each morning from 8am til 9.30am and you would be spoilt for choice. The pool was fabulous and set in well kept gardens. This was a most welcome relief from the hot weather - our stay coincided with a heatwave in Italy! The only down side was that the rooms did not have air conditioning and fans could not be hired. However, the temperature was well above average so I guess it is not normally an issue.

Malcesine is very charming and picturesque with some stunning scenery. Make sure you visit the Castle - the views from the top are fabulous. Another worthwhile trip is catching a cable car up to Monte Baldo. Ferries run a regular service to other towns situated on the Lake. We got an all day ticket and visited Limone and Riva del Garda - both lovely places, although I have to say I preferred Malcesine. There are also a number of walks for all fitness levels or you can hire a bike to explore further afield.

We went on an excursion to Verona for the day which was worthwhile - it is so elegant and there are some great designer shops. The Amphitheatre is a must along with Juliet's balcony but this does get really busy. You could also go on other excursions to Venice, Milan and even Florence if you don't mind a very long day.

We stayed B&B and found that there was plenty of choice for eating out. Lots of open air restaurants and cafes. Bar Pizzeria Da Pedro served excellent food at reasonable prices and the service was friendly. Bar Castello was also top of our list - friendly staff and seating outside so you could watch the world go by. The food where ever you ate was great and you had lots of choice - fish dishes, pasta, real pizza and of course Italian ice cream (try some from La Dolce Vita it's divine).

Evenings are very relaxed and informal. Just a warning not to take any high heeled shoes because the streets are mainly cobbled and some are steep so you will only end up doing yourself an injury.

All in all it was a great holiday one that I would recommend. I have developed a soft spot for Malcesine and I have no doubt that I'll return again in the near future.

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Hotel Christina - Limone sul Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - July 2006

Opinion submitted in September 2006 by : Sue & Trevor 58,53

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: No rating

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Our first impression was not good to start with we had to carry out luggage up a very steep hill to the hotel, after we checked in the porter took our luggage through to the restaurant where the lift was then told us to take the lift to the 4th floor then we had to carry out own luggage a further 2 flights of stairs. The room was very basic and clean but no air-con (the temperature was on average 35 and very humid) we asked if we could upgrade but was told there was nothing available and no fans we had no tea/coffee making facilities, no where to keep cold drinks and no TV as stated by Thomson. We thought Thomson's were very unhelpful and gave no information of facilities at the hotel.

Apart from the room we thought the hotel was good. The food was plenty but very bland, there wasn't much Italian they rather catered for Germans. We found to eat and drink in Limone was very reasonable not expensive at all.
As the hotel was set up a very steep hill it was difficult to walk, there was a bus service from the hotel which didn't run into Limone after 17.20 but you could get a taxi for 7 euros which was good, the taxis ran every 10 mins.
But apart from all that we really enjoyed our holiday with breathtaking views and once we found out about the taxi service.

We did find Thomson's trips very expensive especially the lake tour compared to booking one yourself's. We did go to Venice with them which was excellent.

To review, Thomson's were a waste of space - not knowing basic information like taxis from Limone etc. that they would be able to advise their customer/holidaymakers. Their trips are expensive, go your own route and save lots of money (i.e. Lake trip thomsons 51 euros each book with lake operator for 19 euros each !!) However, Thomson's did not spoil our visit we shall go back, Limone is wonderful and an excellent base.

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Hotel Conco Dora - Garda

Operator and Date: Thompson June 2007

Opinion submitted in June 2007 by : Bob Fish 62,64,64,69

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

An eleven hour delay, to get over the 12 hr clause we were embarked on the aircraft where we experienced a further hours delay ariving in resort at 5am instead of 13.50pm
Resort very pictuesque.The only way to travel is by ferry either a fast hydrofoil or slower paddle steamer there are plenty ov very nice walks.
Lake 75k long,30k at widest part.
Very wet with severe thunder storms, go prepared we had to buy foul weather gear.
As we were on a bed and breakfast basis it would be safe to assume that one could eat lunch and dinner whereve one liked not so according th the hotel owner,we were all banned from returning next year for eating lunch at the next door hotel (no joke)
Very pleasent holiday we went for 2 weeks one would have been enough.
Further 1.30 hr delay on return flight
We shall in future be giving Thompsons a miss

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Hotel Club la Vela - Torbole

Operator and Date: Newmarket - October 2006

Opinion submitted in November 2006 by : Gwen Glover - Isle of Wight (49 - 60)

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Newmarket have a habit it seems of changing flight times and we were no exception - 9 hours earlier going out and two changes on the return.

Torbole is not as bustling as the company claim, certainly not in October when there was so little open after dark (we frequented the Cutty Sark where impromptu music sessions took place - great fun!), but very pretty all the same.
Club la Vela was clean and the rooms were comfortable. The food left a little to be desired so you may be forgiven for eating out (we liked La Terrazza and the Surfers Grill). The bar/restaurant staff were mainly Romanian and were most friendly and eager to please especially Mimi the restaurant manager.

The brochure advised us to explore Limone/Malcesine on our first day so we did just that, thereby missing the welcome meeting which was arranged at the most inconvenient time of 2.30pm. Miss it at your peril! Because the rep makes no further effort to get in touch to give you any info at all - not even to tell us where to find the (very well hidden) info board. And neither did she see fit to tell us that our trip to the Dolomites (booked in the uk) had been changed to its foothills - nowhere near as interesting - and no apology offered. The excuse was that everything in the Dolomites was closed! But we met other holiday makers who refuted this. And why did our trip vouchers, issued on the first day of our holiday still say "Dolomites" on them?

That said...we raved about Venice even though it was flooded but beware the Gondolas will not meander about smaller canals if the water is high so CHECK FIRST as the Grand Canal can be tedious if busy.

Verona is charming, don't miss the impressive amphi-theatre. Hotspots on the lake tour include Lazise on market day, Sirmione on a promontory with its fairy-tale castle and the charming villages of Limone and Malcesine - the trip up Monte Baldo in a ROTATING cable car is a must.

So in conclusion a holiday on Lake Garda is highly recommended but we would probably choose Malcesine next time and preferably not go with Newmarket. Ciao!

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Hotel Continental - Garda - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: thomson - june 2007

Opinion submitted in June 2007 by : rick thorley 41/cindy watkins 37  swadlincote

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Just returned from a lovely 11 nights in garda at the continental . hotel was very good with friendly staff throughout pool was never overcrowded with sunbeds always available . resort had a nice atmosphere at night in the day plenty of ferries to visit other resorts on the lake. we went on trips to venice , verona + dolomites all worthwhile and good value. 

overall this was one of our best ever holidays and we would not hesitate to recomend the hotel and resort to anyone top marks all round from us two we will definately return again

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Hotel Continental - Garda - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Thomsom - September 2006

Opinion submitted in October 2006 by : Julie & Marcus- Cheadle (44, 35)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This is the third year I have trusted this web site to choose a holiday, so I thought after a fantastic holiday in Lake Garda in Sept 2006 I would add my comments.

On getting off the coach and walking into the hotel a couple who had just booked out advised us how good the hotel was and the fact they did not want to leave.

We had a room at the back of the hotel with a shared balcony, this did not cause any difficulty because there are sun loungers on the terrace and we were the only ones to bathe there anyway. The beds were comfortable and it was very clean. There was a mini-bar in the room and the TV had BBC1/2 and BBC News, this makes a change from the usual CNN TV News we normally watch in Europe.

The food was excellent and it was pleasant to receive waiter service after queuing endlessly at buffets the previous two years holidays in Spain and Greece.  There were three choices of starters, mains and sweets that were varied and the Tiramisu was to die for. The waiters were friendly and very helpful and on many evening we had silver service.

We went on the trip to Florence; it was a long day but  this has given us the taste to want to go back.
The Dolomites tour and Bolzano trip are the most memorable to both of us, they are awesome, both of these we took with Thomsons.

We went to the majority of the places around the lake, we travelled on the buses/ferries but they are congested around the 9 in the morning and 5 in the evening, every man for themselves.

In the evenings we just had a gentle stroll and stopped for a coffee or wine in the many sea-front bars. Cappuchinos were on average 2 euros (£1.40) and cocktails (£3.50).

The holiday in general was the most relaxed I had in years and the combination of good hotel, food and resorts made it memorable.

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Hotel Continental - Garda - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - Aug 2006

Opinion submitted in September 2006 by : Aln Hambley - Chester Le Street (54, 50)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

I agree with the previous reviews. Our only complaint is that my Wife and I are vegetarians and they would not cater to our needs. There was also five other vegetarians during our stay and when I asked the head waiter to cook a vegetarian lasagne for all of us he said "not possible".  When asked to provide pasta with a tomato based sauce he also said "not possible" (this is in Italy the land of pasta). We ended up having a starter for starters and a starter for the main course. In my opinion they had your money and they were not interested in deviating from the set menu.

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Hotel Continental - Garda - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson lakes and mountains - May 2006

Opinion submitted in June 2006 by : 53,52

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

A very good and clean hotel in good location about 300 metres from harbour and restuarant where you can eat or just have a quite drink. Excellent typical Italian food served in the hotel and waiters very friendly. There is a nice walk to the next small town alongside the lake and ferries run to all places around the lake. Found 7 days wasn't really long enough to fit in all the trips we wanted to go on. Tiring but very enjoyable holiday

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Hotel Continental - Garda - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - July / August 2005

Opinion submitted in Aug 2005 by : Gordon and Sarah , Prestwick , Scotland ; 30's !

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This was a fantastic Hotel in a fantastic resort . 

There is a real " Continental " ( pardon the pun ! ) feel about the Hotel and about Garda itself, as a large number of European nationalities are regular visitors , ranging from , in our Hotel , Norwegian Opera singers , to mid Europeans such as Dutch and French ; and of course plenty of Brits . There are no " English breakfasts here " types of restaurant thank goodness ,and no fervent national football supporter types , which is just the sort of place you therefore want to be . Its very classy without being snobby ; its cosmopolitan without being overwhelmingly unfamiliar ; and its food , wine and indigenous people are absolutely second to none . This is the first time we have been this far North in Italy but it wont be the last , thats for sure . The Hotel staff are very professional and friendly , striking a nice balance , and the cleanliness was superb . The room quality was fine.... look to get a room as high up as possible for better views . 

The food was great , and the choice thereof again first class . The resort has something for everyone and its all there to discover . 

The lake is effectively central to everything apart from trips to other cities , and so you must take advantage of it and its scenic beauty . We swam in its crystal green waters  , sunbathed at it , and hired two separate motor cruisers on it to explore it , what fantastic fun and you must try it . The quality of the boats was superb and with 40 HP there was always going to be a bit of a thrill skipping along the glass like surface of the  water and taking in the atmosphere . Restaurants ? Well ! Too many to mention and each one fantastic . Ice creams ? Ditto ! Wine ? Double ditto ! Having zoomed around the coastal towns of the lake , Garda is definitely the best , the biggest and with tranquility yet vibrance unabound . See you next year , and maybe the baby cygnets we fed each night by hand , will have grown up to be beautiful swans , like their parents who watched on , and like Garda itself . 

Five stars to resort and to Hotel Continental from us on our first wedding anniversary !

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Hotel Continental - Garda - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomsons - September 2004

Opinion submitted in Sept 2004 by : Jean & Robin Doe Southampton (60,62)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We went to Garda for my(Jean)60th Birthday. We had a wonderful time. The Hotel was excellent. The bedroom was the usual basic modern type with shower etc and balcony which overlooked the pool which was very clean and bright with lots of loungers in and out of the sun.Food was very good with buffet breakfast 3 choices of evening meal and the service excellent. Room was clean and the shutters kept the sun from overheating the room during the day.Air conditioning was not in use in late september but we were fine.

Garda itself was lovely with lots of cafes for Robin's Cappuccinos and we liked to wander through the narrow street of shops. (Clothes seemd a bit expensive for the quality).

We walked to Bardolino along the lakeside which took about 45-60 mins depending on how lazy we were feeling. We took the coach trip around the lake which stopped at Malcecine and Riva which was lovely then a boat to Limone also beautiful then on back down to Sirmione where we took an extra boat trip around the peninsula which was well worth it.(The boatman took a vote and we had a jolly speed boat ride to finish it off)

We also took the Dolomites trip which was amazing and a must for anyone going to the area.Going North the scenery changes to Austrian style which we are used to having been there many times. Also we loved the Sigurta Gardens where we had a trip round on the little train so that we did not miss anything then had about an hour and a half to wander. It really is a beautiful place and well worth the visit.

We would not hesitate to recommend the Hotel and Garda.

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Hotel Continental - Sirmione,  Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Inghams - May 2007

Opinion submitted in June 2007 by : Judith Martin - Cumbria (49, 56, 68, 76)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We stayed in the hotel during the 1st week of May.  The hotel is approx. 10 minutes walk to the ferry point and another 5 minutes or so to the bus stop.  The staff in the hotel were all EXCELLENT.  The hotel itself is spotless.  All rooms have side lake views - these are brilliant.  The terrace also looks over the lake and is superb - really peaceful.  Food is excellent - remember to ask the head waiter for his suggestion for the evening meal.  (On my return to the UK I even sent the Manager of the hotel a note to say how much we had enjoyed ourselves).  I would recommend this hotel to all my friends and of course if we did go back to Sirmione, I would go back again.  Sirmione is great if you want to get to Venice and Verona.  Do go to Venice - I know some people say its 'smelly' and 'dirty', but we have now been twice and it isnt (dirty and smelly) and it is a must!  

Overall I would rate my holiday 10 /10.  Excellent.  Enjoy ......

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Corte Delle Rose Apartments - Garda town

Operator and Date: Inghams- August  2004

Opinion submitted in Aug 2004 by : M>Debono- Essex (44, 47, 14,17)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

These appartments are clean, spacious and adequately equipped. The surrounding gardens and pool area are well maintained and cleaned regularly. The pool is large and never seemed crowded whilst we were there.The appartments are a good 20 minute walk from the town but during the day there is a free bus operated by the local council- we used this service a great deal.

We did not go on any of the excursions offered by the tour operator, we found we were able to see everything we wanted using public transport, at a fraction of the cost. 

We went to Venice and Verona by bus and Milan by train. We travelled to other towns around the lake by bus or boat.We hired bicycles and cycled along the lakeside to Lasize- this is an easy flat cycle ride especially if you stop often for ice creams! The cable car up Mount Baldo is worth a go, though it's hard to pick a really clear day- we didn't manage to but still enjoyed it.

Eating out in Garda was relatively inexpensive and good, on the whole. There are many restaurants to chose from(our favourite was El Porto, on the lake front). There are also a few takeaways.

We all enjoyed this holiday;the lake is really beautiful, the scenery is stunning and there is enough to do- even with two grumpy teenagers in tow!

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Hotel Cristina - Limone sul Garda

Operator and Date: Crystal holidays Aug 2005

Opinion submitted in Oct 2005 by : 

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

I was very pleased with the standard of this Hotel as i was on a late deal holiday and didn't expect too much. The hotel is very smart it has a huge dining room with fabulous views over the lakes. I was more than happy with the room which was very clean and comfortable with tea & coffee making facilities, a lovely large balcony overlooking the lakes and maid service everyday. All of the staff were very friendly and helpful especially the hard working restaurant staff. 

The food was excellent, with so much to choose from. We had to leave at 5 am in the morning to catch our flight home and was very impressed to find that the they had opened the restaurant so we could have some breakfast before leaving. We walked to the town everyday but the banks up to the hotel are tough even if you are fit, but there is a courtesy bus from the hotel. 

A perfect place for a relaxing and scenic holiday. Riva is a lovely resort with cobbled streets and some good shopping.   

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Hotel Cristina - Limone sul Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - 2005

Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Hywel Lewis, Joanna  (35,33)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion:

Lovely relatively small resort with a fair few things to do.The areas quite hilly although those with a lakeside hotel can avoid them if they want. The local's are very freindly and helpful, particularly if you try to speak Italian.

A word of warning about the hotel. Some rooms are pretty awful. Our allocated room 318 was the worst I have ever seen. Small, dark with worn out furniture and the rusty fire escape they called a balcony opened out to the kitchens and air con unit, so noisy for large parts of the day.  This itself has put us off Thomson as we expected far more, especially as we had paid full price (and their reps know of the problems).

To be fair the hotel did their best to help and we were able (for 56 euro) to upgrade to a 'villa' style room which was 100 times better, but still only what we would have expected.  Worth noting this double upgrade was much cheaper in situ rather than via Thomson's brochure so you could book and then contact the hotel directly to upgrade.

Apart from the intial room the hotel was pretty good. A fair number of food choices for dinner although much was pretty bland and not very Italian (mainly German orientated). Staff were always very helpful and drink prices weren't too bad if you like wine. I did try a few beers but it's relatively expensive and not the best.

Things to do in the area include taking a ferry to the Malcesne (which I can't spell!) for the cable car, local walks (they have a guide map), the opera in Vernona (v highly recommended) plus many boats trips if you have time (and money!)

We will be going back to Italy next year but not to the same resort(just cos we want to try a mountain one) and not with Thomsons who let us down with the room.

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Hotel Cristina - Limone sul Garda

Operator and Date: Crystal - July 2004

Opinion submitted in Aug 2004 by : G Hindes - Essex  (49, 53)

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Have just returned from 2 weeks at this hotel. We found it very good, and particularly enjoyed the time we spent in the restaurant ( we were on half board.) Food was plentiful with a good choice each evening- the only criticism we had was that some foods appeared frequently among selections available, but with so much choice we did not find this mattered. There were plenty of friendly staff there and, although we always chose the buffet, there was a waiter survice available at no extra charge in the evening for those who wanted it.

Our room was OK,with TV, shower, bidet, plenty of fresh laundry, excellent cleaning. It lacked air conditioning. People we met did not all have such good rooms.

Drawbacks to stay: a long climb up to the hotel from Limone [there was a bus taxi during the day]; lots more steps in hotel up to our room.

We were with Crystal, and thought we got value for our money. Against chosing a stay at Limone is the transfer time: from airport to resort took us two and a half hours, going back took three hours. Visiting anywhere fom Limone by coach,took a long time as we had to go around the lake: a slow, hot and jerky journey. Coaches we had always lacked toilets. We were put off travelling by coach for these reasons, but did use them to go on memorable visits to the opera at Verona and the Dolomites.

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Hotel Cristina - Limone sul Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - July 2004

Opinion submitted in Aug 2004 by : 39,38,14,9

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Have just returned from a lovely holiday at Hotel Cristina.  We had a great time.  

Stayed half board, the food was very good, choice wasn't bad, the staff were very pleasant.  The hotel is quite good, the views are fantastic.  It is about 20 mins walk from Limone at a gentle pace, there is a minibus though if you don't fancy the walk.  We didn't find the walking too difficult.  Although by the time we returned (all uphill) we were quite hot.  However, we were really pleased that we had chosen the Cristina as the views were stunning and well worth the climb. 

Limone itself is lovely.  Took trips to Malcesine and Riva.  The cable car ride was brilliant and even though it was July the queues moved along fairly well.  The castle at Malcesine is also well worth a visit.  Malcesine was beautiful and should we return to the lake, we would probably stay there.

All in all a very enjoyable holiday, with plenty to do to keep everyone amused.  We will enjoy happy memories of our visit here.

Do pack a raincoat as it can rain in the mountains.  Was pouring when we arrived, however by the next morning the weather had picked up again.  If you're going on the cable ride to Monte Baldo, it's advisable to take a jacket as it can be cool.  The views from the mountain were absolutely breathtaking.

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Hotel Dolimiti - Malcesine, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Italian Getaways - 2005 /2006

Opinion submitted in May 2006 by : Susie Coals (50, 59)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

I've just returned from a wonderful holiday in Lake Garda.  Its one of those places that people will want to return to again and again.  The scenary is stunning and you never tire of it.  We went with Italian Getaways and found them very good. Only complaint was the fact that our flights were at 6.30am on the way out which meant a very early rise.  Our flight on the return journey was 10am but they ended up getting us to the airport at 7am which obviously meant a 3 hour wait (not to mention the fact that the flight was 30 mins delayed).  Very tiring indeed. 

The Hotel Dolimiti was only a 2 star hotel.  It was basic but spotlessly clean.  My room had 2 windows and a very high ceiling which gave the room a light and airy feel.  The room and bathroom were a good size.  Some rooms have balconies, unfortunately we didn't book in time to get one which was a shame as we had fantastic weather.  We had half board but only ate in the hotel one evening as dinner was served at 7pm and it felt too much like being in a holiday camp.  I prefer to have a choice of when and where I eat.  Having said that the one night we did eat there the starter was delicious but the main course was only adequate. 

We ate in various restaurants and I don't think we had a bad meal the whole time we were there (10 days).  One we did return to because the choice of menu was good and it was also very reasonably priced was Kusdami (i think that's how its spelt) and i've been told it means Ships Galley.  The inside of the restaurant looks like the inside of a boat.  Another restuarant we ate in was Capitani which was excellent although a little bit expensive, but its always nice to push the boat out one night of the holiday. 

Did a tour of the lake which was interesting because it gave you a taste of all the other towns on the lake.  Malcesine was by far the nicest town.  There are lots of restaurants to choose from. 

Also went to Venice which was a long day and unfortunately also an italian bank holiday, so very crowded.  We did a gondola ride which cost E16 each (as we shared with 4 other people) and it was well worth the money and reasonably priced.  Did a lagoon boat ride which was also good because it gave you a chance to rest your aching feet.

Did the half day tour to Verona, but was rather disappointed.  It seemed as even every bridge, monument, etc was covered in graffi, it was heart breaking to see.  Also I wouldn't bother paying E8 to go into the Arena as there really isn't that much to see (not to mention the fact that they were erecting a stage so we were restricted in moving around the area).

Will I return, most definitely.  It was one of the most relaxing and stress free holidays I've ever had.  Then again that may have had something to do with the jugs of Soave/Valpollica that were consumed.  We started off buying bottles of wine which were obviously dearer but found that the house wines were more than adequate and we ended up saving ourselves a lot of money.  Also try the Limoncella liquer its quite delicious with a kick. 

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Hotel Don Pedro - Malcesine

Operator and Date: Voyages Jules Verne - August 2006

Opinion submitted in September 2006 by : Kay Gregory - Worcester (42,42,17,14)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Tour company - Excellent. Rep was friendly, efficient, extremely knowledgeable and always available to answer queries. Would definitely travel with VJV again.
Hotel - Comfortable, very clean, spacious, air conditioned rooms in main building. Pleasant dining room/patios with wide choice of tasty meals. Good facilities, enough to entertain teenagers who were reluctant to try a lakes & mountains holiday. Cheerful, helpful staff. Although 20 mins walk downhill to town (we did not use the shuttle bus), the hotel offers stunning mountain views and no traffic noise. We could not fault the Don Pedro and would happily stay there again.

Malcesine - Lovely, narrow cobbled streets and quaint squares. Wonderful atmosphere and great views from the castle ramparts. Cable car ride to the top of Monte Baldo a must but go early to avoid queues. Nice restaurant at the top.
Excursions - Venice day trip: Half the world seemed to be there and very hot but a great experience and not to be missed. Verona: Worth a visit for architecture although a lot of renovation work going on at present so photo opportunities tainted by scaffolding/boards. Limone (by boat): Very picturesque, though steep, with beautiful flower boxes. Nice lunch at the Bellavista on the lakeside (superb grilled trout). Varone Waterfall near Riva (by local bus): An amazing geological feature but we thought the entry fee for a family (5 euros each) was expensive for a visit which only lasts about half an hour.

Conclusion: A great holiday in a beautiful area with plenty to see and do for all ages. 

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Hotel Don Pedro - Malcesine

Operator and Date: Archers - July 2006

Opinion submitted in August 2006 by : Mel Walker - Lincoln (57, 55, 25)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Flew to Venice with Monarch Airlines. Good flight. Arrived Don Pedro Hotel, Malcesine, Lake Garda. Friendly and helpful reception staff throughout the holiday.

Clean adequate room with air conditioning, (much needed) with view of Lake Garda.

Enjoyed the meals, with a variety of food at breakfast lunch and dinner.

Too hot to do anything active but a variety of activities available at the Hotel.

We enjoyed a coach trip to the Dolomites, the cable car to Monte Baldo and a spin in a power boat (hired locally) on Lake Garda.

Any criticism, only three,
(1) the local evening entertainnment involved an appaling singer. He needed more people to buy him drinks.
(2) the Holiday rep. was naff, sorry but she knew little of the resort and the hotel.
(3) The return flight was a complete fiasco. We should have left at 13.00 hours but didn't get away till approximately 20.00 hours. There is lots more to tell but I shall add this to my memoires

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Hotel Drago Assenza - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Newmarket  June 2007

Opinion submitted in July 2007 by : Marlene & John Cheltenham   69 & 72

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Arrived at midnight, meal waiting for us in our room,ate it sat on balcony overlooking the lake until 2am.
We had booked a lake view room which was magic and well worth the supplement.
The hotel itself was excellent with clean rooms,well tended gardens,helpful staff and a lovely position overlooking the lake

Now the downsides
The road between the hotel and the lake was very busy until the early hours, but a small brandy seemed to help one sleep!

Now the food.
Breakfast was fine, plenty of choice of cereals, boiled eggs(d.i.y) and scrambled eggs, fresh fruit etc.
Evening meal.
Two pasta dishes, very good
Main meal oh dear, our first evening the choice was fish fingers, spicey sausages, or something my wife described as bits of meat on bones, and although the menu did improve slightly it was a dissapointment.We wished we had been B&B as there were some lovely little lakeside places to eat.
However forget the evening meal, the area was beautiful we visited Limone by boat from Malcesine Riva,Garda & Bardolino onthe local bus(tickets from hotel reception),all lovely places and well worth a visit.
We took the trip to Verona OAP's take your passport to get a reduction in entry to the arena (3 euros)
Having flown into Venice with a 3 hour transfer time we declined the trip back there as we had been before.

This was a lovely holiday and we would returnto lake Garda but having done the north end we will try the south.

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Hotel Drago Center - Assenza, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Newmarket Air Holidays

Opinion submitted in June 2005 by : June & David Dickson, 60, 63

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We arrived at the hotel a little jaded after flying from a different airport than we had booked & a later flight time than our tickets indicated. 

Once we were on the coach from Verona to Lake Garda, our spirits lifted. The hotel was at the side of the Lake & we had a lake view, breathtaking. The food was excellant with plenty of choice both for breakfast & evening meal both of which were self service. The rooms were cleaned daily & the staff friendly. 

We thorouhgly enjoyed the Venice & Dolomite trip, both of which are a must, but the round the lake trip could have been done better using the many boats which run freqently across the lake to the different resorts, thus enabling you to chose your own resorts & length of time taken there. The hotel was further out than we expected, but there was a decent bus service, though always late, or if you like walking, it took an hour & a half to walk to Malcesine which has many shops & eating places. 

The flight home was twelve hours later than scheduled but we made the most of the long day & here again, the hotel put several rooms at our disposal to freshen up before we left. We will definitely be going back to Lake Garda but not with the same tour company.

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Hotel Du Lac - Bardolino - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - August 2005

Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : D H Speckner - Dudley - West Midlands

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This hotel was booked through Thomson as a late deal - allocation on arrival 4T/Pool
It is located right on the lake separated only by the promenade and has it's own little beach and a rather small 0utdoor/inside pool.

Our room (121) was on the first floor, newly furnished and quite spacious but it was extremely dark with only a small window and the door to the balcony. The balcony overlooked the local Esso garage and their car wash, it was extremely noisy and not what I would have expected from a 4 star hotel.

I tried to change it to a room with a decent view, offering to pay extra direct to the hotel, but was told rather sternly that this would not be possible as the hotel was fully booked and we were 'only' staying for one week. The receptionist was right on the second point, we were only there for one week, but the first statement that the hotel was fully booked did not seem right as it was shown as having vacancies on the tourist office board the next day.
If you like the view of a petrol station, a car wash and a very busy road together with the noise of running engines, car hoovers and blaring car radios then you will enjoy your stay at the Hotel Du Lac in Bardolino. I did not and I will go somewhere else next time.

As for the resort of Bardolino, it is excellent. Extremely lively with loads of restaurants, bars, cafeterias and daily entertainment without being noisy or intrusive and I will definitely go back to Bardolino next year
(AND THE LOCAL WINE 'BARDOLINO' IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDABLE )

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Hotel Du Lac - Malcesine

Operator and Date: Independently booked,July 2005

Opinion submitted in Feb 2006 by : Suzanne -York (41,40,10,7)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We had a wonderful holiday with our children.

The hotel is on the lakeside with beautiful views from the balcony.We stayed in an apartment within the hotel and had breakfast on the hotel patio.The apartment was great but had a very basic kitchen.The breakfast had everything you could want to eat and drink -again with beautiful views of the lake from the patio.The staff were very friendly and helpful.The hotel had a great mix of nationalities.Often the children all played together in the pool or on the shore of the lake in front of the hotel.

The hotel is approximately 1 mile from the town which has loads of restaurants and shops.(Our favourite restaurant was "Al' Albero".)There are other restaurants and a supermarket nearer to the hotel.
We were in a great position to explore other towns around the lake by boat or car and we drove to Venice for the day.We found a beautiful small lake just north of Riva.

We enjoyed ourselves so much that we are going back again this year and various friends are also visiting the hotel.We are looking forward to seeing the upgrades which have been happening in the hotel since last summer.

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Hotel Du Lac - Sirmione, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Inghams - July 2005

Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Martina & James - Surrey (28,33)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We had a fantastic holiday! Everything was superb!
Hotel is family run so you can excpect excellent service and food. Rooms are old fashion but very clean and have everything you need including air con. You get to eat your breakfast on the terrace overlooking the lake - it is just fantastic! Hotel is about 15 min. pleasent walk to the centre of Sirmione. Ferry service on the lake is very good so you can explore.
Hotel hasnt got internet corner neither Sirmione village so if you are workoholic the nearest one is Eurobar in Colombare, about 25 min walk.
Most of the hotel clients are in their 50's German, Dutch, Austrians on self-drive holiday who have been going there for 30 years.
If you want to avoid children go before 9.7. although it didnt bother us.

I would deffinately go back!!!

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Hotel Du Lac - Malcesine

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thompson - June/July 2005

Opinion submitted in Oct 2005 by : Dave & Sue Prescott  Barton under Needwood,Staffs.

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We have recently thoughly enjoyed two weeks at Hotel Du Lac in Malcesine.

Our room was on the forth floor (432) Basic and compact with lake view but no balcony. Good shower and toilet facilities. In need of redecorating, but kept very clean by the maid service. As we had several days of very hot weather, air conditioning would have been welcome. As it was the ceiling fan struggled to keep us cool. The view from our window was superb, and one I try and remember when I look out on to our street here in the Midlands.
 
Breakfast was buffet style with a selection of cereals, yogurts, breads, jams, eggs & meats. This we enjoyed on what must be the best terrace in Malcesine  for its view of Lake Garda.
Service was first class. Good evening meals and very good wine !

Although close to the busy road we enjoyed the pool which was clean and tidy.

The hotel is due for a complete overall with disable lift facilities being one of the improvements. This will take place at the end of this year we were told.
Having been all round Lake Garda on tours I believe Malcesine to be the ideal base for any Holidays spent in this area. This was our first visit to Italy but not our last, I hope.

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Hotel Du Lac - Malcesine

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thompson June 2004

Opinion submitted in June 2004 by : Robert Wylie- Cambiridgeshire-(53,52)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Upon being shown to our room,we were at first a little disappointed The room was small and basic, but nonetheless spotlessly clean, and the view of the lake was excellent. Overall the hotel was in need of an update,(planned for later this year). The hotel terrace was excellent with wonderful views of the lake and mountains. 

Food was overall of a reasonable standard. Despite the basic room and need of an update, most guests were repeat visitors .. why? well firstly the excellent location and views, but equally as important, the friendliness and service offered by the owners and the staff alike. Nothing was too much trouble.This served to promote a very convivial atmosphere. Would we go back?...even without any updates the answer is yes.

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Hotel Du Parc - Sirmione Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Crystal- May 2007

Opinion submitted in June 2007 by : Viv Ward - Lancs (58, 62)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Got a very cheap late deal , despite this being bank holiday week and school half term, so we wondered what sort of accomodation it would be. No need to have worried. Du Parc is a typical Italian Lakes hotel. It is spotlessly clean, the food is a mixture of buffet (breakfast and salad bar for evening meal)and waiter service. The food is good although you have to order your evening meal at breakfast time. It was not the most comprehensive breakfast menu but there was plenty of what they had to keep you going. The staff were very helpful and friendly except for one waiter who kept forgetting to serve us! A bonus for us was the free bottle of wine and water every evening which came as a complete surprise. This is for Cryatal and Thomson cutomers only. 

We also had a free day trip to Verona. We visited Venice , about an hour and a half away and had a great day there , well worth a visit. Sirmione itself is about 20-30 minute walk away but the hotel runs a courtesy bus every hour on week days.Alternatively there is a service bus that costs 1 euro each way if you buy the ticket at the ticket office.On the bus they cost 2 euros. 

Sirmione is a pretty town with an old castle and a ferry terminal to other towns on the lake. There are lots of lovely little shops, cafes and fabulous ice cream parlours. It was quite busy though and we were glad to be staying a little way outside as we prefer the quiet evenings. It was a genuine bargain holiday as we met a couple who had booked early and paid 3 times what we had paid. We really enjoyed the holiday and would recomend both Sirmione and Du Parc hotel.

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Hotel Du Parc - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Palmair - Sept 2006

Opinion submitted in October 2006 by : Beryl Dixon - Bournemouth (63,65)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We could find no fault with this Hotel.  Rooms were clean, decent size bathrooms, well maintained throughout.  Staff were most helpful, couldn't do enough for you.  The food was extremely good with a good choice of menu.  The walk into Sirmione itself is about 40 mins but a pleasant walk and for those who couldn't, there is a courtesy bus.  A really beautiful place, recommend it to anyone, will certainly be going again.  The ice cream is just something else, unbelievable.   Plenty of restaurants in town.

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Hotel Du Parc - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thompson - August 2005

Opinion submitted in Aug 2005 by : Paul Harrington - Enfield

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Below Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Lake Garda is an excellent holiday location as it has a wide variety of activities and destinations to suit most tastes. For children there is Gardaland, an excellent theme park, which caters for all ages and tastes rather than just the 'white knuckle' ride addicts. There are two aquaparks and bicycle hire is available at most hotels in the area. The lake is easy to explore either by bus or boat and each town surrounding the lake has its own unique charm and most are well worth visiting. The touring street market is large with some excellent bargains to be had. Verona is a short bus ride away if you are based in either in Garda, Bardolino, Sirmione or Pescheria. The Dolomites are within reach but are at least 2/3 hours from the Sirmione end of the lake. However, they are worth the effort. There is no need to take any of the excursions offered by the tour operators as with a little effort you can get there under your own steam.

The Hotel Du Parc was extremely disappointing. Although rated at 4 stars, you come away feeling you have been staying at accommodation which would be lucky to fall into a 3 star classification. The rooms are clean and functional although feeling somewhat tired and certainly not luxurious in any way. The pool area has the same feel although unlike some accommodation it is fairly easy to get a sunbed in a decent location. However, the food and general service was sometimes nothing short of disgraceful. Staff were unhelpful and in the case of the restaurant, close to incompetent. The food was often only barely warm, served in a haphazard manner and prepared well below 4 star standard. It is the first time we have been to a 4 star hotel and had 'frozen food' products on the menu!!

Having used this standard of accommodation for a number of years this is the first time we have had cause to be extremely disappointed with our booking. In future we shall be checking more carefully all reviews of our intended accommodation to avoid a recurrence of this years experience.

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Hotel Eden - Torri Del Benaco, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Crystal - July 2007

Opinion submitted in July 2007 by : The Slamin Family, Motherwell (50, 45, 17, 13)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The Hotel:
This is a lovely little B&B which has been recently extensively refurbished (double glazing, decor, furniture and fittings, beds, sun loungers, etc). Excellent views of the lake as the hotel is situated directly across the road.  Very comfortable and very friendly service from the owners.  Nice continental breakfast. Only drawback is that there is no pool but this hotel is an excellent base for exploring the area.

The Resort:
The town has a beautiful harbour area with nice little shops on narrow streets, creating a lovely atmosphere.  Several bars and restaurants along the lake side.  Some areas of stoney beach where you can sun bathe and swim in the lake. In all honesty there's not a lot happening in the evenings, although this may change as the season progresses. We found we had to travel into Garda for some evening entertainment.  However, the buses stop running early and while  we were able to get a local bus to Garda early evening, we had to get a taxi back which was pricey at 18 euros (for a 7 minute journey).  Note: everything seems to wind down at around 11.30pm.
We did a bit of travelling around to local towns, Bardolino, Garda, Malcesine but found the local bus service less than reliable, and we seemed to spend hours just waiting for buses.  The weather can be unpredictable being so close to the mountains and torrential thunder storms can close in very quickly.  However, the scenery in this area is spectacular, especially to the north end of the lake

In conclusion, we had a really great holiday in Torri, it had a lovely friendly atmosphere.  We would not hesitate to visit the area again in the future but would stay in a busier resort next time.  If you're just looking for a quiet, restful break then Torri would be ideal, but we had two teenagers in tow and it was difficult keeping them happy here.

IMPORTANT NOTE: banks and hotels not into taking travellers cheques, better to use your plastic for withdrawing euros from cash machines, there are plenty around so no problems.

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Hotel Eden - Sirmione

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - Sept 2006

Opinion submitted in October 2006 by : Chris Glover - Kent 58,54,52,35,45, 48

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Lake Garda is very beautiful - we did most of the lake via ferry which was right next to our hotel - Sirmione is by far the nicest resort (personal opinion of course!)
Hotel Eden could not be faulted.  Linen and towels changed everyday, service impeccable and friendly. The buffet breakfast was excellent and for a few extra euros they would cook scrambled eggs etc. Am already booking for next year - same hotel.  Just a note, if you can, book any excursions you want with Thomsons at time of booking as they are more expensive if you book with the Rep when you arrive.

Hotel Europa - Malcesene

Operator and Date: Inghams  May/June 2005

Opinion submitted in Oct 2005 by : Viv Ward  Lancashire

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This is a new hotel on the lakeside just 5 minutes walk from the ferry stop. It is a really beautiful situation . The owners are a lovely family who are helpful and friendly even though not all of them speak English. There were a lot of German guests there but that was not a problem. The rooms each had a balcony and were well furnished with a good sized bathroom. However the ground floor rooms were just above the entrance to the car park and not as private as the rooms on the higher floor. The food was excellent and plentiful. We used the ferry to cross the lake and found it very convenient. We went on the trip into the mountains which showed another view of the area. The town itself is fairly compact with a wealth of leather goods shops. (Handbag lovers take note!)We enjoyed the pizza at Carlos'. Wether was fairly hot 27-33 deg. 

We went last week in May but were told the previous week it had been 15 deg.We really enjoyed it and would like to return again.

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Hotel Excelsior Bay - Malcesine, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thompson - June 2006

Opinion submitted in August 2006 by : Arthur & Joyce - Essex  (62-60)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The hotel was lovely, rooms not big, but kept really clean daily.The hotel is literally on the edge of Lake Garda so the view from the hotel looking across the lake is stunning with the backdrop of the mountains.The pool was gorgeous, never crowded although quite a few at the hotel & a lot of German's but there were no towells over the sun loungers which were plentiful.

The staff were all lovely. The meals are all al a carte of an evening & were very good. Breakfast, we usually had 2 eggs with bacon & some toast or you could have cereals & help yourself. The weather was scorching, 30 plus at times, had the odd shower but then cleared, we were there for 10 days which seemed ideal as there was so much to see & do. Our resort of Malcesine (mal-chez-nee) was our favourite above all others we visited, lovely cobbled narrow streets, beautifully clean, no louts, you feel absolutely safe.plenty of cafes & little bars. A trip up to Monte Baldo mountain in the cable car is a must, I filmed the paragliders taking off from the top gliding over Lake Gard, nice restaurant there to have a meal & really reasonable. We were half board but in general having say 2 toasted sandwiches & either tea or alcohol was coming out at about 12 to 18 Euros on average.

We booked 3 trips through the rep which proved not to be hardly any different in price when we saw them locally in town.The lake tour by coach took us to various spots both sides of the lake & was well worth it. We did Venice which was fascinating but very crowded & scorching on the day. We did the Dolomites which to me were a slight letdown but probably was because I didn't get to go in the cable car when we arrived there as they said anyone with a heart condition should not go up, as I have had a heart by pass my wife was a bit concerned so I had to miss that one out. However on the journey there we stopped at couple of beautiful places going & returning back. We did some trips by boat ourself across to Limone which was 7.50 Euros each from Malcesine, this is another lovely place similar to Malcesine. Riva is quite nice, as is Simione, Garda is lovely. 

All in all a fantastic holiday, fantastic destination all around Lake Garda, Italy is so beautiful, definently our favourite european country for holidays, so much history & scenery. Would we recommend it?how could we not, best holiday we have had to date.  

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Hotel Excelsior Bay - Malcesine, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson September 05

Opinion submitted in Oct 2005 by : Jenny and Bob   Sadler Epsom (50's)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We have just returned from ten days in Malcesine on Lake Garda staying at the Hotel Excelsior Bay.  

The location of this hotel is superb and that is one of the reasons why it has 4Star rating. it is right on Lake garda with great views from the terrace area. It is a short stroll into the town along the lakeside. There are no hills to climb so it is very good for those less able.  The hotel rooms are small, like most hotels in Italy.  if you are expecting a hotel of the standard you get in Canaries or Spain, then you could be disappointed. These hotels have been built for many years and have no scope to expand. Don't let this put you off. The hotel public room are lovely and the staff are exceptional. They are all so helpful, speak english and try very hard to make it a special time for guests. The food is really good and the hotel is very clean. Malcesine is a very pretty town with lots of small streets and hidaways places. Loads of restaurants and bars. there is many places to visit and the boats are easy and efficient. the bus service is OK, a bit erratic.  

We had a wonderful time here. Some hotels offer free drinks etc and you don't get this at the Excelsior Bay. Talking to fellow holiday makers we found that these hotels were usually way out of town and up steep hills. Be aware of that when booking.

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Hotel Excelsior Bay - Malcesine, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Crystal  Aug/Sept 2005

Opinion submitted in May 2006 by : Julie & Kev  37,41

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We were very pleased we chose to stay at Hotel Excelsior Bay, great location, food v good although we did sneak out for chicken & chips once as fancied something plainer!! Rooms met expectations, pool was good-plenty of loungers & waiter service. Music on terrace in evening was very civilised, especially after a visit to the hotel my parents were staying at where we were met by kids club doing agadoo! 

The staff at The Execelsior Bay were fantastic-without exception it was always service with a smile. The only gripe was being woken early, bottle bank being emptied 5-6am at cafe next door & hotel cleaners started around 7am, our room was near the lift. don't let this put you off, just take ear plugs!       

We found Malcesine a great resort to stay in , We were recommended to by a friend who has visited Lake Garda 3 times, a good mix of resturants (Re Lear was fantastic) & bars. Went up Monte Baldo in the cable car-has to be done but only on a clear day.Wonderful views from the castle. Friends hired a speed boat and had a great time.   Visited other towns, Riva- classy resort & best pizza ever, Limone-pretty & quaint, Sirmione-couple of hours on boat but worth a look at, Verona-made a mistake and booked ourselves at local agents, we were 2 of 4 english people on trip so most of commentry was in German, so we bought a guide book went off on our own,lovely city well worth a visit. Buy your duty free before you get to the airport as there isn't any! 

Lake Garda- something for everyone over 30  

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Hotel Excelsior De Terraze - Garda

Operator and Date: Thomson June 2007

Opinion submitted in June 2007 by : Mr & Mrs C 42,34

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Hotel itself very nice, staff friendly, and good views, clean and tidy although bedrooms quite dated.

We booked our one week stay on a half board basis.  The Breakfasts are very basic, with not much choice, and certainly not much can be said for the evening meals which can only be described as basic and definately not 3 star hotel quality, ok if you like sprouts with fish!

We went out 4 nights out of 7 for our evening meals to various restaurants in Garda all which were far better than the hotel food. 

Would not go back to this hotel but would certainly go back to Garda sometime.

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Feeling Hotel Luise - Riva

Operator and Date: Inghams June 2006

Opinion submitted in July 2006 by : Carolyn Gerrish- Paignton (66,62)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Hotel was brilliant spotlessly clean having clean towels every day and beds changed at least twice a week.
Food was excellant buffet style which suited us and plenty of choice with four courses if you wanted.All the staff we found very friendly and they always had a smile.
Plenty to do in result which is very pretty lots of sightseeing also,Venice Verona,Milan,Dolomites and lots lots more.
Would reccommend the water taxes to get about and a super trip only half an hour away on the ferry is to Malcesine, when you get there take the cable car the view is unbelievable.

We travelled with Inghams it was our first time with them and I must say they are first class,and as regards there rep in result Lorna she is a credit to the company in all my years of travelling abroad I have never come across a rep like her no words can explain how brilliant she is and how enjoyable she made our holiday.

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Hotel Firenze - nr Malcesine

Operator and Date: newmarket september 2004

Opinion submitted in Oct 2004 by : peter brenda norman sylvia [58,56,54,57

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

after searching for information on the hotel firenze and unable to find much i decided to write this review.the flight from b,mouth was very good as was the transfer.on reaching the hotel we were told to choose our evening meal before we could have our room.the hotel and rooms were very nice and clean .the position of the hotel is a bit remote and the food a bit basic.we did find a ristorante next door which was very nice.

transport into malcesine was by bus or once a day by boat.taxis were very hard to find.malcesine is a exellent place as is the other resorts of limone and riva.they all have plenty of shops and eating and drinking places.we did the trip to the dolomites which was spectacular and went on the cable cars.in the hotel there was no safes in rooms and the bill for the week had to be paid in cash as credit cards were not accepted.all in all lake garda is a lovely place but would stop in the resort centre next time

Hotel Florida - Limone

Operator and Date: (Thomas Cook Direct) Thomas Cook - June 2005

Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Phil Chapple 58   Sheila Chapple 64

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Hotel Florida is situated on a hillside and as such may be less suitable for those with mobility problems.  We enjoyed our stay here for many reasons. The hotel location gave excellent views of the lake,
the staff were friendly and gave superb service, the rooms were cleaned to a very good standard and the whole place had a relaxed atmosphere.  

We stayed on a Bed & Breakfast basis to allow choice and examine the restaurants in the town but fellow guests reported the half board arrangement gave a good choice and good quality food.  We could not complain about the buffet style breakfast which gave pleanty of options and, again the staff were "on the ball" and helpful.  A useful system allowed you to make up a roll for lunch and pay just one euro for the privilege.  The swimming pool looked well looked after and the bar and terrace were nice places to relax with prices that didn't break the bank.  For us, this was a late booking and we were not disappointed.

Limone is a lovely resort, the beach bar "Gimmy" is worth a visit and we enjoyed eating at Restaurant Azzure.  Take the boat to Torbole and there is a beautiful walk (about 90 minutes) to Riva.  We have only scratched the surface - we must return.  There is so much to do and see but unfortunately the heat prevented us from taking the excursions to Venice and Verona.  It is sad to end on a down note but Verona airport is poor to say the least.

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Hotel Garden - Garda, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: First choice - June 2006

Opinion submitted in August 2006 by : Julie Glyn-Jones (35, 40)

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The Hotel Garden is a really lovely family run hotel. The pool side area is bautiful as it ocerlooks the lake and is shaded by trees. The hotel restaurant serves up tradional; Italian food and the service is excellent. This is a good hotel to come to if you just want to unwind and relax for a week. There are plently of good restauarants near-by if you want to a change of scene.

Garda is nice small town to stroll round and you can take the ferry to discover the other resorts around the lake.

Venice, Verona and Milan are not very far away, we visited the opera one evening.

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Hotel Garden - Garda, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Independent - May 2006

Opinion submitted in May 2006 by : Charles & Gillian Hoyland (52, 50)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The Garden is a small (36 bedroom) family-run hotel in a superb location 150 metres from the lake. Our room enjoyed views over the excellent pool area to the lake. The service here is of the highest standard, personally overseen by the family who have owned the hotel since it was converted from a country house after the second world war. The food is excellent; evening meals consisting of a buffet style saled bar, then waiter service of three courses which varied from pasta, to meats and local fish dishes and ended with a choice of mouth-watering desserts.
The clientele were very friendly, mainly couples, not many children ( a bonus!), and the atmosphere was very relaxed throughout.

We have travelled extensively, and have not been made as welcome anywhere as we were here. It is a little gem of a hotel, the best we have stayed in, and we would recommend it to anyone planning a trip to Lake Garda

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Hotel Gardesana - Malcesine

Operator and Date: Italian Getaways October 2005

Opinion submitted in Dec 2005 by : Julie Myler Cheshire (42, 68 )

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

In my opinion Malcesine is the prettiest resort on the lake, we took the ferry around the lake to visit all the villages (about 12.50 euros) Mount Baldo is a must especially on a clear day. When we went up though the cable car was full of schoolkids (holds about 40 passengers) I would advise waiting for the next car(specially if you're nervous) as kids sceaming everytime you go over a bump is very uneasy!

The Hotel Gardesana is a lovely family run hotel right in the main road(not busy though) It is only a few minutes walk to the harbour, the whol town can be seen in about 1/2 an hour and very accessable, some people we spoke to were staying just outside and they thought the walk into town very hazardous as ther wre no pavements.
Our room was very small as was the bathroom but very clean (cleaners came every day)Luckily my mum and I are quite slim, any one on the larger side may have a tight squeeze, specially in the shower which was quite funny,as the shower curtain clings to every thing and does not want to leave go.

the food was excellent and we found it cheaper to eat in our hotel (we were B+B)Breakfast was continental but the full english was delicious (6euros) we would definately go back to the Gardesana and Malcesine our only complaint was that after 9pm the town was deserted, I don't know were everybody goes because daytimes it's bustling, maybe because it was October when we were there(pack a few warm clothes as weather very changable in Autumn.

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Hotel Gardesana - Malcesine

Operator and Date: Italian Getaways - May 2005

Opinion submitted in June 2005 by : John, Julia, Joy and Doug - , North :Lincs (55 -63)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The Hotel Gardesana was spotlessly clean but its position on the main road made the front rooms very noisy.  Extra was paid for a balcony, but some of these overlooked the main road and were very small - about the width and depth of two patio chairs with room for a tiny table between.

The "continental breakfast" consisted of two small bread rolls per person with butter and jam, tea and coffee.  Anything else had to be paid for as extra, including fruit juice.  However the full English breakfast at 6 euros was worth every penny.  The hotel provided a limited menu for the evening meal, but again the food was of good quality and nicely presented.

Malcesine is a beautiful resort - I would recommend a visit to the castle, and watch out for events at the castle open air theatre.  Access to other resorts via the ferry is easy - I would avoid the private lake trips as the ferry service is regular and efficient and much cheaper.  A trip on the cable car up to Monte Baldo is a must at 15 euros return - or if you are feeling energetic you can go one way and walk down.

Overall we had a super holiday - but one word of warning if you are travelling with Italian Getaways.  We chose to fly from Birmingham, but were not told in any of the literature from the company that the plane would be dropping down in Bristol to pick up extra passengers.  This meant that the two and a half hour flight kept us in the plane for three and a half hours, with two take-offs and two landings - not pleasant for anyone who is uneasy flying - with the same procedure on the return journey.

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Hotel Giardinetto - Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomas Cook Direct) Thomas Cook - May 2006

Opinion submitted in May 2006 by : Louise Cox - Cleveland (26, 43, 44, 45)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We have just returned from Lake Garda in Italy where we have had a fantastic time.
We stayed in the town of Garda which was a lovely resort. There were plenty of bars and restaurants and also some lovely shops.
It is one of the quieter towns around the lake but it is a fantastic location for exploring other towns.
The food in the area is excellent and we never experienced a bad meal. Our favourite
restaurants were the pizzeria ferrari which served the best pizzas and starters in Garda. The staff were very friendly and the service was excellent, strongly recommend. It is situated over the road from the bus station. We also enjoyed La Vela restaurant on the lake front.

Our hotel was right on the lake front so you had lovely views at breakfast time. There was also a seafood restaurant under our hotel. The rooms were spotlessly clean and we had fresh towells every day. The maids were very friendly. We did experince a bit of noise on an evening with the hotel being right on the front and the rooms were a little old fashioned,however very comfortable. Breakfasts at the hotel were ok but you had to get up early as they were not so good on replenishing and there was a problem with small birds flying in and helping themselves!! The location was also excellent.

We took a couple of excursions whilst there and they were very good. We did a wine tour, a tour into the Dolomites and a Venice day trip. We had a good time on all three. Our rep was also very good and informative.

All in all this was a brilliant holiday. There is so much to see and do in the area.
We would definately go back there.

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Hotel Giardinetto - Garda

Operator and Date: Crystal-May 2005

Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : Alan & Jean - Leeds (52, 50)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Garda is quite small but has several good shops and bars.
The other lakeside towns are worth a look, and Verona is certainly worth visiting, there are buses from Garda bus station.
The Hotel is on the edge of lake, great position for the town centre and water buses.
Our room was tiny (not small - tiny), but good natured maids kept everything spotlessly clean. Try to avoid room 7, this is at the top of the stairs above the kitchen, and was noisy first and last thing.
On half board evening meals are in the hotel's speciality fish restaurant and you eat a la carte for no extra charge. The food is excellent (not good - excellent) if you like fish. We do, and enjoyed every meal (the seafood risotto is to die for)!

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Grand Hotel Riva - Riva

Operator and Date: Newmarket - July 2005

Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : John  - Durham (60,57)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This was our first trip to Lake Garda and we were very impressed with the scenery and Riva. We booked a room with a lake view. It was well worth it. The view when we opened the curtains on the first morning was breathtaking and unforgettable.  Getting around the lake by ferry is a great way to travel - if you take one of the larger car ferries you can relax on the sun deck. The fares are very reasonable.  Limone and Malcesine are easily accessible by boat and a good way to spend half a day. We found Riva to be an excellent base - picturesque and with all the facilities you would need.  The only downside is that, being on the western side of the lake, the sun sets earlier.

The Grand Hotel is well located in the square opposite the castle and is imposing from the outside.  However, it held some disappointments.  The room was small and in need of refurbishment. The "bathroom" was one of the smallest we have been in - no bath and only a tiny shower. If you drop the soap there is no chance of being able to bend down to pick it up!  The breakfast was adequate but only a cold buffet with limited choice.  The choice of evening meal had to be made at breakfast and was waiter served. The anti-pasta was a buffet selection and quite nice but the other courses were only average and not generous. The compensation was a stunning view of the lake if you were lucky to be allocated a window table.

The worst aspect of the holiday was the way it was managed (or not managed) by Newmarket holidays.  The flight timings were changed twice just before departure (from a good daytime flight to a nightime one). The resort representative was extremely elusive, uninformative and unhelpful. The return flights were postponed until the night time and there was a last minute change of carrier.  We tried to arrange a courtesy room with Newmarket for the last day, as we had to vacate our rooms at 10am and wait until late evening for the airport pick up, but they turned out to be singularly unhelpful in spite of earlier promises. At the resort, the representative was unwilling to help and seemed unable to communicate with Newmarket headquarters. In desperation our friends telephoned Newmarket in England in an attempt to secure a courtesy room for the passengers on the delayed flight but were unsuccessful. In the end, it was left to us to negotiate a room with the hotel manager, who appeared exasperated with the way the tour operator had handled the situation.

In conclusion, we would not hesitate to return to Lake Garda - but with a different tour operator.

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Hotel Ilma Limone Sul Garda

Operator and Date: Thomson - August 2007

Opinion submitted in August 2007 by : Newcastle family (49,48,13)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Stayed for 1 week.

Resort - Limone is a pretty resort on the lakeside. However most of the resort is perched on the side of a fairly steep hill so this should be a consideration for anyone who may have mobility problems. It is quite picturesque and has a lovely atmosphere. There are narrow winding streets which are really only accessible by moped so sometimes you have to get out of the way (well this is Italy!). There is a landing so boats stop to take you across the lake. There are a selection of bars/restaurants. We went to Pasticeria Gian Martin which had a good mix of nationalities including locals in the evening. "Mine host" was welcoming and made every effort to talk to us. Prices were reasonable - 2.50 euros for a quarter carafe of white wine, 3 euros for a large beer, soft drinks just over 2 euros.

Hotel
The hotel is on a hillside above the centre of Limone. It is around 10 minutes stroll to the ferry point at the lakeside.
We arrived late at night but were accompanied to the room and everything was explained to us. A complimentary bottle of sparkling wine and complimentary bottle of sparkling water were in the room. The room was large, very clean and comfortable. Maid service was good and prompt each day.

Food was excellent (and I am very fussy). Breakfasts and evening meals were both buffet style, Breakfast was the usual wide range of cold continental items (breads, jams, cheese, cereals etc.) plus a range of hot items. There was also free tea or coffee (from a machine) and biscuits between 4pm and 5pm every day. Dinner was very good - there was a wide choice . Every night there was traditonal antipasti and international salads, a choice of 2 soups, at least 2 starters including choice of pasta or risotto, and 3 main courses usually a choice of meat, poultry and fish dishes. Desserts included ice cream, profiteroles, gateau and tiramisu.

Whilst the owners spoke only very limited English, other staff conversed with us and  were friendly and helpful, particularly Simone the barman.

The pool area is pleasant and we were able to get beds each day without problem. The pool grill bar had a range of foods available which were nice e.g toasted sandwiches and bruschetta (about 3 euros) and more substantial dishes such as salads or pasta(between 5 and 6 euros). You were only able to charge items to your room bill at the pool bar but this posed no problems for us. You could either pay cash or charge drinks to your room at the main bar.
There were mainly German guests staying in the hotel which did not bother us but it is clearly geared up to handle them. Saying that, we would certainly stay again.

Trips - we did the day trips to Venice and Verona.
Venice: It takes around 3 and a half hours including comfort break to reach Venice which is an experience not to be missed. It was 41 degrees C when we were there and wall to wall tourists. There was an optional gondola ride (16 euros each) and a Lagoon boat trip (12 euros each). You could do both if wanted but we only took the hour boat trip around the lagoon which was absolutely brilliant. The day flew by and we left at 5pm. No comfort stop on the coach ride back meant that we were in the hotel just after 7.30 in time for dinner.

Verona: It takes around one and a half hours (no comfort stop either way) to reach this lovely city. We had a guided tour around the sights before being dropped off and met by a city guide who gave us a half hour guided walk including the house of the Capulets and the famous balcony. There was ample time after this to walk aroung sightseeing or shopping as well as getting lunch before being picke dup by th ecoach at 3.45.

The only downside was flying through Verona (Catullo) Airport. We had all boarded the plane to fly out when we were told that flight control in Verona were only letting 8 planes an hour land. This resulted in a 55 minute delay but the ThomsonFly cabin crew dealt with this efficiently. When we landed we had to sit on the plane for a good 20 minutes with the doors shut waiting for buses to take us to the terminal. Whilst waiting for baggage reclaim, experienced my first ever queue to use a toilet, a problem that us gents do not usually have to suffer. On return we had to go into a small building housing 3 check-ins. 

Once this was done(which was quite efficient) we had to leave this and go next door to the main departure terminal. I can only describe this as a melee, people queuing everywhere, there are even check ins in the middle of the cafe area on the upper floor. There were not sufficient seats and it was both hot and claustrophobic. Joining the long queue to go through security we reached the departure lounge which again could not cope with the volume of travellers.The duty free shop was narrow and it was very much a case of don't try and go back the way you came. The final straw was when they called the flight and then had to wait a good 15 minutes before the buses came to take us to the plane.

However I don't want to end on a negative perception - I would go back to Lake Garda and the Hotel Ilma without hesitation.

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Hotel Internazionale - Malcesine

Operator and Date: Inghams Aug 2004

Opinion submitted in Sept 2004 by : G M Phillips - Port Talbot (64, 60)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Small hotel.  Air conditioning does not operate when leave room - boiling when get back.  As set to 18 degrees takes ages to cool down.  Not much point in it really.  Also switches off at night so room becomes stuffy.  Can't open patio doors or it turns off.

Very cramped room and shower tiny.  Don't book this hotel if over 15 stone or won't get in it.  Nowhere to sit in room, although beds comfortable.  Nothing worth bothering with on TV - usual BBC World and CNN.

Patio small and furniture uncomfortable wire mesh.  Take along a blow up cushion.

Hotel is up a steep rocky lane.  Don't book if you have mobility difficulties.  It is a walk of about 10 minutes to outskirts of Malcesine.  You can go along lake but this is long way round.  Shorter way is along main road but no pavements so don't take children to this hotel.

Jacuzzi in hotel is nice and under used so you will have it to yourself - likewise fitness room.

Food is good but not plentiful.  Little choice available and you have to book at breakfast time.  Tablecloths and serviettes are only changed half way through your stay even if dirty.  Also bed linen is not changed.

Entertainment is limited in Malcesine but if you can tolerate a hike along the steep cobbled streets and alleyways you will find some middle of the road type singing going on by the port three times a week.  We found that concerts in the castle are free and the setting is fantastic but these are not well advertised. 

To get egg and chips and English breakfast etc. go to Peach bar opposite the Hotel Dolomiti on the main road through Malcesine.  The waitress is so friendly! 

Don't bother to go to Limone on the boat - it's a dump!

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Hotel La Fiora-  Peschera, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: independant

Opinion submitted in August 2006 by : Margaret Graves, Yorkshire.

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

I wan the only English person in this hotel but the staff spoke english. If you are looking for fantastic Italian food this is the place for you, the food is wonderful. I was half board, but there is an option of b&b or half board, lunch is not served, but, many coach tour companies come here for lunch because the food is fantastic, the 1 domwside was the breakfast coffee was a little strong, but this apart this hotel is 3 star, but is worthy os 5 star concening food....mmmm..

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Hotel La Limonaia - Limone, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Inghams - July 2004

Opinion submitted in Aug 2004 by : Sarah Lucas - Birmingham (47,58)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The hotel is very comfortable and food excellent. Buffet for breakfast and an excellent 4 course evening meal - a buffet of excellent starters, choice of well cooked pasta dishes followed by a choice of meat or fish course and pudding which always included lots of fruit. Staff very charming and helpful especially Vilma the managers mum who was the most hardworking woman I've met for a long time.

There is a small supermarket which sells water, papers etc. The walk down to Limone is steep but there is an excellent hourly bus service to bring you back again.

Limone is a lovely village with everything you need.Ferries run to all the other villages at the top end of the lake and you can spend a very pleasant couple of days visitng each one and discovering how individual each one is.
We took 5 trips- the southern lake trip to see the wider flatter end of the lake- lovely, Verona- disappointing because of all the traffic,Belzano to see the Iceman- an absolute must, wonderful day on the mountains then to Belzano a super town with a superb museum, Verona again to see the opera- Wow! an incredibly long evening-take a cushion and plenty of water, but an amazing experience, and last but not least a day in Mantova a 14th century gem of a town where we had a super meal.

Our Inghams rep -Heather was helpful, knowledgable and very supportive. Our suitcase was lost somewhere on the outward journey( it eventually turned up 2 days later) and she kept us informed every step of the way. I don't know who was more pleased to see it her or us.

A very good relaxing holiday.

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Hotel La Perla - Garda

Operator and Date: Thompson - July 2007

Opinion submitted in July 2007 by : Russ & Lynn - Stockport (48-44)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We have just returned from a two week holiday staying at the 3* Hotel La Perla in the resort of Garda.Having read previous negative reviews on this hotel,we were a little worried as to the quality of the accomodation and meals.We have had the most wonderful and relaxing holiday in a comfortable and friendly hotel,and were not a bit dissapointed with any of the meals served to us for the whole fortnight.I really cannot understand why previous reviews have shown this hotel to be not up to scratch,as we found it very comfortable and clean.

The only slight worry was the price of drinks at the hotel,but this problem is mirrored at most hotels.Within a two minute walk of the hotel,there are many Lakeside cafes and bars where a half bottle of the excellant local wine (Bardolino) will cost you 4 Euros.

All said this wonderful resort will leave you wanting to return very soon,and we wouldn't hesitate in returning to the Hotel La Perla.

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Hotel La Perla - Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson Direct - Oct 2006

Opinion submitted in October 2006 by : Chris  Williams 48 - Valerie 48

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Just come back from a 7-day holiday in Garda.  What a beautiful place to visit, very picturesque. We chose Garda because we wanted to visit Venice and Verona and possibly Florence.  We stayed in Hotel La Perla, a 3-star hotel (more like 2 star we felt).  This hotel could be so much better, it needs refurbishment as it looks very dated. Although very clean the rooms need new furnishings as they were pretty dull and not very welcoming.  The swimming pool was very nice though but I believe it is fairly new.  The dining experience was less than satisfactory really.  We had no fresh vegetables all week, with a note at the end of the menu card saying that some foods may be deep frozen!  The pasta dishes were OK but all in all the menu and food need completely reorganising. Other than this, we went on three trips, Venice, the Dolomites and the Lake Tour.  

Venice, we found a bit of a disappointment.  Loved the Gondola ride but St Mark's Sq needs a clean up and it was extremely busy and all in all am glad we only went for one day. 

The Dolomites shows a completely different side of Italy with spectacular views.  We went on the cable car to the top of a mountain but it was covered in cloud and we didnt see anything (we were a bit cross as we felt the rep would have known this but she took our money anyway!).  The Lake Tour was lovely, involving a coach and ferry ride, and you get a lovely idea of the size of the lake and the other towns and they are all different in their own way. We particularly liked Limone and Sirmione. Garda itself is lovely and having seen the other towns we are glad we stayed there.  In the evenings there is a lovely walk along the promenade, with restaurants, bars, pizzerias and shops and entertainment from singers at a couple of places (the ducks on the lake join in too). You can also walk into Bordelino (about 3 miles) which is a lovely shady walk alongside the lake. We had lunch in various places and all the food was very good. Another lovely place to visit is Lasize, the other side of Bordelino, which was absolutely lovely with a little harbour and beautifully painted buildings. You can walk to either of these places or take the ferry.  

All in all a lovely relaxing break, (wine is extremely cheap)and I would like to think we will go back one day.

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Hotel La Perla - Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson August 2006

Opinion submitted in November 2006 by : Helen & Chris, Yorkshire 30,36

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Below Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We booked a holiday in Lake Garda, staaying in Garda itself for a week on a half board basis. We were very disappointed with the hotel. The rooms are very very tired, dark and uninviting. our room was at the back of the hotel on the second florr above the kitchens and overlooking a car park. The noise from the kitchens of clattering poots and pans was hardly relaxing. Sitting on the balcony was not an option with the noise and poor view.

The breakfast was self-service buffet. This was not bad with a variety of food..including pudding from the previous night!!!

The eveing meal was not our type at all. We had to share a table with an unknown couple (hardly the romantic of evenings!). The large dining hall is just that..it reminded me of a school canteen. Brightly lit, noisy and little atmosphere. Salad was self service and the rest was served to you by waitors who were so rushed off their feet they almost threw the food onto your plate. You had to order your food at breakfast.If you like eating at your leisure then this is not the place to eat!!!

The pool is the only good thing about the hotel and the fact that it is close to the bus station for getting around.

Sightseeing around the lake is great. there are some very nice resorts which are well worth a visit.

Will we return?? Maybe to Garda at some point but NOT to Hotel La Parla.

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Hotel Leonardo Da Vinci - Limone

Operator and Date: Eclipse - 2007

Opinion submitted in August 2007 by : Daz & Eileen

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion:

We booked a superior room & were not disappointed, on arrival we walked onto the balcony, the views across the swimming pool over the lake with Monto  Boldo in the background, fantastic. 

Okay, so the Hotel has a slightly dated feel,  but this merely added to it's charm in any case the room was very clean & comfortable. We were on an all inclusive holiday, now this as many will know, can have plus & minus points, but overall we were very satisfied. 

Remember, the main cliental in this location hail from Germany,  so the food on offer is aimed squarely at a Germanic palate. The drinks were all self service (yes even the beer, wine & spirits), but I didn't notice anyone making a complete glutton of themselves ( unlike,  the last time at an all inclusive hotel). The cooked breakfast was rather sub standard but the rest of the food on offer was decent enough   & the red wine on tap went down very well with the evening meal. My biggest gripe about this hotel was when the staff decided your time was up, ( for,  example sunbathing by the pool at 5.30 pm or drinking outside on an evening at 11.30 pm) you would be hassled into departing. The guy who ran the pool area would get out his trusty hose pipe drag it across & into the pool, then hose down everything within the pool area & I mean everything  .Hold on tightly to your drink & chair after about 11.00 pm,  otherwise either will disappear in a flash, as the waitress suddenly becomes super efficient after this time.

If you want scenic, then Limone is the resort for you, if you want a nice sandy beach forget it, but most holiday makers were aware that the nice little lakeside beach did consist of rock & local road chippings. We just took a couple of boat trips on the lake as we did not fancy spending long hours inside a coach & would highly recommend the full lake trip, stopping for a couple of  hours at Sirmione & Garda,  at about 33 euros pp booking locally from Limone.  If anyone is really keen to visit Verona & Venice, I would advise staying at the south end of the lake, this will dramatically reduce your travelling time.
PS. You have more chance of learning some German language than Italian, in this area. 

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Hotel Leonardo Da Vinci - Limone

Operator and Date: Inghams - July/August 2005

Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : Trev and Sue

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We stayed in the Hotel Leonardo da Vinci in Limone. In many respects this was a very good hotel with good facilities and excellent food. However, Security is an issue. We had money and possessions stolen from our locked room. The Hotel of course used the 'should have used the safety deposit box' excuse, but it is not practical to put all your money and possessions in a deposit box! The cash was inside a wallet, inside a bum bag, inside a piece of hand luggage inside a wardrobe - so this was hardly an 'opportunist' theft. We secured the room when we left, so only hotel staff had access, and even if they were not directly responsible for the theft, they were at least culpable for not securing the room properly after servicing. Future guests be warned!

It was a great shame, because apart from this issue, we enjoyed our holiday. Limone is a lovely little resort - very picturesque, with some lovely shops and restaurants. The views over the lake are beautiful (although sometimes a bit hazy while we were there), and the ferry boats make it easy to visit other resorts - Malcesine and Riva were also great places to visit.
Finally, we were lucky enough to have a couple of thunderstorms, fortunately both at night, and with lightning over the mountains and reflecting back off the lake they were spectacular!

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Hotel Leonardo Da Vinci - Limone

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - June 2005

Opinion submitted in June 2005 by : F (55)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The Leonardo Da Vinci at Limone is an excellent hotel.  

The staff were so friendly and helpful to everyone.  The free wine, coffee and cold drinks during the day saved us lots of money.  We were on HB at the hotel.  We ate a good breakfast in the morning - came back for free coffee and cake at 4 p.m. and ate in the restaurant in the evening.  Paid under £400 so thought the hotel and Limone were excellent value.  Lots of entertainment at the hotel - full programme of "active" things to do i.e. aqua aerobics and archery.  

The excursions to Florence, Venice, Dolomites were quite long days.  i.e. leave hotel at 7 a.m. and not arrive back until 11 p.m. at night.  Or Venice by Night trip - leave hotel at 10 a.m. and not arrive back until 2 a.m.  Been to Venice and Florence before so decided to just take the local ferry to Malcesine, Riva and Tolbole.  A lovely walk from Tolbole to Riva along the lake (took about 45 mins).  This holiday could be as active or as lazy as you want it to be.  A walk through the Olive Groves into Limone was a delight.  PS It rained for two days of our holiday and was cloudy for another two but it didn't spoil our holiday at this lovely place. 

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Hotel Leonardo Da Vinci - Limone

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - 2005

Opinion submitted in Aug 2005 by : Jo & Chris - Kent (27, 29)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

I cannot recommend the Lakes and Limone high enough, me and my partner had the perfect holiday! Limone itself is absolutely beautiful, made up of lots of cobbled streets surrounded by lemon groves.  I highly recommend you try the ice creams around the ferry point!

The Hotel Leonardo Da Vinci was very nice and highly recommendable, we were extremely lucky as we paid for a superior room, however upon arrival we were upgraded to a room in the Lucia Villas which are located on the lake front on the private beach!!!!  The hotel is pretty dated as with most hotels in Italy, however it is extremely clean and well maintained. Breakfasts were ok, however dinner more than made up, the choice and standard of food was excellent, you must try the pastas, simple but beautiful!

We were there for 10 nights, we spent a few days relaxing on the private beach which was just lovely.  Malcesnie Saturday market is well worth a visit on from 8.00am until 12.30pm and a walk around the town is a must as it is also lovely, Riva is nice but a little bigger than Limone and Malcesnie so not as magical.  If you are thinking of doing any excursions I would highly recommend the Dolomites, was a long day but well worth the views!

The hotel was a good 20 mins walk into which was fine for us as we like a walk after dinner, however be warned we did not see many taxis so don't think about walking in and catching a taxi back!  Lovely walk though through the olive groves and winding streets!

Fantastic Holiday - You will love it!

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Hotel Leonardo Da Vinci - Limone

Operator and Date: (First Choice Discounts) First Choice - September 2004

Opinion submitted in Oct 2004 by : David & Carol - Colchester (50,47)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

A one and a half hour flight from Gatwick to Verona went very quickly.  Arrived at the hotel at 2300 hrs, restaurant closed but cold plated food left in our room. Most rooms appear to have a lake view or partial view but we paid the supplement and had a panoramic view of the lake and mountains behind - breathtaking!  

Breakfast was continental but plentiful.  Dinner was something else!  Up to 5 courses each night and the food was excellent - never had a bad meal in seven days.  Waiter service available if booked 24 hrs in advance (worth trying at least once)otherwise self-service.  Wine reasonably priced and good quality.  Although on half board, there is free tea, coffee and red and white wine on tap all day to 1800 hrs and believe me, some took advantage!  Also free coffee and cakes at from 1600-1700 hrs each day.  In the evening entertainment was provided (singers, dancers etc) which was worth staying to watch before sauntering into Limone for a coffee and brandy nightcap.  Lots of Germans in the hotel which is always a good sign of quality!

Took a trip around the lake (all day) which was very interesting and included a ferry ride but mainly taken round in a coach.  Also went on a half day mystery tour up in the mountains which was very enjoyable and culminated in lunch with copious amounts of wine!

Limone about a 15 minute walk from the hotel but not an arduous walk - through olive groves which is very pleasant and afforded shade on hot days.  Limone harbour very picturesque with plenty of bars and shops (leather goods a speciality).  Took a motor boat to Malcesine across the lake and was very impressed with the architecture and cleanliness of the place; worth a visit.

What was a pleasant change was there were no timeshare sellers or restaurant owners trying to coax you into their premises.  Excellent pizzas from Al Pirata (on the hill towards Limone Harbour).  Went mid September and most days weather was hot but with two days rain or overcast but did not mind as more walking was undertaken on those days.  

Recommended for couples who want a quiet, laid-back holiday - Loved it and intend to try Sorrento next year.

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Hotel Leonardo Da Vinci - Limone

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson  August 2004

Opinion submitted in Sept 2004 by : D 35 ,T 33,J7 AND A4

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Limone is tuly beautiful.The dramatic mountains made the north of the lake a must for us.

The hotel was ok. It looks exactly as in the brochure so do not expect anyhing to modern. The rooms were clean but some very outdated. Be careful to request a quiet room,not one above the reception as this is where the band play.
The food was excellent. There was an excellent and varied choice. There is no air conditioning in the restraunt so in Aug it became rather hot.

It was a great base to explore the rest of the lake(the boats are not cheap)You could spend all your holiday exploring or divide your time between relaxing on the lake and travelling.

The hotel kids club was great. Our boys ages 7 and 4 really loved going and we enjoyed the peace.
Although the hotel is not modern it was a good base(the mini bus was only one euro into town and in the heat it was too far to walk) Great for families but not so sure if suitablr for couples.

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Hotel Le Palme - Limone - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Crystal - May 2007

Opinion submitted in June 2007 by : Mr and Mrs Gatland - Bromley, London (54, 48)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This is a little hotel with a bit of character.It is in the hustle and bustle of Limone but at the same time its on the lake front next to the ferry point that is noisy at times especially if you have a lake view room.When you arrive ,from the coach you are picked up by an electric van that drives you through the cobbled  streets to le palme.The manager Rosanne very efficiant.Rooms are small,very clean but only six rooms have balconiesso if you want one tell your agent.The swimming pool is at another hotel a few minutes walk away and its small.

If you love food and eating this is not the hotel to visit because ive seen bigger portions on nursery childrens plates but its nice to have the free soft drinks,wine and beer with your meal,the buffet breakfast was ok but not the best ive seen in a four star hotel. If you need to chill in between excursions there is a small sun terrace on the first floor.We went on lots of trips.Macclesine and mount baldo are a must and so are Venice,the Dolomites and Riva.The guides on the excursions were the best weve ever had on a holiday but sadly i didnt rate the reps because they really didnt seem to care if you went or not and for the fact that our welcome talk wasnt at our hotel,it was ten to fifteen minutes walk away,and for the fact it doesnt exactly make you feel like a valued customer when you have two twenty odd year olds one in plastic flip flops and one who had a face as long as a kite trying to get you to part with 58 euros each for these wonderful places to visit,I could have done better myself.

We think Limone and Macclesine are definately the best towns to stay around lake garda.The two little coffee bars nearest to Le Palme were the best.Cigarettes are not as cheap as Spain the canaries greece etc perfume is the same price as england.Dont make the mistake of waiting to buy your duty frees in Verona airport as it must be the worst airport ive been to for these.Overall 9/10 resort,7/10 hotel,Dolomite excursion 10/10,Venice 9/10,hotel staff 9/10 .

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Hotel Le Palme - Limone - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - August 2005

Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : Kidd - Dundee

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The resort of Limone is one of the most picturesque towns we have stayed in, it is also very clean with virtually no litter. Hotel Le Palme is situated on the waters edge and has a lovely view from the restaurant of the lake and across to Malcesine. The hotel was very clean and the staff very friendly and helpful especially with suggestions of local trips. The initial room allocated was very small and dark, we were however moved after 3 days to a room almost twice the size. The food was rather disappointing especially in the first week when the veg was quite obviously tinned, it did improve the second week. 

Overall we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Limone and would recommend the trip to the Dolomites as a must.

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Hotel Le Palme - Limone - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Chrystal - May 2004

Opinion submitted in Jan 2005 by : Mel Fisher - Derby (50,49)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

What a fantastic resort and hotel - we loved it!

Limone is the best resort we have visited on the lake. Lovely cobbled streets, excellent shops, restaurants and bars, a great promenade - everything we could have asked for.

Having loved Gardone Riviera in 2003 (the Hotel Du Lac), this was even better, and made all the more so by a superb hotel. Not the biggest, not loads of facilities - but if you want a quality hotel, superb rooms, great food and some of the nicest staff in any hotel we've ever stayed in, then this is for you. And its position was superb - right by the ferry point and our room looked straight out over the lake.

The weather could be a bit changeable (with some rain) but when it was sunny it was hot!

The only slight criticism is that as Limone is at the northern end of Lake Garda the ferries to places like Bardolino, Desenzano and Sirmione were scarcer and make for long journeys, leaving you with very litle flexibility. But with Malcesine across the lake, and Riva to the north, and of course Limone itself, there's still plenty to see and do.

A recommendation? We would definitely go back to Limone (and probably will), and we wouldn't stay in any other hotel than the Le Palme. Superb!!

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Hotel Lido International Dezenzano - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Crystal - July 2006

Opinion submitted in July 2006 by : Emma Diamond - Glasgow (28, 56, 57)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This review is very different to the couple who unfortunately had a bad experience of the accomodation - probably due to the fact that the renovations are now complete.

My parents and I chose half board accomodation at the Lido, which is a four star hotel, for 10 days.

The Lido looks different to the pics in the Crystal brochure as it now has an outdoor snack bar and tables with large canopies.
All parts of the Hotel were spotless and well maintained and the staff were extremely friendly.
 
My single room had a very good sized double bed and the air conditioning helped to make it very comfortable. The window (double doors) of my room faced on to road but I couldn't hear much at all - even managed to sleep through the world cup celebrations!
My parents paid extra to have a seaview and their room was a good size on the first floor with fantastic views.

The buffet breakfast in the morning had a good variety of options. The dinners were absolutely fantastic. The menus for each night always looked 'interesting' (fish with almonds, curried gnochi) but believe me, we were very pleasantly surprised and didn't have one bad meal.

The rep, Amanda was very good and appeared at the hotel most nigths of the week - recommend that you attend the welcome meeting as you are given maps and directions and handy info.

The resort was quiet and pleasant with plenty of shops, restaurants and cafes. It was also a nice surprise to see free entertainment in the main square on some occasions with a live operetta or a live band.

One thing that surprised us was that there were plenty of little bugs flying about but I didn't need to put repellant on once!

We travelled to other resorts on ferries which were very efficient. Recommend taking the car ferry if you want a pleasant journey as you can sit on a sun louger at the top and relax in the sunshine. Stay clear of the old fashioned steamer if you're going far as it's not comfortable for long journeys.

there's no way you can see all the resorts in 10 days but from our experience we would recommend the short trip to Sirmione and going to Gardone to see the Vittorialle.

We chose three excursions; Venice by day, Opera in Verona and a Wine Tour.

The Wine tour was very enjoyable and Venice was good but didn't have enough time to go into museums etc as most of the time was taken up by the gondola ride and ferry tour of the islands that we decided to take (both excellent). Our trip to Opera however, was marred by the hours spent travelling and waiting. leaving at 5pm, waiting in the arena for 2 hours till it started, sitting through it for over 2 hours and getting home for after 1am was just too exhausting. Bad idea to take stone steps as seating as it was packed we felt very claustriphobic. I'm not sure if it would pass health and safety in Britain!! the actual opera, Aida was breahtaking.
The tour guides on all occasions were superb.
  
All in all it was a great holiday and we would be happy to return to Lake Garda, stay at the Lido again and book another holiday with Crystal.

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Hotel Lido International Dezenzano - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Crystal Holidays September 2004

Opinion submitted in Oct 2004 by : Roselene Quinn New York USA ( 60,62)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion:   

This two week holiday was booked as a special celebration for my 60th birthday & our 40th wedding Anniv.my Sister in Scotland booked the holiday through King World Travel, we live in New York State, USA, we booked this over a year ago.

We arrived at the Hotel on Sept 18th in the late evening, my Husband & I were put into a room no bigger than a closet, we had a window overlooking the front gate & roadway which was very noisy, not what we had expected for our special celebration, where was my Lake view I was hoping for?

The next morning we complained to the front desk staff & were told we could have a better room if we paid an extra six Euro per person a night, which we did in order not to spend 2 weeks in this room and spoke to the Crystal Rep the next day, she informed us there was nothing to do but pay the extra, my Sister & her Husband had to wait a whole week before they got a better room with a balcony.

This Hotel is in very poor shape, the pool area is not clean, there is green slime on the pool area walls, weeds have taken over the whole Hotel garden area, the Rep. said the Hotel is being renovated during the "off season", I think a good power wash and white paint job would have been very inexpensive to make this years guests enjoy the place a bit more, and not be afraid to walk about the pool area.

We had one rainy night and there was actually only 2 tables in the bar & a couple of bar stools, no place for anyone to sit except the smokers in there, so we were forced to spend the night in our room playing cards, the front desk area has a few seats but no where to socialize.

After the first week the food in the dining room diminished considerabely, for instance the salad bar went from about 10 item to only 5, when they ran out of Vanilla & Strawberry ice cream no more was ordered, we did complain to the Rep. & this was rectified, she said this often happens at the end of the Season.Why?? I think if we were given "end of the Season" food & such we could have been given "end of the Season" prices ??

The Staff were terrific and we had no complaints at all with them, in fact they went over the top to make us comfortable, the dining room Ladies and cleaning staff were superb,we were greeted warmly at every point of our day.

Our Holiday was a bit tainted to say the least, we did make the most of it and had a superb time, the Hotel is in a terific spot on the Lake, Lake Garda area is just beautiful and the train service to Venice, Verona & Milan were great, the Ferries across to the other resorts were also great.

Since the Crystal Rep. comes to the Hotel a few days a week they must know the shape this Hotel is in and it is certainly not a "4 Star Hotel" we checked out other 4 Star Hotels in the area and felt cheated, they were all terrific looking & clean.

The web site for the Hotel looks just gorgous, but don't be fooled, up close it is not what it seems.

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Hotel Madrigale - Garda

Operator and Date: Independant - 2005

Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Mclauchlans - Glasgow (40,40,10,7)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

I can not praise this hotel enough. The hotel has both rooms( of differing sizes) and apartments. The Madrigale is 2km outside the town of Garda. Up a very steep hill, so car hire is recommended. The hotel has two beautiful swimming pools, each with a terrace and lots of comfortable loungers. The terraces(and all rooms) have breathtaking views down to Garda and across the lake.
We stayed in 1 bedroomed apartment on a self catering basis. The apartment was very spacious with a patio. Next time we would book an apartment with a balcony as these have much better views of the Lake.
The Hotel is 4 star and deserves every one of them. The staff were all very helpful and the hotel was spotless.
The village of Marciaga is just round the corner. This has two mini markets and a Pizzeria. The Pizzeria is great, especially on a Friday evening when there is music.
Approx 100yds from the hotel is a golf course( 18 and 9 hole courses). A round of golf was 38 euros and club hire was 15 euros. The course was excellent.
Most nights we took a taxi down to Garda town for food and drinks. The taxis are easy to book and cost approx 10 euros each way.

If you are going to Garda and do not mind driving, this is the hotel to go to.

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Hotel Malcesine - Malcesine, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson- Sept 06

Opinion submitted in October 2006 by : Alison Henderson- Edinburgh (55)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The location of the hotel is excellent the ferry terminal is only a few feet away. The frontline staff however left a lot to be desired. Some were quite surly with the exception of the night porter who was wonderful as were the young waiters. The room was very clean but drab it was split level which was a bit of hazzard. The view from the balcony however was wonderful. To the left the lake and to the right Monte Baldo. It is well worth a visit using the cable car.    The various tours available are great. Venice is beautiful as is Innsbruck and Florence although the journey to Florence is quite long. Malcesine is lovely as is Limone and the ferries are great way to visit all the lovely villages round the lake Sirmione is well worth the two hour boat journey.

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Hotel Marco Polo - Garda

Operator and Date: Crystal - August 2005

Opinion submitted in Oct 2005 by : Couch family - Cornwall (42, 35, 5)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Garda is by far the best resort around the lake and is also best located for picking up coaches for trips.

The Marco Polo is a great hotel - the room was a tad difficult to get to with the cases, being on the top floor but otherwise it was very good.  The food was excellent - loads of choice and not once was the menu repeated in 2 weeks.  A good mix of French, Italian, German and Brits in the hotel made for a very cosmopolitan feel.  Two very good pools, especially the large one out by the Pizzeria (which is MUCH more than a pizza place with great food, great service, fab views, ...!!)

The trips were very good - take the lake tour early on, go to Venice and Verona but give Milan a miss.

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Hotel Mirage - Riva del Garda

Operator and Date: Crystal - July 2005

Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Diane, David - Sheffield

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

HOTEL
Lovely.  It has been refurbished and the rooms are up to date and modern, aircon, minibar/fridge, safe, balcony included.  The food is excellent with breakfast with cooked and cold dishes, eg bacon and eggs plus ham and chees and the evening meals have five courses with at three choices for three of the courses. 

TOWN
Riva is a stunningly beautiful town which appeals to mixed age groups due to the large mix of activities on offer.  These are walking, wind surfing, yatching, biking and just lazing around.  The lakeside walk to town was uplifting and there are pleanty of walks around the area.  

EXCURSIONS
We just did the excursion to Verona as my husband has a back problem and didn't want to take the bus.  The tour guide was very good and we enjoyed it, but excursions are expensive.

We mainly travelled round by steamer because it is fun and one day took the local bus to Arco.  Local buses seem cheap and efficient. 

Went on the new Panoramic cable car up Monte Baldo on a visit to Malcesine.  Lovely walks are available when you get to the top. 

Pizza in the town is available at about £3.50 a time.  Very cheap and good.  If you are not greedy (like us) you could probably have one between two for lunch. 
Will visit Lake Garda again

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Hotel Miravalli - Garda

Operator and Date: crystal lakes & mountains - July 2006

Opinion submitted in August 2006 by : m & b. robertson glasgow - 60s

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Booked a last minute 4 day break to Garda in July'06 from Glasgow.Our first time to this part of Italy.Loved the area & the travelling around the lakes by ferry.

All the resorts have their own feel.Salo & Sirmione both lovely,for example.
We were on B&B & were glad about that.Food very basic.Although the lobby & dining room areas were typically Italian but the upstairs was very disappointing.No air con or fans,no tv or radios either.In fact,the rooms were spartan to put it nicely.It is supposed to be a 3* but I think drop a * is fairer.The hotel boasts a roof top garden.Well, a sorry sight,not been touched in years - a lost opportunity there!Not worth the trudge up there.

We can reccommend the area,lots to see & great variety of eating places.Not high in the late night venues so don't be disappointed.So,we would go back to Garda but NOT to the Miravalli,plenty others far better for the same price.

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Hotel Miravalli - Garda

Operator and Date: crystal lakes & mountains - 2006

Opinion submitted in July 2006 by : two senior citizens(not old fogies tho'!)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The actual town of Garda is pretty,with lots of walks & opportunities to venture further afield.Plenty of eateries too,many of which are on the attractive lakeside.
Now for the good part of our hotel-it was clean & it was handy for the town.End of!!
What a relic to the past. The rooms were the most basic I've seen in years.No radio,tv,hairdryer or,worst of all,no AIR CON in room!The plainest,bleakest place you'll find.Do the tour operators ever check the actual rooms or just the dining rooms& public areas?
There was a roof terrace advertised.Well,what a mess that was!Dirty old chairs & tables been there for years,no shade at all,a disgrace.Far better to have locked it up & not mention it at all for all the use it was.And it could have been a winner if only....
But that is the story of the Miravalli,cheap & nasty all the way from the poor breakfast to the shabby towels to the barren rooms.A 3 Star?I don't think so.Save your money,go elsewhere,anywhere but the Miravalli,there's loads of lovely places in Garda.

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Hotel Modena, Malcesine - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: hourmont total ski - February 13 til 21 2004

Opinion submitted in Feb 2004 by : Alison Martin - South Wales (school party)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion:

HOTEL
Quite small
Clean & tidy
Nice food
Very quiet
Situated in a small lane
Near the lake
Friendly

Malcesine
Very quiet in winter
Lots of restaurants,Bars n stuff

Ski-ing(Monte Baldo)
Amazing

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Hotel Palme Suite and Royal - Garda - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Thomson - July 2007

Opinion submitted in July 2007 by : Lorraine + David - Tyne+Wear (34,29)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Below Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Hi.
We just back from Garda last Wednesday. It is a beautiful place and definitely worth a visit. We will most definitely be going back to Lake Garda but will try other places.

Bardolino and Sirmione are stunning and to me, slightly better than Garda.
Loved Lazise too but not many hotels there and reps didnt know of any English companies who had Lazise on their books and said to maybe book with hotels direct.

Malcesnie stunning also, go up in the cable cars to Monte Baldo, amazing views.

HOTEL ROYAL
Lets get to the point of the hotel.
We definitely would not be staying here again as it is way below standard.
The reception staff are rude and obnoxious. Let me explain.
We had been there 4 days and using the digital code safe perfectly fine then on the 5th day, it died! We had been out all day to Malcesnie and missed buffet meal (we werent sad about this - food terrible)
so we got all ready and went into our safe to get our money to eat out and it wouldnt open and started beeping constantly.
I rang recep, lady on phone said she could not help as it was Sunday and the manager had gone home. I explained we not food,not even a drink of water and she did not reply.
Husband and I decided to go down and speak to her as her English was limited and thought it might be better face to face.
What a mistake! She was rude and was throwing her arms up in the air saying 'Oh my god' as though we were stupid. She said she had no code to open safe and wouldnt ring the manager for code as she lived in Verona and that was 50km away and it was 8pm and it was Sunday.We would have to wait until the next day. She said manager would give code to no-one else and she was the only one who could open the safe.

I said if this manager ran a business well and went home for the day, she must have left someone in charge to deal with things.
Recep said she was in charge but could not help us. She said she could ring a locksmith and he could come but would cost us 200Euros! This went on for about half hour and I said I was thirsty and wanted a drink, it had been 36degrees and was still mad hot, I started to get upset.
She was just not interested. I said I felt she was holding my personal belongings to ransom which was unacceptable, she did not budge.

We said we would ring our rep, she said 'your rep will not be able to help'.
We rang our rep, it was the customer services manager who actually was holding the mobile that night for Thomsons and she was excellent.
She was totally understanding and rang the hotel herself.
She rang us back and said she was totally disgusted with the way she was spoken to by the recep and would be taking it further but like us, could not get her to ring the manager for a simple 4 digit code to reset the digi safe.

The rep came to resort and loaned us 100Euros so we could eat and drink until we got in the safe the next day. Reps were great, could not fault Thomsons at all.

The next day, we went down to recep at 8am. The manager gave the code to another recep! She came up to the room and opened it then it jammed again. Later the manager came up and offered us a safe with a key in reception. Why on earth we hadnt been offered this before I do not know.
We told manager her evening recep was very rude and unhelpful and asked why she could have been given the safe code like the other recep.
She said evening recep had only been there one year. I said ' So basically the guest suffers because you do not trust your staff' she just shrugged her shoulders.
She said 'Do you expect me to here 24 hours a day' I said ' Of course not but if you are not here someone must be here who can run your business efficiently'. I explained I was a recep manager myself and I thought the treatment we received was unacceptable, she just left the room. Disgusting and very unprofessional.

Anyway................. The rest of the hotel.
The food is poor. Breakfasts consist of stale bread buns and cheap ham and cheese.
Evening buffet. Salad is okay but nothing fancy, some of it looking a bit sad. First course is a pasta dish which was always ok to b honest. Main course was meat or fish and was quite poor and very small. Desserts were put out from you entering the restaurant so by the time you got them, at least one hour after your salad, pasta and main, the desserts were warm....urghhhh!
The staff serving the meals were lovely and very pleasant.Barmaid collecting drinks money was lovely too. Couldnt fault them at all.

The pool area is sad and tatty and badly in need of an update, gardens are messy and untidy and all the plants were dead. I know it was HOT but other hotels had beautiful gardens.
The pool wasnt heated but I loved this as because it was so hot, to get into a cold pool was divine!

According to the brochure the air conditioning is on 1st July-31st Aug but believe me it was NEVER on, we did ask as it is centrally controlled and you cannot operate yourself but it never came on. Sleeping at night was difficult.
We left the patio door open which we were told not to do due to recent burglaries but we had to, it was so unbearably hot.

I think thats all I wanted to say. If I were you, I'd give this hotel a miss.
I def would stay elsewhere if I went back to Garda. We were going to stay in Hotel Piccolo but the having the pool at Hotel Royal swayed us to them. I wish I'd gone to the Piccolo, it was right on the Lake front and perfect location.

Never mind, you learn by your mistakes.

P.s. - Do the Verona openair Opera House, the atmosphere was amazing. Well worth a visit.
Also Do the venice by night trip 3pm-10pm, it is stunning and we LOVED it!

xx

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Hotel Panorama  - Limone - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: sept 2006

Opinion submitted in October 2006 by : essex (49,48,46,44)

Resort Rating: Average

Accommodation Rating: Below Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Having visited we will not be returning.

On arrival reception area was very nicely decorated but once in our room- what a dissapointment. They were dated and could have done with upgrading. Our room was fairly big but our friends room was small and in bad need of decorating and upgrading.The view was however wonderful. The food was ok but not much choice and if you did not get to dinner early then they would run out. The bar by the pool was only open once during the week we stayed.The staff were ok but not really that friendly, unless you were german.There is no room service at hotel. Our opinion it does not deserve its 4 star rating. The thomson rep was unhelpful and when we complained he appeared uninterested.

It was a long walk to limone and although a pretty place most places were shut during evening.
we booked this holiday to celebrate our silver wedding anniversary.The hotel was very expensive and having saved for a year to go there it was a complete waste of money not too mention the diassapointment we all suffered.

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Hotel Panorama  - Limone - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Crystal - August 2004

Opinion submitted in Sept 2004 by : Margaret Gordon - Aberdeenshire (63,  48)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This was our first experience of Italy and Lake Garda and it was everything we hoped it would be.  Limone is a very small resort but very charming and pretty.

The Hotel Panorama was first class, we couldn't have chosen better.  All rooms have lake views which are absolutely spectacular looking across to Malcesine, the mountains are so dramastic.  Food at the hotel was also first class, plenty of variety and as much or as little as you want.  All the staff at the hotel were fantastic and so helpful and which all helped to make our holiday so much easier.

The hotel itself is on the outskirts of Limone.  You can walk into the resort centre from the hotel in about 25/30 mins (the walk can be a bit hilly in places but taken at an easy pace it's a lovely walk).  The hotel runs a mini bus to the resort and back which we found to be excellent.  It does run to a timetable and there are parts of the day when it doesn't run but honestly we didn't find this a problem at all.

There are plenty of trips available and also travelling on the water taxis and by local bus was incredibly easy and reasonably priced (the local bus stops right outside the hotel).

Personally we found the north part of the lake far prettier that the south, it's very flat and the lake is far wider in the south.

All in all we had a brilliant holiday and if you are planning to stay at the Panorama then I'm sure you won't be disappointed (in fact I'm quite envious).

Have a great holiday !

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Hotel Parc Oasi - Garda, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: W.A.Shearings Coach Travel - 2007

Opinion submitted in June 2007 by : Ron+Dianne Peters,both 62 years of age

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

As far as Lake Garda is concerned,you just couldn`t wish to find a prettier destination.The lake is 77 miles in circumference,with very many historic and beautiful towns to visit by either going on one of the many boat trips,or by doing your own thing on the very cheap local bus service.
As far as the Hotel Parc Oasi is concerned,it certainly lived up to its 4* rating,being one of the cleanest hotels we`ve stayed in over the years.The food was excellent and plentiful,and 99% of the staff very,very happy,efficient and helpful.Located approx.1K from the lakeside,the walk may prove a little taxing for some,but there is a very well used free minibus service doing the run every 30 mins or so.
If you do nothing else,please visit the townships of Malcesine,Simione,Bardolino,and of course the trip to Venice.
If your luck is really in you`ll meet a couple of lovely friends to do the sightseeing with! 

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Park Hotel Gritti -  Bardolino, Lake Garda.

Operator and Date: First Choice - August 2006

Opinion submitted in September 2006 by : Stevenage- 41, 35

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Well, all I can say is this was the most beautiful place. The hotel was well worth its 4 stars. It cost us just over £1000 each for ten days half board, a little more than we normally spend but it was worth it for the added luxury. The rooms were cleaned every day, towels changed daily, linen every other day. Beds were comfy too! All the staff were very helpful. We went half board and were more than happy with the buffet restaurant. There was always a huge choice of hot and cold food, and at breakfast the eggs were fried to order. It really was superb. You could opt to dine in the gourmet restaurant or the al a carte if you reserved a table with reception in the morning, but we were quite happy with the buffet restauant. You just paid for you're evening meal drinks on departure.

The pool is heated and there are towels loaned to you to use on a daily basis. There are comfy toppers for the loungers and you can order drinks from the bar to have around the pool. We went in peak season and there was no shortage of loungers.
The hotel is ideally placed with just a quiet road between it and the Lake. There is a lake path that takes you into town which is aprx 200 metres away. It is really so pretty, with a plethora of open air cafes and restaurants. The shopping is great, lots of designer clothes shoes and bags etc, but not too touristy. You wind your way around the cobbled alleys which are lined wth shops and cafes. The town square was host to musical concerts and opera most nights with lots of chairs put out for you to use. There was even a ballet one night! It was a lovely stroll each evening, even just to have a drink and people watch.
The ferry service which takes you to the other resorts was efficient but could work out expensive with a trip to Malcesine costing around £9.00 each one way. Well worth a visit the though as the views from the castle are fantastic, we found a secluded beach at the foot of the castle and had a swim, though the water is cooler in the north. It helps if someone explains the timetable to you, easy once you know how!

Verona was beautiful, we took the trip by coach and you had half a day though would have preferred a full day. Again lots to see including the amptitheatre and Julliettes balcony, (more great shopping).

The mountain scenary around the north of the lake is superb.
Sermione is worth a trip to you can do that in half a day.
The ice cream really does live up to its reputation. I am not an ice cream fanatic but couldn't resist one each night (at least).
There is a supermarket five minutes away which is next to a car park from where the coaches pick you up for trips. Its worth stocking up with water as we took it from the mini bar each day and it worked out expensive.
Verona airport is a nightmare on the way back. Its far too small and we were delayed just over an hour which led to some confusion as the gates were changed at the last minute, the flight though is great only 1hr 35 mins and a half an hour transfer time.We went to seveal of the resorts and we thought Bardolino was the best. Malcesine is lovely but more spread out and very hilly.

Only one down side, it was 40oc most days, and far too hot to sunbathe if like us you needed to relax. You just dripped! We were told that was hotter than normal for that time of year.I would love to go back but would try June or September.The hotal however, is all air conditioned. You can adjust the temp in your room.

We would highly recommend this hotel and resort, it really was a great holiday.

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Park Hotel Oasi - Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomas Cook Direct) Thomas Cook (Accommodation only) September 2005

Opinion submitted in Oct 2005 by : John & Michelle, Northants 50's

Resort Rating: Average

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This is a  Jekyll and Hyde Hotel
This would not be a 4 star hotel by any stretch of the imagination anywhere except Italy.  Apparently Italy awards stars simply for facilities, regardless of how good they are so a hotel with a pool gets an extra star.

The hotel is one of a large chain around the lakes and the general attitude is that they couldn't care less about individual guests because the hotel really caters for coach parties.  Some things are good such as the gardens and the rooms.  The bad things include the pool having no shallow end, making it dangerous for non-swimmers and virtually no choice at meal times.  As others have said, it's a long way from the hotel to the lake although because we had a car this wasn't too much of a problem except that parking near the lake can be difficult at times.

There are two receptionists.  one is friendly and helpful the other one is surly, rude and  totally unhelpful.  Although we had a super room, the air conditioning didn't work properly and they then switched it off all together.  We complained but the blonde receptionist couldn't have cared less.  The manager is hardly ever there and the whole place suffers from lack of supervision.

On the other hand the waiters in the restaurant were very friendly and helpful although one of the wine waiters stank to high heaven either because he never changed his jacket or perhaps doesn't believe in baths.  I commented on this to the head waiter who obviously said something as the next day there was a marked improvement (although he tended to stay away from us!)

Our main complaint was the lack of choice at meal times.  You are expected to choose at breakfast what you want at dinner.  There's only a choice of two main courses and on the day we arrived this was down to one as they'd run out of the chicken course.  The salad bar was quite good and the quality of the food was OK but nothing special.  The fact that we'd come straight here from a fabulous cruise probably didn't help.

Most of the guests are either in coach parties on tour or staying for a week or two.  Most guests are German but there were some British parties. One elderly couple we met felt trapped because they had nothing to do in the evening (hotel entertainment comprises a terrible singer once a week) and because she doesn't swim the pool was unsuitable for her.

The hotel offers very good value for money especially when you compare the prices with some of the other hotels in the town such as the Regina Adelaide but if we hadn't booked and paid for 5 nights in advance we'd have left after the first night.  My wife and I are "make the best of it" people and it did improve but 4 star?  No way.

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Park Hotel Oasi - Garda

Operator and Date: Crystal - 2005

Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Late 20s

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: Delighted to see someone else has panned this atrocious hotel. It contributed to the worst holiday we've ever had and made us Italy-phobes for life - a great shame.

From the brochure it all looks very nice - but the set up is all about rules and regulations rather than enjoying oneself. Amazingly you had to order what you wanted for dinner at breakfast. How's that for choice? You were also given an allotted time for dinner - in our case far too early when on holiday.

Anyone who enjoys eating or cooking Italian will soon tire of the same salad bar night after night, the tired and unimaginative pasta dishes and meat with veg. I got food poisoning thanks to some mussels. When I was well enough my wife tried to bring me a plateful to my room. It obviously caused some administrative nightmares for the headwaiter as he gave permission but then followed her around the salad bar frowning.

A week of thunderstorms confined us to base camp, where the atmosphere at night is that of a German old folks home - one or two couples playing cards and waiting to die. Not even any music playing.

The rooms were adequate apart from the narrowest shower every built and the sound of other people with food poisoning being sick.

Nice town - not really for younger folk though.

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Park Hotel Oasi - Garda

Operator and Date: Crystal June 2004

Opinion submitted in June 2004 by : J & E Allen

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The Park Hotel Oasi is rated a 4* hotel.  Unfortunately it does not live up to its star rating. 

Next to the hotel is a building site where tipper lorries come from early in the morning until late in the day to dump hardcore.  There is a lot of dust!

The rooms in the hotel are adequate - just.

But the food is the most awful thing about the hotel.  Every dinner you are only offered two main courses.  One night we were offered: braised horse meat, or cold veal in tuna sauce.  Both sounded awful so we declined.

We have been travelling to Italy for 40 years and have never come across such bad food.  Breakfasts are a shambles, the restaurant manager is like Basil Fawlty (but not funny).  They produce warm water and hot milk for tea every day.  Greasy scrambled egg or hard boiled eggs, bread etc.

If you are a lover of Italian food (as we are) please avoid this hotel.  It caters only for the Germans and runs around pleasing them.  They all stampede to the salad bar when the restaurant opens (2 sittings 6.30 and 8).  You just cant get a look in.

One exception was the waiter named Pinto.  He should be made the restaurant manager.  He was the only one with any common sense.

Also the staff seem to sometimes run the hotel just for themselves, turning on sprinklers at 4 in the afternoon when it is hot and sunny - they dont worry that you may be lying on a sunbed, you just get wet.

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Park Hotel - Desenzano - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - June 2005

Opinion submitted in Jan 2006 by : Jacqueline Syvret - Pontypridd (35, 26)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The Park Hotel in Desenzano is one of the nicest hotels I have ever stayed in.  From the moment we arrived we received an extremely warm and friendly welcome.  The room we had was very pleasant, not a lake view but nice all the same, the reception staff were very friendly and could not do enough for us and the food in the restaurant was superb.  The waiters really make a huge effort to make you feel at ease and are a huge asset to the hotel.  As we were getting married whilst there they really pulled out all the stops to make our stay memorable. 

The resort itself was excellent, I can't fault it at all.  As it's positioned at the bottom of the lake it's not as scenic as some of the resorts at the top of the lake like Malcesine of Limone but it is a great base for exploring.  The town itself is the largest on the lake and I would say the most lively.  I don't mean that it has lots of loud music and night clubs, but it has a hustle and bustle feel about it with lots of lovely little bars and cafes and plenty of ice-cream shops!  As the hotel is situated in the centre of the town it is perfectly positioned to stroll of an evening after your meal to head off to one of the bars and watch the world go by.

If you choose to stay in Desenzano and the Park Hotel I promise you will not be disappointed.  We will definitely be back.

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Hotel Piccola Vela Desanzano Del - Garda

Operator and Date: Inhgams

Opinion submitted in September 2006 by : May 2006 46, 15

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Lovely Hotel family run, 2nd time my daughter & I have been there, very good food, good choice, & al a carte menu was excellent. nothing was to much trouble for the staff & was very clean, they made us both feel very welcome. busy italian town with lots of shops, mainly designer and resaurants, bars etc, is also visited by italian holiday makers and germans as on a main rail line& not far from the motorway. so the town has a very cosmopolitan feel. good views of the lake from the roof or a short walk into the town, and easy to get around, all though we where happy to relax in the wonderful hotel garden or swinm in the pool, we are planning our next trip we need another risoto, the hotel makes the best I have tasted.

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Hotel Plaza - Desenzano

Operator and Date: Topflight - September 2005

Opinion submitted in Oct 2005 by : Bill Roe - Dublin (61,60)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Below Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Our hotel had four stars in the brochure, but in fact was a very average three star. It had small stuffy bedrooms and no facilities other than bed and breakfast. It's plus points were that it was very near the town centre and, unlike most other Italian hotels, it didn't insist on providing an evening meal, thus enabling guests to sample the many restaurants (the Gattolardo is recommended) in the town. We choose it because of the latter point, but we forgot that, after a few days touring, a day lazing by a pool would have been welcome.

Desenzano is a pleasant, relaxing town with a Mediterranean atmosphere. It is useful as a centre to tour the other lake towns (very pretty) and the cities of Venice, Verona, Mantua, etc.  The lake ferries were handy, if a bit slow.  The trip to Salo, 25 miles away, took two hours. The train to Verona was cheap and frequent enough. Trips to be recommended are Venice (includes a gondola ride and a boat trip around the lagoon) and the Dolomite Mountains (wonderful).
The weather in September is very changable and we had to put on warm clothes on some days.

We would return, but only to a hotel that offered full facilities.

Poiano Apartments - Garda

Operator and Date: Inghams - 2005

Opinion submitted in Oct 2005 by : Caroline Hughes - Middx (34, 33, 3, 10mnths)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The Poiano Hotel and Apartments are situated about 2 miles up the hill from the lake in lovely quiet surroundings.  Our appartment was surprisingly spacious (except the bathroom), spotlessly clean and well equipped, with lovely views of the lake.  All the staff were very obliging and friendly.

The pool, although enormous and beautifully located, is very cold (at least in September). The main children's play area was adequately equipped although there was another very run down one nearer the appartment. The mini market was very poorly stocked and could not be relied upon for anything.  However, I got the impression that they were running things down a bit in mid-September. The bar at the pool had a steadily reducing range of food available over the week and the animation staff, who had sat around with nothing to do for the first few days were gone by the second half of the holiday, with the pool disco packed up.

We cooked most evenings but also ate at a restaurant called Stafolet a bit further down Via Poiano towards town, which was very nice and very useful if you don't want to stay in town to eat.

The hotel and appartments are situated on a fairly steep hill.  They had put us very near the main building, probably as we had two small children, so we only had a few steps up to the appartment but for most of the site there are lots of steps and our just-3-year-old found the inclines very difficult so definitely not for the less mobile.

Although a little way from the town, the walk down from the appartments was OK. I would not have wanted to push the pushchairs back up but the local council provides a free bus which runs every 30mins so we never had to (last one at 19:30). Garda was getting quite quiet but nothing had closed down yet and most of the summer ferry timetable was still running.  Large range of cheap eateries. Ferries and buses were very punctual, although low water level in the lake had caused several stops to be removed.  Garda has a good range of shops and eateries, is quite scenic, and is centrally located on the lake so is a good base.

In mid-Septmeber we had 3 days of glorious weather 28/29 degs, 24 hrs of rain with thunderstorms and 3 days overcast 22 degs.

We didn't have much contact with Inghams but the reps seemed very friendly and we had no problems coming or going.

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Hotel Regina Adelaide - Garda Town

Operator and Date: Independent travel - June 2004

Opinion submitted in Aug 2004 by : Barbara & John Vann, 50s

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

At the end of June this year, we had a wonderful holiday and a lot of that was due to staying at the Hotel Regina Adelaide.  

This has got to be one of the best hotels in Garda and in our opinion was extremely good value.  We flew for £9.99 with Ryan Air and so arrived about 11.00 pm.  We couldn't have had a calmer or warmer welcome - it seemed like the night porter was expecting us and arriving at such a time simply wasn't a problem.  We had booked just a standard room but couldn't have asked for more.  It was fresh, clean and bright with more than a few touches of Italian style.  We had a 'wrap-around' balcony with sun bed, two chairs plus cast-iron table and chairs for eating if we wanted to.  The bathroom, complete with fluffy bathrobes and slippers, boasted a shower to equal Niagara, plus side jets, which gave a wonderfully refreshing massage after an active day.

Hotel staff were all very friendly and helpful and mostly fluent in English.  The outdoor pool did not appear to be heated so was a little on the bracing side but as the weather was extremely hot (more so than normal for the time of year apparently) this was not really a problem.  The pool is a nice place to relax and has its own snack bar staffed by young people who must have been employed for their charm and courtesy. We didn't use the indoor pool or wellness centre but were surprised to find that you can view the indoor pool from the TV in your room - presumably to see how busy it is.

We had booked just for bed and breakfast and for the first few nights of our holiday thought that eating at the many lakeside restaurants was an attractive option.  However we found that they were all much the same - ok for pizza and pasta but not good value for anything else and all have tables cheek-by-jowl along the water's edge.  When we decided to try the restaurant in the Regina Adelaide, that was it - we ate there every night after that.  Prices are much the same as lakeside but the quality so much higher and the service impeccable.  We could still wander out after dinner to enjoy coffee and a drink or two by the lake.  Of course sitting lakeside is unbeatable for people watching at any time of day but a great entertainment in the evening, when all the characters of Garda seem to come out for a stroll.

It was my birthday while we were there and on coming down to dinner, we were presented with complimentary glasses of champagne and our dinner was rounded off with a delicious cake, complete with candles!

If you want to travel independently, as we did, we recommend visiting www  lagodigardemagazine  com.  This is a good website for general information but if you follow the link in the top right hand corner, you are connected with an excellent transfer service.  When we arrived at Bressia airport, a very personable young man was waiting with a "transfer service" board and as it turned out that we were the only people he was meeting from that flight, we had a personal service at a fraction of the cost of a taxi.  On our return journey, the transfer service arrived at the hotel at exactly the time arranged and again we had the transport (smart new mini bus) to ourselves.  We booked all of this simply over the Internet.  Easy-peasy!

We had a great time travelling up and down the lake by boat but they can get rather tedious after a few days and then the local busses will get you around much more quickly and cheaply too.

We didn't do many excursions because we felt the weather was just too hot for cities and all the Dolomite excursions left at the crack of dawn to enable the coach to call at all the other towns around the Lake.  However we did book a half-day 'wine tour' through a travel agency on the lakeside.  This was great fun and is highly recommended.  We visited just one vineyard where we were treated to an extremely interesting tour by one of the owners whilst being regularly plied with unlimited glasses of their various wines.  At the end when we were expecting to get the sales pitch we were told their wines were not produced in sufficient quantity to export, we could buy some if we wanted to but we were each presented with two complimentary bottles to take away.  Everyone went back to the coach with an extremely wide grin!

Another highlight booked through the same company was an evening at the Opera in Verona.  This was great fun and everyone seemed to enjoy it, whether Opera fans or not.  It's worth going just to be part of the event and the Verona arena is just superb.

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Residence Eden - Peschiera, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: crystal july 2007

Opinion submitted in August 2007 by : a moffett, co down

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

eden complex approx 2 miles out of town car hire really needed.  there was a shuttle coach hourly into town but driver did not know what air conditioning was and it was awful also during our stay shuttle coach was off for 3 days as it broke down.  

management very fussy about checking you don't misplace even a spoon and checked everything when checking out also you must clean apartment before leaving.  we did not see any cleaners during our stay also for the first 4 nights our sofa bed was broke and they refused to replace it or fix it, eventually after a lot of bother they did replace it but kids had to sleep on mattress on floor for 4 nights they let on they did not understand what was wrong even though they where shown the problem.  mini market is very very expensive avoid using this for milk and bread and reception only opened for a couple of hours per day.  reception was helpful when it suited.  would advise you take the train to verona and venice great days out and easy to do on own as direct train from resort, train to venice e22 rtn.  eden good facilties about complex if management would only show a bit more customer care when a problem occurred.

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Residence Eden - Peschiera, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: inghams July 2006

Opinion submitted in August 2006 by : mr and mrs a hale

Resort Rating: Below Average

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

we have just returned from lake garda we stayed at residence eden in peschiera

we found the experiance very disappointing the main problem for us was the unhelpfill and rude staff where we stayed communication was poor they made no effor to try to help us  on several occasios  and tried to talk to us in german they  really cateed for their german guests we were treated in an unacceptable manner courtesy and manners were out!!!

ourside our accommodation we liked peschiera  although it was busier than we expected the food and shops were very touristy  we enjoyed the Lakes tour and visit to venice  our inghams rep was excellent
our children enjoyed Gardaland and caneva world we enjoyed our holiday but wont be back to this part of italy we feel it wasnt worth the money to be treated like that by staff where we were staying

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Residence Eden - Peschiera, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Direct with Parc Hotels  - July 2006

Opinion submitted in July 2006 by : Cassidy Family - Stirling (38, 37, 9, 7)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Peschiera is a good location on the lake if you want to explore the surrounding area, as you can get the train direct to Milan, Verona & Venice, as well as getting boats around the lake.

The town was quite scenic, though probably not as touristy as some of the others towns on the lake. Plenty of cafes and restaurants, and a nice walk around the harbour.

The Parc resort, which includes Residence Eden, Golf Hotel and Paradiso Hotel was a large complex & set in nice gardens. There were nine pools in the complex. Residents in Residence Eden could use most of them - there's something for everyone from a relaxing adult pool, pool aimed at younger kids and pool with endless entertainment (aqua aerobics, waterpolo etc). Didn't have a problem getting sunbeds, though some people did put their towels out early, so might be a problem at the height of the season.

Entertainers were enthusiastic. Kids enjoyed the mini club and mini disco in the evenings, though the main evening entertainment rarely started until after 10pm, so we didn't see much of it (it herefore wasn't particularly family-oriented).

The shuttle bus service was extremely useful, but was busy so sometimes you had to wait for an extra run (unless you go to the 1st pick-up point at the main hotel).  The hotel is a bit out of town, a taxi was 10 euros.  

The apartments were clean and well equipped. We felt the one bedroom apartment felt a bit cramped (only one small wardrobe so hard to completely unpack), maybe we are not used to one bedroom apartments, they might be normal. There seemed to be very few 2 bedroom apartments, you probably have to book really early to get these.

Booking direct with the hotel, the website and the email booking was clear about the towels & bedlinen being extra, and also we didn't have a problem with getting the full security deposit back - we cleaned the apartment thoroughly ourselves, and there was no 65 euro charge.

Trips to Verona and Venice were well worth it. No need to book an organised trip - for all 4 of us, train to Verona was 12 euros return, and 50 euros return to Venice.

Trains in Italy were generally on time & we had positive journeys on all our excursions.  Self service ticket booths were a great boon (& in English).

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Residence Eden - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Gardayou - May 2006

Opinion submitted in June 2006 by : Deborah Phillips - Nottingham (41,39,11)

Resort Rating: Below Average

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We have just arrived back from Lake Garda and the Parc Hotel Golf resort including residence Eden. We found the resort of Pesciera itself very dead - a little like Skegness out of season. 

I would like to warn all users of the self-catering facilities to BEWARE of the money making schemes of the accommodation owners. 

Firstly we were not warned to bring our own towels and sheets (a new rule for 2006 apparently).  This cost us 45euros to buy (not rent) them. 

Then on the day we left we were hit with another bombshell.  This one cost us 65euros.  Apparently as we were self-catering and not half board we had to pay to have the apartment cleaned, even if we had cleaned it ourselves.  As the apartment cost 73euros per night I would have thought that a final clean would have been included.

The one plus in this entire fiasco is that there was a FREE bus service into the town from the accommodation.  I don't know how much longer it will be free though.

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Riva del Sole - Moniga del Garda

Operator and Date: None - August 2007

Opinion submitted in August 2007 by : P. Stevens, Herts (53, 56)

Resort Rating: Average

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Just arrived back from our first holiday to Lake Garda (Aug 2007). The lake is so beautiful and many places worth a visit. Here are our experiences.

Resort:
DO NOT go to Moniga if you do not have a car.  We were told that travel around the lake is fine by public transport.  This is not the case.  Buses only run a few times a day and the timetables are a mystery to even the locals.  The printed time-tables on bus-stops were apparently out-of-date, according to the town tourist information lady (who hated tourists, btw).
The ferries are pretty good, but run between around 10 and 5, and to limited destinations.
Train services from Desenzano were good, but nothing around the lake, and getting there and back was difficult.
Taxis have to be booked in advance (apart from at the station) and are quite expensive.

Moniga is a small town with a few nice restaurants.  Notably "Il Magher".  Great food with a good atmosphere, courtesy of the singing chef!  We were lucky, as during our stay there were festivals taking place in town on a few evenings.
The traditional "rolling of the barrel" race, competed over 3 days between neighboring towns.  Food / music served in the town centre.  Great fun!  Salsa dancing also took place in the street one evening.
Very few people speak English, so beware!
Apart from these festivities, there is little to do here.  The beach is OK and swimming in the lake is great.  However, the stones are uncomfortable and large rocks just beneath the surface are dangerous when swimming.  If this were the UK, swimming would not be allowed here.

Moniga is mainly a centre for campers, from Germany and Holland.  The bars along the front do not make you welcome.  I once asked for my glass of overpriced "all froth and no beer" to be topped up, only for a jug of slops to be used for the purpose.  I asked for my money back and was told to go away and drink it.
I should have guessed when the newspaper stand contained every nation's newspapers ...except the UK.  All the bars / restaurants along the front were similar, but the one by the ferry terminal was the worse.
The weather was great.  12 days of continual sunshine and temp in the 90's. The local wine is also well worth a try! The region is stunning and so pleased we went.

Hotel (Riva del Sole):
Classified as 4-star, this is a fine hotel, located about 100 yards from the lake.  We had a balcony view over the Lake that was quite superb.  Nice restaurant and our room was excellent.  We were in the new part of the hotel, so not sure if all the rooms were of the same quality.
The reception staff were friendly and helpful, particularly Paolo.
A nice, well maintained pool.
Drawbacks (apart from the resort):  No service around the pool area, no bar, no area for tea / coffee / drinks.  The hotel also allows dogs.  These are used as fashion accessories by many Italian women, so expect quite a few yapping handbag-sized canines!

Visits (Lake Garda):
Other Lake Garda places we visited, were Sirmione (pretty, great atmosphere,  bustling, but a bit like the Magic Kingdom, without the rides!  Plenty of touristy shops.
Desenzano - Liked it a lot.  Great port, restaurants and good place to travel from.
Riva - Spent a day there and loved the place.  If we go to the region again, this must be the place to go.  Breathtaking scenery, set in the mountains but on the lake.  Great beaches, bus links and restaurants.
Salo - Pretty town with plenty of designer shops, etc.
Padenghe - Nothing much there, apart from the lake!

Visits (other):
Verona - Spent a day in this beautiful historic city.  So much to see.  The Opera in the in open air historic Roman arena, is an absolute must.  Easy to get to from Desenzano, as is Venice.
Venice - So different from any other city in the world. Great for a day, but wouldn't like to spend a week there.  The architecture, buildings, waterways, bridges are just so interesting.  Somewhat overcrowded and it IS smelly.  Just walk along the not so popular back-streets, where you can even hear the rats squeaking from inside the buildings!

Managed to cram so much into the fortnight.  Would go again, but would hire a car or have a two centre stay.
Riva and possibly Garda.
Italy is wonderful.  The people stylish (unlike the Brits).  Food and climate great.  Shame about the driving and the accidents we witnessed!

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Riviera Hotel - Riva - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Thomson-July 2007

Opinion submitted in August 2007 by : Stephen and Liz - Liverpool (43,42,14,12)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Stayed at this hotel for one week at the end of July. Hotel is perfect if you are looking for a quite base to explore the area. We booked two rooms with a lake view and we were not disappointed. Rooms are spacious for two the aircon was fine. The restaurant serves a buffet breakfast- no full english but you can boil an egg and the coffee comes with warm milk.

The pool is situated across the road in its own pretty garden area and is a peaceful retreat. There are plenty of sunbeds and you can find a seat at any time of the day. There is also plenty of shade and some swings for the children. There is a small bar area but no food is served here. There is a Spar shop about 50 meters down towards Riva which sells drinks and snacks.

The evening meal is waitress service and has a resonable choice which you pick at breakfast.
The hotel is situated on the road leading to Riva which is a lovely 20 minute walk away. The road is busy and there are many crossings which in Italy don't mean an awful lot. You basically have to wait for someone to stop but you soon get used to it.

The lakeshore has a pretty walk into Riva. The central square is breathtakingly beautiful and there are many alleyways and cobbled streets to explore. The pavements ate lined with cafes and ice cream parlors where you can sit and relax and enjoy the view.
The bell tower has some fanastic views and entrance is 1 euro.
We booked excursions to Verona and Venice which we enjoyed and you can visit the neighbouring lake resorts by the frequent ferries which you catch just past the town square. We visited Malcesine and got the cable car up Mount Baldo.

All in all we really enjoyed our holiday to Riva, don't go if your looking for noisy bars and plenty of nightlife,there is plenty to do in the resort and plenty of places to visit, a week is really not long enough. If you haven't been to the Lakes before I would recommend Riva and the Hotel Riviera.

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Riviera Hotel - Riva -Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Thomson/Crystal - 21st July 2007

Opinion submitted in July 2007 by : J & C Rooney - Glasgow (46 & 53)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Accomodation is very clean but dated, however, this hotel lacked friendliness & the owners were certainly not British friendly and seemed to prefer the Austrian/German patrons.  There was no entertainment at all not even a radio playing.  Smiling was not seen, it made me feel very unwanted and I certainly would not go back to Hotel Riviera.  The trip to Venice was fantastic and should not be missed.  The view from our bedroom window was magnificent, looking straight onto the lake & the mountains.  If you are a windsurfing/water sports person this would certainly be the holiday for you.

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Hotel Roma - Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - June 2006

Opinion submitted in August 2006 by : Trevor Hirons - Leeds (59,55)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Usually one week in any resort / hotel is enough for me, but our stay in the Roma ended all too soon. The position and standard of service were exceptional. We had a lake view room on the 1st floor with a large terrace kitted out with chairs, recliners, table & parasol - a real sun trap with a great outlook. We did pay a considerable supplement but it was worth every penny. Breakfast was really good.There is only a cafe in the Hotel but eating out was enjoyable and reasonably priced.

Garda is a superb resort - in our opinion the best on the Lake. Nowhere else had a lakeside promenade to compare. The bars & restaurants were ideal; several having live music,particularly around " the Square".
**Ensure your Tour rep. tells you about The Welcome card which your hotel will issue. This gives you discount of 20% on the steamers and discount in restaurants etc. and lasts for 3 days at a time, then you can get another. Surprisingly most visitors spoken to were not told about it!

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Hotel Roma - Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - July 2005

Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Kev Mcdonald - 38,37

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Just retuned 23/07/05 from the Hotel roma in Garda from what was one of the best holidays we have ever had.

The weather was excellent between 33 and 35 degrees c each day.

The hotel itself is right on the lake front with an excellent ice cream and cocktail bar with extremely friendly and polite staff.We had a room at the rear of the hotel with a small italian style balcony overlooking a small bar which was wonderful for watching the early evening and having a late night cap in lovely cool surroundings.

The Rep called jo from thomsons was vey nice and helpful and gave excellent advice on the excursions.

The resort has an excellent boat service, lots of friendly restaurants and cocktail bars all of which were reasonably priced.There are lots of little shops selling everything from fine arts to tacky souveniers.We even found a lovely bathing area on the walk to bardelino for swimming in the clears waters of the lake.

Places to Visit must include Venice,Verona,Sirimone,Limone and Riva all of which were full of historical buildings, beauty and Gradure with a beautiful backdrop. Overall Fantastic locations to visit.

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Hotel Rosa - near Malcesine

Operator and Date: airtours july 2007

Opinion submitted in July 2007 by : The woodhouse's    35, 37

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We've just returned from the wonderful lake garda. We stayed just outside malcesine which is stunning and a really good base to tour the surrounding areas. We went up in the cable car to the top of monte baldo and would highly reccommend the trip up to the top as the views are stunning.

We stayed at the hotel rosa which is about 1.8 km out of malcesine but this wasn't a problem as the walk on the lakeside path was a pleasure every night.

The hotel itself i'm afraid was no pleasure at all. We went with airtours and was lead to believe it's a 3 star hotel on arrival we found out it's just a 2 star and a very poor one at that. The hotel is very clean which was about the only bonus and we had fresh towels daily. The room is the size of a shoe box with no view as we were at the back of the hotel, our view was of a grass banking which is so close and steep it blocked out all the light. The bathroom was so small and dated and there wasn't even a shower curtain just a shower tray. I do feel sorry for anyone who has one of the back rooms to the hotel as when we saw it it really upset us. 

We realised it's only a room and we didn't spend much time in it as lake garda itself managed to take our minds of the poor hotel we were mis sold as 3 star. The lake and surrounding areas and the good pizza's and ice-cream managed to cheer us up.
For great pizza's visit pedro's just round the corner from dolce vita's ice-cream parlour.

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Hotel Rosa - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: JWT - July 2005

Opinion submitted in Aug 2005 by : Colin Houston - Belfast (45, 43)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Like the previous reviewer we were disappointed by the small room size at the Hotel Rosa and also the lack of airconditioning, which became a problem as the weather was above 30 C most days. The hotel is spotlessly clean. We stayed B&B and the continental breakfast supplied was fine.

The resort of Malcesine is one of the nicest I saw. Small cobblestone streets and plenty of good restaurants. We enjoyed great meals at Ristorante Mignon, Ristorante Taverna Dei CVLO Lo Porto Vecchio and the Bottega Del Vino. The average meal with a couple of courses, beer and a bottle of wine cost under £35.

We took a boat trip to Riva Del Garda which called at two other towns on the way. The scenery at this end of Lake Garda is spectacular due to the high mountains. Well worth the trip. We also took the Europlan tour to Venice, which is well worth it. The coach trip took 2.5 hours each way but they stop for meals and comfort breaks.

Sadly we were greatly disappointed with the service of the JWT reps. They openely admitted they knew little about Malcesine and they also messed up the coach transfer and arrival at the hotel. They left us on our own to handle the Hotel who insisted on moving us to an inferior room, due to another mix up. I will not be travelling with JWT anymore but I would return to this resort.

One final word of warning. Hotel Rosa is not designed for access by coach. So like us you will find yourself humping your own cases 300 meters down a hilly road.

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Hotel Royal - Limone, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: First Choice - June 2006

Opinion submitted in June 2006 by : Jon & Teresa Atkins 37, 35

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion:

Just returned from a trip to Lake Garda and a week at the Royal Village Hotel at Limone Sul Garda. The Hotel was absolutely fantastic from start to finish, ours was a confortable room (we opted for superior which included air-con if required) but as fer as we could see all rooms had a balcony and the vast majority also a lake view. 

We stayed on a half board basis through First Choice which to my mind was almost full board as we had a fantastic choice for breakfast, a buffet lunch, afternoon cakes and a choice of venue for evening meal. The main self service retaurant had lots of choice and everything seemed to be well cooked and presented also free drinks all day including wine, tea & coffee and soft drinks. So we didn't need to spend much money elsewhere during the week. There were always plenty of sun loungers or places to sit by the various pools. The staff couldn't have been more helpful all week and we really have struggled to think of anything  negative to say about the place. The Royal is on a fairly steep hill about 15mins walk from the centre of Limone so you do need to be ok with that if you want to get to & from transport to other resorts etc but the hotel did have a minibus service for those who find the hill difficult.

Limone itself is lovely and well positioned for access to other resorts around the lake via the ferries (regular and reasonably priced) with plenty of shops and places to eat out if you need to.

All in all a great week and certainly recommended!

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Hotel Royal - Limone, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomas Cook Direct) Thomas Cook Aug 2004

Opinion submitted in Aug 2004 by : Wendy Grant -Bracknell (50,44,15,11,10)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The Hotel Royal is set on a steep hill in lush gardens with a great view of the lake from the higher floors and a stunning mountain backdrop. The main areas of the hotel are disected by a small road(if you can find your way around, there is a tunnel). There is a new,large fish shaped pool with Jacuzzi and a quieter rectangular pool. There are plenty of comfortable sunbeds and the water was a nice temperaure. It was very popular with families during the school holidays and our children joined in the Kids club (staffed by Austrians who could speak English) About 30% of guests were British.

We had a standard and a superior room. We requested that the  rooms be close together and that the superior room have a lake view-both requests were met but the standard room was above a boiler room.(I think) and even though the hotel provided a fan, it was uncomfortably hot. The standard room for 3 was a good size but simply furnished.

Our lake view superior room was one of the smaller superior rooms but the view was fantastic. It was nicely furnished. Both rooms had plenty of storage space and good firm beds.The hotel has a 4* local rating,but many British tour operators rate it as 3*/3*+. I feel that if all rooms were upgrade to the same standard as the superior room then the hotel would merit a 4* rating.

Breakfast, I feel, was very much geared towards the German taste, but you could have Bucks Fizz. There is a good selection on the evening buffet-generally very good. My favourite was the  leisurely,waiter served 6 course set menu(changed daily) in the gourmet restaurant(which was surprisingly under used).You could also opt to eat in the pizzeria.

The distance to the lake was shorter than I expected(about 10mins- 15mins to the village). The journey back to the hotel is tough, but do-able. You certainly feel like you have done your daily dose of  exercise at the end of it. There is a supermarket about 50m up hill from the hotel. Free drinks during the day are from self service machines, centrally located and easily accessable from both pool areas.

We spent a good proportion of our time at the hotel. The children were happy playing in the pools and we could relax and take in the stunning scenery. The weather during most of our stay was around 30c and hazy,with a short shower in the afternoon.We went to Riva twice(the £4 return ferry trip is worth it for the scenery alone).Riva has some lovely architecture and a good swimming area. We also went to Malcesine which has some lovely cobbled streets and plenty of shops. We preferred Limone as it seems less touristy but still has a good choice of shops and restaurants and steep, narrow cobbled streets.

We spent most evenings at the hotel where they had live music each night except Saturday. There were also live concerts or beach parties on the beach about twice a week.

All in all, a very good holiday and we were pleased with our choice of hotel and resort.

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Hotel Royal - Limone, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Self booking - June 2004

Opinion submitted in July 2004 by : Dom , 42 & 40

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Lovely place, ideal for adults and/or young children, not so much for older children.  Very hilly so not ideal if you don't like a challenging walk.  Lake warm in June - swimming at 9.30 at night!!.  Take your beach shoes 'cos it is a bit gravelly.  Lots of places to explore and eating out very reasonable (specially the beach side restaurant just down from the harbour side car park), but not many bargains for shopping.  Stunning scenery - not over-rated - it is as good as everybody says.  Would definitely go again. 

Hotel very good - very comfortable there and well run.  Lots of of different areas, nice pools and food very, very good.  Rooms a bit small but ours had TV, fridge, great shower and comfortable beds.  Very relaxing by the pool side with plenty of space and available loungers.  Free wine and coffee very nice thank you and cake and biscuits served in the afternoon.  Deserves its 4 star rating despite being 'up the hill' from the lake - we found this a benefit because it made it more peaceful.

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Hotel Royal - Riva del Garda - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Leger August 2007

Opinion submitted in August 2007 by : Disappointed 50's

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

How this hotel has been given a 4 star rating is beyond me.  

BEDROOM: The room was an OK size.The furniture in our room was basic flat pack furniture.  There were no comfortable chairs to sit on.  We had 2 chairs from the dining room in our bedroom and one of them had to be used to put one of our cases on.  The bed was comfortable, however.  The mirror, which you would expect to be hanging over the dressing table, was on another wall altogether.  The 'rocker switch' to turn the main light on was broken and did not work and on occasions it felt quite dark in the room because it was only lit by the bedside lights.  The TV was mounted so high up on the wall you would have got a crick in the neck if you wanted to watch telly!  BATHROOM: This was tiny.  The small shower cubicle doors did not close properly, consequently the floor got soaked.  If you dropped your soap in the cubicle you had to get out to pick it up, otherwise you banged your head on the cubicle.  There was only 1 small glass shelf therefore, our toiletries had to be packed away each day.  Not even a hook on the back of the door.
We stayed on the top floor and the ceiling on the staircase had peeling paint.  There was a very strong smell of damp by the lift area on the top floor.

FOOD:  Disgusting!  If this is the best Italy has to offer, don't bother.  The pasta dishes were bland and to compare we did eat elsewhere (even though we were half board)and the pasta dishes outside of the hotel were far superior.  One night we had Turkey Roulade.  Sounded lovely but it turned out to be just Bernard Matthews Turkey Breast Roll.  There was not enough food to go round one or two evenings we were there and the choice of vegetables was disappointing to say the least.  Don't bother waiting to be served with the desserts - not worth the wait.

RECEPTION: There was a really lovely girl on the reception in the mornings; very smiley and happy.  However, we have never stayed in a hotel before where the keys to rooms are accessable to any guest.  There is a carousel on the reception where you leave your keys and just pick it up on your return.  As the reception area wasn't staffed at all times we felt a little uncomfortable leaving our key so we kept it with us at all times.

STAFF:  They were very obliging except for one young lad, very bad attitude when we had a problem.
RESORT:  Riva del Garda is a lovely town, particularly the old town.  Lots of shops.  Unfortunately we only had 11/2 days in Riva as we went by coach and 4 full days of our 9 day holiday were taken up getting to Italy and then back home.

OVERALL:  Would return to Lake Garda in the future but definitely NOT to the Hotel Royal - give that hotel a wide berth!!

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Hotel Royal - Riva del Garda - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Newmarket - October 2006

Opinion submitted in December 2006 by : Ruth Griffiths - Kettering (50, 63)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The Royal Hotel in Riva was of a very good standard, my husband and I were allocated it upon arrival, as we were celebrating our anniversary overseas instead of in the UK.  The Staff were mostly from the same Italian family and all spoke English.  

The accommodation was basic but clean and perfectly acceptable and had its own balcony.  The hotel is only a short stroll across the main coastal road from a splendid pebbled lake shoreline surrounded by trees and sporting activities, i.e. cycle tracks, canoe and dinghy sailing, or a lovely place just to walk.  We would suggest that you take a travel kettle and 2-pin adapter with you (well worth keeping as part of your luggage allowance), so you can sit on the balcony and have your own cuppa when you like.  Plenty of local shops anyway.  The breakfast was continental, buffet style - but you could eat as much or as little as you wanted.  Although we only stayed bed and breakfast, as we went out on the numerous daily tours on offer, the evening meal menu looked plain but OK.  There are a couple of nice Pizza restaurants nearby that seemed popular with the local families, so we enjoyed their facilites and the good food and wine.  Would recommend the day trips to Verona and Venice, very tiring but there is not much to do in the Hotel at night anyway.  

We went at the end of October 2006 and the weather was 22 degrees and sunny in the daytime, but colder at 12 degrees at night.  A very pleasant short break hotel and we would go back there again.

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Hotel Royal - Riva del Garda - Lake Garda

Royal Hotel Riva del Garda

Operator and Date: Leger Travel July 2006

Opinion submitted in August 2006 by : Brenda King - Leamington Spa (64 yrs)

Resort Rating: Poor

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Comments exactly as previous report.  Very disappointing, not a four star hotel. Our bedroom was no more than a cupboard with two single beds very basic, poorly decorated. Air conditioning did not work. Food was disappointing and boring. Breakfast not appetising. Surrounding area beautiful but holiday spoilt by the substandard hotel. 

Would not return to Royal. Nothing has changed to this hotel since a previous comment.

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Hotel Royal - Riva del Garda - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Leger Travel - May 2004

Opinion submitted in June 2004 by : Swinburn's - (35,37)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The Hotel Royal is very old fashioned looking inside and a little shabby outside could do with updating. The food was garbage. Breakfast was terrible i.e cheap cornflakes, homemade muesli that looked and tasted like bird food, hard rolls, weak coffee, watered down fresh orange, cold meats that looked like they'd been left from the day before. evening meals consisted of mainly english foods i.e very basic salad which was badly presented, roast pork in limited gravy, boiled potatoes, green beans and carrots, one pasta dish usually very basic. 

We ate out on several occasions even though we had booked 1/2 board. Where was the taste of Italy, definately not in this hotel. 2 afternoon staff members were also very rude on atleast 2 occasions the only conselation was that the 2 night staff were great. 

Riva del garda is beautiful just don't stay at the Hotel Royal or the italian  "Faulty Towers" as we called it. 

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Hotel Rudy - Riva Del Garda

Operator and Date: Self arranged - August 2005

Opinion submitted in Aug 2005 by : Lindsay Smith - Kent (4 x over 40's + 3 x under 26)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

A lovely clean and tidy family run hotel with a friendly, relaxed and pleasent atmosphere, which isn't easy to find in Lake Garda!
Very helpful and accomadating staff - we were part of a large wedding party held at Malescine and the hotel staff arranged transport from the hotel to the habour for all guests + accomadation for extra guests.
Swimming pool/area very clean and peaceful, would benefit from having a snack/pool bar.
Restaurant also clean and tidy, continential breakfast + eggs & bacon (which was well appreciated by the male members of our party!).
Only downside -  20 minute walk to town centre, or a taxi ride for approx. Euro 7.
Most restaurants serve the same menu, can highly recommend the ice cream parlour down by the harbour. No evening entertainment, although we did find a small bar just off the main square with music + very large measures of Vodka!!!!
Beautiful scenery and spectaular views, an ideal location to get married.

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Hotel San Georgio - Limone

Operator and Date: Crystal - Aug 2006

Opinion submitted in September 2006 by : 27, 29, 52, 74

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The hotel was basic but very clean and the food was plentiful and good.  The pool was excellent and clean.

The resort of Limone was very pretty.  Lots going on but still keeping the feel of the traditional Italian way of life. 

Plenty of restaurants, bars and cafes, very reasonably priced.

Definitely will make a return visit.  Weather was excellent in mid 30s.

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San Pietro - Limone, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Inghams Lakes & Mountains

Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Maria Nicolaidou - London (55, 59)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

What a breathtaking location!  The hotel was superb, with the best views in Limone.  Lovely food, great service, beautifully clean. We went on an accommodation on arrival holiday and we were not disappointed.  However, not for people with walking difficulties as the hotel was on a steep hill with lots of steps (although there was a lift).  The hotel did provide a mini-bus to and from the town for a small charge but this stopped at 6pm, when you could get a cab back for about 7 Euros.  It was OK walking down the hill but walking back up was difficult.

Inghams were very efficient,will definitely go back.

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Savoy Palace - Riva del Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson - May 2006

Opinion submitted in June 2006 by : David Knight - Durham (48,37,5,70,68)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The Savoy Palace is a truly excellent family owned hotel. The facilities are superb and the staff very attentive. The food at the Savoy is exquisite. Dinners are a sumptuos affair with 5 or 6 courses, naerly all with waiter service.
Riva is a nice resort, the second biggest on the lake. Because of its dominance by the mountains the weather can change quite quickly. Its also quite a windy resort and the north end of the lake is renowned for saling & windsurfing.
The lake ferry service is very efficient especially for getting aroung the northern end of the lake. Its a long trip down to the south on the ferry (as its a long way and because it stops off everywhere). Buses can get you around easily as well.
The ice cream has to be seen (and tasted) to be believed - wonderful.

The Savoy is about 20 mins from the main town area of Riva but reached by a very pleasant promenade walk along the lake shore. For those less mobile, this may be a slight disadvantage.
We did trips to Malchesine, Limone, Laseze, Sirmoine and Gordone, all lovely resorts in their own right but perhaps not enough to do there for a full week/fortnight?
Gardaland - a theme park for children (and adults) is situated down the south end of the lake - perhaps too far from Riva unless going by car?

In summary - a lovely holiday in a super hotel.

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Savoy Palace - Riva del Garda

Operator and Date: Crusader Holidays - April 2006

Opinion submitted in May 2006 by : M Thompson - Suffolk

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The Resort of Riva is Lovely, lots of nice little shops and restaurants.
The ferry around the lake is very simple and cheap and departs regularly - i would recommend it!.
Savoy Palace is a nice hotel, the food was about 6 courses and was very enjoyable.  The room we had was massive and had a nice view of the mountains.
I would highly recommend Riva and the Savoy Palace!!.
Wouldnt suggest going by coach though - its longer than you think! and uncomfortable.

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Savoy Palace - Riva del Garda

Operator and Date: (Cosmos Discounts) Cosmos - May 2005

Opinion submitted in June 2005 by : Scotland - (57, 53)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Took last.minute.com deal with allocation on arrival (4 star) and was delighted with accommodation. Room, food were terrific and staff very pleasant and efficient.
(There were 5 courses most nights, and 6 on gala nights!!) Service was prompt, but not rushed, in the conservatory dining room. Only problem was heat on gala nights - eventually the fans were put on.
At first we were disappointed with the site of our hotel, at the North End of Lake Garda - 3 hours by bus from Venice airport.

We had hoped to use our hotel as a base to visit Venice/Milan, but because of distances we hired a car for two days and stayed one night in central hotel in Venice (£105) and had a wonderful visit there (Thanks Locarno Art Deco Hotel - wonderful stay - booked on internet at Riva.)

We didn't get to Milan, though a bus tour to Verona was excellent, with a guided tour from the city guide. It was a very hot day, but drank lots of water as advised by guide, and enjoyed seeing Juliet's Balcony and statue, and the Roman Amphitheatre where operas are held July to September, plus lots of interesting buildings and history, including a colourful market square.
Another day we took ferry from Riva to Malcesine via Limone. Malcesine has picturesque harbour, narrow cobbled alleys, castle, and street market.

In end May, the sun shone every day, temperatures usually 23 degrees plus, but it wasn't a stifling heat. In fact, we were able to walk the 6kms return journey from centre Riva to the Cascata Varone, (a fantastic waterfall/gorge just north of village of Varone.) Also a car park and shop. Some people wore raincapes  but we enjoyed the cool experience!! Well worth seeing.

A lovely holiday, and Riva is a beautiful town with castle, parks and swimming in lake, all surrounded with gorgeous mountains. Really breathtaking, but quite isolated. If you intend visiting Venice for the day, staying nearer the south end of the Lake and taking train/car to Venice/Milan would have been easier.
However, all in all an excellent stay - and we thoroughly recommend the Hotel Savoy Palace.

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Savoy Palace - Riva del Garda

Operator and Date: May 2005

Opinion submitted in May 2005 by :

Resort Rating: Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Hotel staff very friendly, rooms very clean however beware of dropping food on the carpet inside your room as it will be very quickly infested with ants. This happened to us and when we stamped on the carpet lots of ants bounced out of it! Resturant was extremely good, service and choice excellent. If anyone prefers to eat out, there is an excellent restaurant called La Colombre which is situtaed behind the hotel in the residential area, approximately a five minute walk away. You can watch the chef cook your meat which can be anything from ostrich, wildboar or horse; they also do beef, lamb, pork and veal for those who are not as adventerous. Well worth paying a visit, but you may need to make a reservation as it gets very busy.

The lakeside is very scenic but beware if you like the evening sun. The village is situated at the tip of the northern part of the lake and is dominated by mountains, hence the sun in May sets behind a mountain at 17-18hrs and the temperature drops a few degrees. There is plenty of eating places/cafe bars but overrall the resort is very quiet, not recommended for those who like English pubs. There are only two in Riva- Marliyns in the old town, up a side street and Tetleys on the main street going down into the old town near the fire station. Excellent choice of resort if you prefer the outdoor sports such as wind surfing,cycling, walking and mountain climbing but if you prefer to have a more leisurely holiday with a mediterrean feel then opt to choose a resort down on the south part of the Lake.

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Savoy Palace - Riva del Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson-August2004

Opinion submitted in Aug 2004 by : Irene Davies - S.Wales 50

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Our first choice of holiday had been Garda but owing to building work in the area we were kindly refunded by Thomson and were free to reselect.As my husband is teaching we were restricted to certain dates in August and therefore not all hotels were available within 6 weeks of our departure date.

We chose Riva and the Savoy Palace and were absolutely thrilled with our holiday.We were shown to our room which had a jacuzzi bath and hand held shower but as we prefer a walk in shower we asked for another room and were given exactly what we asked for.The room was larger than average and in a lovely quiet area with a stunning backdrop of mountains .

My husband hates pasta (sorry Italy) and I'm a Demi veggie eating only chicken or fish no red meat.We explained to the head waiter who gave us really tasty alternatives we really appreciated it. The food was excellent...however we only found out about the free coffee and cake happy hour four days into the holiday!
The lake tour is well worth doing as it gives you a feel of different resorts we didn't get to Malcesine but after reading the reviews will definitely book to go there.

The Wine tour was also brilliant and we came back with lots of GOOD wine to bring home.The most spectacular trip was the Dolomites "unbelievable"and it was so lovely to watch the scenery change from Italian to Tyrolean especially the swiss chalet type houses.The cable car ride was fantastic and 10,000 ft up we felt on top of the world!The only thing that spoilt that trip was me turning over on my ankle and badly spraining it which took 2 days out of our stay.Luckily it was towards the end of the holiday and Sara our rep was fantastic arranging wheelchair assistance for me.So we'll just have to go back again and this time see Venice and Verona and stay in Malcesine.

WE can recommend the Savoy Palace as all the staff were friendly and helpful.Bedlinen towels and all rooms were spotless,food was very good and the gala evenings enjoyable.Pool very cold though. Walking along lakeside in the evening was a good 20 mins to centre but always very quiet and we felt a little disapoointed as we didn't hear any renditions of O Sole Mio or Nessun Dorma or anything remotely Italian. 

We thought the atmosphere could have been MORE ITALIANO!! The Icecreams were superb and in Britain we really are ripped off as we had HUGE ice creams for 1 Euro.There wasone stand in Riva who sold CARTE D'OR(refused to buy it)

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Hotel Sirena  - Lazise, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Independent May 2004

Opinion submitted in July 2004 by : Mike Mullis 53,54,54,58

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

A lovely little town on Lake Garda, most of Munich has heard of the place but we are in the minority. Do not worry....it works to your advantage!!

Great little Hotel,rooms a little small but a great position and very helpful owners.We started B&B but rapidly converted to half board when we saw what was on offer.
Garden area was excellent and pool kept very clean.
ThomsonFly took us there via Venice and a hire car got us around.
A great holiday and the usual Italian warm welcome.

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Hotel Sole Navene - Malcesine

Operator and Date: Airtours - July 2007

Opinion submitted in July 2007 by : L  & S MacKenzie  

Resort Rating: Below Average

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

When we booked the holiday, Airtours had no information about either the hotel or the resort Navene. However it was a good price so we thought we would take a chance and book the holiday. Initially we searched the internet for information and found it very difficult to get any. We then read the comments on Holidays Uncovered and we wondered if we had done the right thing.

It was with some trepidation we arrived at the hotel and were given the keys to our room. The room was clean, had a large balcony and a view of Lake Garda. Not so bad we thought. True, the hotel is a good way out of Malcesine and it took us an hour to walk into the town. However there is a good path/pavement which makes walking relatively easy. The bus service, which stops outside the hotel door ran almost to timetable. The longest we had to wait past the scheduled time was 10 minutes. The courtesy bus run by the hotel took residents into Malcesine twice a day and went for them again in the early evening. It could also be booked to take residents to and from Malcesine at night.

The food was basic but well cooked. Breakfast was self service and although it did not have the variety of a large hotel it was adequate for anyones needs. Dinner always had a choice of soup or pasta but the main course and dessert were varied each evening. Perhaps one down side was the helpings were not particularly generous.  Everyone we talked to agreed that the hotel was on a prime site and had a lot of potential. The hotel could do with employing more staff but those there were very helpful and did their best to make our holiday enjoyable.

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Hotel Sole - Navene, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Travelsphere - Sept 2006

Opinion submitted in September 2006 by : Mark and Pam Towers - Rotherham (37, 38)

Resort Rating: Poor

Accommodation Rating: Below Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

First of all Lake Garda is an excellent place to visit and there are many good resorts to stay at around the 100 mile perimeter of the lake. September is a good time to visit as the weather is still very warm but the schoolkids are back so the places to visit are quieter.

I agree with the other comments, Navene cannot be classed as a resort. It is a 1hr 15 min walk at a brisk pace from Malcesine and even further to the next resort in the opposite direction, Torbole.

About 10 min walk away is a hotel Pizza restaurant and a very small bar, but there is no footpath for most of that journey and the road very busy with all kinds of traffic. There is nothing else at Navene.

Hotel Sole does have an excellent view of the lake being just 30 yards away on the opposite side of the road. Most of the rooms have a lake view. We got a side sea view as we didn't pay for a view, but you could see most of the lake if you ventured on to the balcony.
The room was kept clean and tidy by the maid on a daily basis. Unfortunately the rooms and the rest of the hotel were left in a seveties time-warp.

The hotel insist on giving guests a table at the start of the holiday that you MUST dine at for the rest of the holiday. We also had to dine at 7.30pm as a group. Breakfast consists of cheap cereals, some yogurt, stale bread rolls, croissants, ham and cheese. The coffee was awful as was the over diluted orange juice.
Evening dinner was occasionally a choice of three dishes for starter and main course but other nights there was no choice. Nearly every night there was a pasta starter that perhaps had one ingredient changed each time and the main course usually consisted of escalope. That could be turkey but mostly like gammon with the hell battered out of it.
We would definitely have gone out and paid for a meal in a restaurant on most nights but unfortunatley there aren't any. The one Pizza place already mentioned was not practical bacause you would have to walk in the roadway at night.
The hotels' drinks are more expensive than the many restaurants at Torbole and Riva that overlook the lake in much more desirable locations.

Buses conveniently stopped outside the hotel in both directions. There is a timetable and it costs about 1 euro to Malcesine and 1.5 euros to Torbole. The buses however run once an hour and aren't at all reliable. You could be waitng anything up to an hour for one as punctaulity is not their strong point.

Places defintitely worth a visit not too far away are Riva del Garda (sometimes just called Riva), Torbole, Malcesine, and Limone. You can get ferries to all of these places.
The cable car up to Monte Baldo above Malcesine offers fabulous views but beware that the wait to get back down could be up to an hour in all.

We thoroughly enjoyed the excursions to Verona, Venice and the Lake Garda tour. The Dolomites excursion was OK, there is plenty of gorgeous scenery but most of the time is just sat on the coach taking it all in.

The Travelsphere Manager was always at hand and she was excellent. She did receive plenty of moans from guests about the location as we all agreed that after the meal there was nothing to do. I took a DVD player and so we ended up with a bottle of wine most nights watching a film in the bedroom.

If you do plan on going to Lake Garda with Travelsphere either ensure that you insist that you don't want to stay at Navene or pay extra to go on the Garda Gold holiday staying at Riva as this is an excellent base.

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Hotel Sole - Navene, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Italian Getaways - May 2006

Opinion submitted in May 2006 by : Anne Carter - Wirral (55,59)

Resort Rating: No rating

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Just returned from a week in Navene.  You may not have heard of this resort because it basically does not exist.  There are a couple of hotels, a tabacconist and a small snack bar.  We stayed in the Hotel Sole and we were not impressed at all.  We were situated on a very busy main road facing the lake (we had to pay £80 per night for a lake view).  The room was ok although the TV had no English channel and when a remote was requested to try and tune one in, it never did materialise. 

There was no courtesy bus provided, we were informed that there was one but it was not working.  We therefore had to rely on public transport to get to the nearest resort which was Malcesine (fabulous resort - wish we had stayed there). It cost one euro and took about 8 minutes, it was too far to walk and anyway there were no pavements for a lot of the way.  

There were no facilities at all in the hotel to pass the time on the one rainy day we had.  There was an outdoor pool but this was dirty and not in use.  

Regarding a comment about the food, I can only use one word and that is appalling.  It was of the lowest quality possible and the minimum amount.  No choice was offered most of the time and when it was offered it was between two abysmal excuses for food.  The breakfast was a joke with last night's pudding as one of the choices.  Each evening there was no choice of time for the evening meal - you had to be there at 7.00 p.m!  The prices in the bar were not displayed and were very expensive obviously because we were a captive audience.  

I would not recommend this hotel to my worst enemy.  We saw the advert in the Daily Mail and it stated that the food at this hotel was "renowned" but it didn't say what for. We ended up getting the bus to Malcesine to eat out but the last bus back was 8.30 p.m.  

Having said all that, Lake Garda is a beautiful place and I would definitely go back to the area but next time we will do some research into accommodation.

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Hotel Sole Riva del Garda

Operator and Date: Italian Getaways - April 2006

Opinion submitted in Apr 2006 by : Jane E Burke 56,

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Hotel Sole had been closed for 2 years prior to our trip 08.04.06 and was COLD! The overall ambient temperature did not improve over the week as no heating was available .... and the weather was cold and wet. 

The position on the lake made it impossible to walk out at night as the route out of Navene was quite dangerous in places, but when the walkway being built in Malcesine is extended all will be well. Good place for seeing lots of Lake Garda as hotel has little to offer at present ... but when the swimming pool, jacuzzi and steam room are operational this  may improve. Had a good holiday though!

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Hotel Sole Riva del Garda

Operator and Date: Inghams - August 2005

Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : Anne & Jim - Laois (48,54)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Didn't find the Hotel Sole quite as exciting as other reviewers on this site.  Although we had booked in January, we were unable to get a room with a balcony or lake view, however, our view of the Piazza Tre Novembre was quite nice.

The food in Hotel Sole is extremely unexciting, to say the least, with breakfast being exceptionally dull.  Dinner, as pointed out by other reviewers, seems to be aimed mainly at German tastes, with lots of pork, sausage and even rabbit stew!  Authentic Italian food is in short supply, unless you take lunch on the lakeside terrace and even then, you're likely to find sausage mixed through your pasta!
Another drawback is the very short dining time - breakfast finishes at 10.00a.m. on the DOT - staff start turning out lights in the dining room at 9.50a.m.!  Dinner is served from 7.00p.m. - 8.30p.m.

As regards tours - Venice by night is wonderful, especially the view from the bell tower of St. Mark's as dusk falls - breathtaking and well worth the long day.
The trip to the Dolomites is only worth doing if you haven't been to Austria - if you have, then it's just a return visit.  A word of warning - if you go, don't eat at Restaurant Maria where the Inghams coach stops - food is worse than bad!
Florence is great but with mile-long queues for the Cathedral and museums, it really is just a taster for a holiday there(!)
Riva itself is a lovely town with a fantastic setting - be prepared for the wind which blows down from the mountains every afternoon and which is the joy of the hundreds of windsurfers who then take to the lake! A ferry trip to nearby Limone is a must - beautiful village with lots of little lakeside eateries and narrow, winding streets.

Wonderful views from the cable car up to Monte Baldo at Malcesine - be sure to wear a jacket and sensible shoes! (Actually, the views from the cable car are much better than from Monte Baldo itself)
Missed out on Verona and would love to visit some of the other resorts on the lake (although the northern end does look prettier)so a return  visit is a must!

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Hotel Sole Riva del Garda

Operator and Date: crystal lakes and mountains- may 2005

Opinion submitted in June 2005 by : carol,50, vera,76,vicky,27, ruth and rachel,24

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We stayed at the Hotel Sole for a week in may. The hotel staff are very friendly and very helpful.  They especially like it if you try and speak some italian.
The old man on reception who appears grumpy as first is very nice and helpful as is the tall coloured man again on reception at night.

The resturant is very clean and the food is very good there. The hotel rooms are very clean, some are done out with modern furniture and others are done out in old fashioned furniture. The hotel itself over looks the lake where you can just about get a ferry to any where on the lake.  The hotel has an ice cream shop attached to it.  This got very busy and the ice cream was very good.
There are lots of bars around the main square.  We liked the guiness bar and the bar with no name and also the cafe broiche on the corner where the waiters were nice and friendly.  In the cafe broiche they have a singer on most nights and it can get quite busy.

Limone is worth a visit, lots of little shops to look in.  Hotel le palme is a nice place to stop and have a drink and something to eat as the waiters are very friendly and the terrace over looks the lake.  Sirmone is also nice for a look round. Verona is a couple of hours drive but is worth a visit.
Bat trips to the other places on the lake cost about 5 EUROS EA. and the Market in Riva on a Wednesday is well worth a visit - very cheap but good quality clothes etc.

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Hotel Sole Riva del Garda

Operator and Date: Parrys - August 2004

Opinion submitted in Oct 2004 by : Elizabeth & David Lloyd - Wolverhampton (57, 51)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion:

When you arrive at the Hotel Sole in Riva del Garda, it's like being on a film set, surrounded by mountains and with a fabulous view over the lake.  It's worth paying extra to have a room with a balcony overlooking the lake because of the views every morning. The hotel itself is delightful, the food is good and the staff are very helpful and friendly.

The town of Riva is mainly pedestrianised but watch out for the bikes, they seem to think they're exempt and are entitled to wizz down the narrow streets! There's a good selection of shops with everything from wine to olive oil to leather goods, all at very reasonable prices.

If you find the Cafe de Paris (just up the road from the fountain near the Piazza)say hello to Roberto.  His food is good and cheap, so is the wine & beer. You'll pay for a drink but end up with all sorts of nibbles, from sweets to nuts - all free of charge.

The Lake Garda area is beautiful and it's easy to hop on a ferry to visit another resort. They all have their own different characters and it's very pleasant spending an hour or so with a drink, watching the world go by. It's also quite easy to get to Verona on a local coach trip - we only had a half day but it was well worth it and the guide was excellent.

We can't fault either Riva del Garda or the Hotel Sole - all we have to do now is decide when we're going back! Our trip was with a local coach tour company, Parrys International, and it was by far the most economical way to go there.

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Hotel Sole Riva del Garda

Operator and Date: Sue Baldock, Yorkshire - May 2004

Opinion submitted in May 2004 by : (53,57)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Hotel Sole in Riva was an excellent base for a holiday on Lake Garda as this hotel is right in the middle of this wonderful town which is full of history (Free guided tours organised by the Local Tourist information office - just ask)and beside the terminal of the lake ferry's, so very convenient for getting around and wonderful people watching. The views from the hotel across the lake are stunning so try as hard as you can for a lake view. 

We visited early May and it poured with rain for 4 days so perhaps going later in May would be a safer bet but because our Hotel was so central we were able to explore the wonderful narrow streets, city walls, Palazzo's , shops, cafe's etc without getting too wet. 

The food was adequate but despite being full board we did resort to eating out towards the end of the week as we really needed to sample some wonderful Italian Food - and we did at the Ristorante Leon D'Oro (Golden Lion), Via Fiume, Riva. Had we found this gem on the first night of our holidays we would have skipped every evening meal at the hotel and gone home very fat. Not cheap, but we did have 4 (fantastic) courses and the house wine is excellent. Worth going to Riva just to eat at the Leon D'Oro. 

Great holiday, wonderful people, stunning scenery, to be recommended. 

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Splendid Palace Hotel - Limone - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: My Travel June 2007

Opinion submitted in June 2007 by : Dave & Alison 45 & 34

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Just spent a week at the Hotel Splendid Palace.  The location of the hotel is second to none, with a marvelous terrace overlooking the lake for leisurely breakfasts and evening drinks. Limone is a beautiful (though small) village which is totally unspoilt and uncommercialised. The scenery is magnificent with great views of the lake and high mountains. The weather was warm (80's), although quite often cloudy meaning it doesn't have the intensity of, say, Spain where it's often to hot to sit out at midday. 

There are a handful of lakeside restaurants serving traditional Italian meals (pasta & pizzas are lovely) and the ice creams are superb. There are several leather and glassware shops.  There are regular boat trips available from the lakeside, which is just a few minutes stroll from the hotel. We would recommend a trip acrooss to Melcesine (about 8 euros per person) and then a cable car ride to the top of the mountain (about 15 euros). Melcesine is busier than Limone with more shops and restaurants and very picturesque. Riva is about an hour away by boat and also worth a visit.

The Hotel Splendid is a bit dated in terms of decor and some rooms are quite a walk from the reception and restaurant areas.  The rooms are quite small and have thin walls so you can hear next door taking a shower etc... beds are also quite hard. The food is probably not 4 star standard... pretty much the same each night. Salad or soup, 3 pastas and meat or fish and the usual mousse or cake type desserts. The usual bacon and sausage at breakfast were not very appealing,but there was a good choice of breads, croissants and jams. The staff are very friendly, but anxious to get you out of the restaurant at the earliest opportunity. Keep your eye on your drinks as if you're away from your table for too long, they are removed !!. There are free drinks on tap for you to help yourself with the evening meal (beer, red and white wine, water and soft drinks) and free tea, coffee and biscuits between 4pm-5pm which is a nice touch. 

Entertainment is put on 3 or 4 times per week and is the usual keyboard player/singer and one night Brazilian dancers. It's worth knowing that whilst the organised trips are excellent, Limone is a long way from the destinations so be prepared for very long bus journeys. We went to Venice which took nearly 5 hours to get there (7am start). We then had 4 hours there before returning just in time for evening meal at 8pm, so a very long and tiring day. The cost of this trip was around 40 euros per person but you then have to pay around 18 euros each for a gondola ride and 15 euros each for the optional boat trip. Venice is superb though and worth the journey, especially the part as you arrive by boat at the lagoon and Grand Canal.  We also did the Dolomites trip which was again a similar bus journey, but well worth it for the views. This cost again around 40 euros each with a stop off for lunch which was optional and cost only a few euros. 

Overall, we would recommend this as a holiday, but if you're planning on doing trips, then you will find all the travel very tiring.

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Splendid Palace Hotel - Limone - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Inghams - May 2007

Opinion submitted in June 2007 by : Marion + Mark 49,46

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

When we arrived the receptionist could not have been any nicer she informed us that a table had been set for us in the bar area and a meal had been kept for us because we were to late for dinner, our room was on level 1,which had a breathtaking view of the lake and town with all the little boats going on day trips it was wonderful, the hotel is slightly old fashioned but we really loved its relaxed atmosphere,fantastic staff, food and location which is a 5 min walk into the town which is beautiful and has a nice assortment of bars restaurants and shops(some very expensive)the ferrys are plentiful to different resorts the closest being Malcesnine about 15mins away, this is bigger than Limone and also lovely well worth the 7.50 euros, you can take a cable car ride up Mt Boldo,if you do, take a jacket as it really cold I lasted 10mins.

This was our first time in Lake Garda and can't wait to go back, we loved the Splendid Palace and Limone it was just super.

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Splendid Palace Hotel - Limone - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Ingham - Sep 2006

Opinion submitted in October 2006 by : Penny and Kevin (mid - late thirties)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The Hotel Splendid Palace in Lake Garda is a 4 star hotel very near the town centre of Limone on the North Western side of the Lake.

The location of this hotel is practically perfect. It took us no more than 2 minutes from the hotel to the centre of Limone.

Positives:-

Limone is a typical Italian beautiful winding cobble street town. It is a wonderful place to take a slow stroll along - particularly at night with a few places to stop and drink wine by the lakeside.

Surrounding resorts are just as nice (Malcesine across the lake is even better for walking/drinking/shopping) and all are easily reached by fast or slow boats.

The hotel itself is very clean, bright and nice. It has actually joined up with another hotel (Le Palme I think) and so we found that this added to the interest in the place - it was almost like a maze of corridors when you began walking around to see what's about.

We went half board and the evening meal food was excellent. We prefer to eat out on holiday normally but with this hotel you wonder what you might be missing out on.

The restaurants and lounges were very big and are able to accomodate lots of people.

The staff were always friendly and their English is good (much to my shame as my Italian is non-existent).

Negative Points:-

I'm afraid the hotel had some negatives and these are the reasons for the 'average' rating...

The matresses were very uncomfortable/hard/thin. We didn't sleep too well.

The cleaners, although they did an excellent job in the rooms, perhaps didn't need to start hoovering right outside and next door at 7.15am. On holiday we like to lie in!

The swimming pools were not just cold, they were freezing. This included the indoor pool - with a jucuzzi attached using the same water you ended up with a freezing jucuzzi...disappointing and just wrong. I went for a swim a couple of times but couldn't really get used to it and just gave up in the end.

They had a sauna but at a charge (free would have been nice considering the cost of the hotel). Even then you had to warn them an hour or two before so that they can start it up and you payed for 45 mins...I can just about manage 10 mins in a sauna so that would have been a waste.

The balcony's were a bit small. There was only just enough for two people to sit out there.

I had to do a bit of DIY on the shower enclosure to allow the doors to close properly (but I suspect the hotel would have jumped to fixing it had I asked).

They cannot cook breakfast. I ended up eating toast each day and I am a big cooked breakfast fan. The scrambled egg was a yellow slurry and the bacon was just strips of fat swimming in heated water/fat combination. And there was some sort of chilli con carne type mush....I won't go there!!!

Don't be put off by the amount of negatives v positives - all in all it's a wonderful place and the hotel is worth the visit. I gave the hotel/accomodation an average rating because for a hotel that is rated 4 star I wouldn't have expected to be able to give all the negatives above.

Other Info:-

We hired a car for a couple of days.

PLEASE make sure you search out Lake Tenno - near Riva (North of Limone and slightly inland - about 15 mins drive). It is a lovely blue lagoon and well worth two hours of your time.

Also watch out the the Verone waterfalls near here as well - this is also well worth a visit for an hour if you have a car.

We drove down to Sirmione (another lovely place) and it only took about 2 hours. Eventually we decided to drive around the whole lake and got back in time for tea! The Lake is deceptively large and it's brought into perspective when you start driving around.

The roads are great - especially if you are the 'driving/fast cars' type of person - the tunnels that go in and out the mountain would be fantastic in a loud sports convertible.

Take a trip up to Tremosine (up the hill slightly south from Limone). Keep going up the road and look out for Hotel Paradiso. Park up and go in for a cuppa and then stand on their cliff-hanging balcony over the ledge of the mountain. The drop is enough to make you dizzy. The views are second to none - if it's a nice day of course.

And if you like great roads, take the alternative 'Gorge' road back down to the lakeside - this winds around for a bit and then plunges down right into the mountain with a tunnel which is a couple of kilometres long in sheer blackness! The roads are tight though - if you meet a coach then you will be stuck...and it is a two way road! Do not drive if you're not too confident...seriously...you have been warned!!!

We also took a trip to Venice. Glad we went just to say we have been there but it's only good for an afternoon in our opinion. It was all very touristy and drab/dirty. It had a bit of a depressing feel about it....and it is HUGELY expensive once you're there. (110 euros for a simple meal for two!)

One last point - if you've never been to the Dolomites, try to take the opportunity. It is an eye-opener - so much so that we wrote down town and hotel names and intend to go back for a longer stay soon!

Say hello to Heather - the Inghams rep if you see her - lovely woman with a lovely West Country accent (been there over twenty years!!!). Couldn't have wanted a nicer rep!

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Splendid Palace Hotel - Limone - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Crystal - June 2006

Opinion submitted in June 2006 by : Terry Mitchell - Bournemouth (50,s)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The resort of Limone is in a beautiful location on the north section of the lake (the section with all the mountains) Unfortunately this resort is also the most remote from Verona Airport with a stated transfer time of 2 hrs 30 mins. It took all of that time traveling to the hotel with numerous drop offs around the northern section of the lake starting at malcesnie then Torbole then Riva and finally Limone. A point to note is that a number of the hotels that Crystal use in the area are down small access roads that the main coach cannot access so people where being dropped at a central point in the resort and then taxied or mini bus to the actual hotel. This worked well in Malcesine but in Torbole there were only 2 people getting off and no taxi turned up so the coach waited fo 25 minutes until the transfer arrived. This was very annoying to the remaining 20 or so people on the coach who knew that they had 30 to 45 minutes more after the coach started moving again.

The transfer does not have to take that long, going back to the airport the coach was nearly full when we got on (the Splendid Palace being towards the northern end of the resort)and with one later pickup the coach went straight on through Riva and Torbole and through the mountain tunnel to the Autostrada and took 1 hr 15 mins from door to airport!

The Hotel Splendid Palace is in a very good location about 100 metres from the ferry landing point (although it is uphill all the way back to the Hotel)and the views over the lake towards Malcesine and mount Baldo are excellent.

The Hotel is built top to bottom with the main road at the back of the hotel and the reception and lounge/bar area on the top floor (at main road level) and the 4 floors of accommodation below that all facing the lake. The back of the rooms being cut into the cliff. The pool is level with the rooms on floor 4. MAKE SURE that you pay the small supplement for a balcony/lake view rooms. The standard rooms in the Crystal brouchure are on floor 4 and called "pool View" and are basically part of the swiming pool surround with no view of the lake. Remember floor 1 is higher than floor 2 etc. this is confusing for the first couple of days when you get in the lift !

The rooms were clean with a good size balcony, the beds a bit hard. they have air con (from 1st June) but it was not hot enough for it to be switched on in the first week of June 2006.

We were in room 107 (top floor) and although these have the best views all the rooms on that floor in that section (rooms 101 to 116 inc) suffer from the worst noise as they are directly below the lounge/bar/reception area and the outdoor Tiled patio area attached to it. There is piped music in the bar area (and speakers outside in the patio area) which can easily be heard in the rooms on that level with your balcony door open. Also 107 - 109 are DIRECTLY underneath the area for the live music (a couple of nights a week)and you might as well be sitting next to the band as being in your room when they are playing. OK if you dont want to go to bed before 23:00 but as alot of the excursion leave VERY early in the morning not so good if you are trying to get some sleep before a long day excursion the next day.

All the staff that we met were Friendly and efficient, I cannot fault one of them.
The food was excellent. We were on a P & O cruise the year before last and the food at the splendid Palace was consistently better than on the cruise ship with more choice, better quantity and taste with none of the bull...t of being told where you were going to sit and exactly what time you had to sit down to eat and what you were going to wear.

Although the brouchure says 4 course buffet evening meal there is nothing to stop you making it an 8 course meal if you are so inclined. For dinner there was and extensive salad buffet, 2 choices of soup, 3 choices of pasta, 4 main courses (including both fish and meat) a couple of veg (the Italians are not big on veg) and 5 or 6 choices of sweet with additional ice cream and cheese. Add to this help yourself wine (red, white, rose) and beer, mineral water and about 5 types of carbonated soft drinks all in unlimited supply throught the meal.

The guest breakdown was about 70% German, 20% British and 10% other (Dutch/Scandanavian etc). A fair mix of ages with some German families with children (although we were not there in the school holidays)

THe ferries were efficient for traveling to other resorts on the lake although the timetable is very complicated at first glance but the fares are not cheap and just because you are traveling a shorter distance does not means that you will pay less than a longer journey. Eg. Limone to Riva 30 minute journey = 6.60 Euros return and Limone to Malcesine 20 minutes journey = 9 Euros return. These prices are per person and if you were paying for all persons in a family  would soon mount up over a week.

A final note this is still Italy and Siesta land with supermarkets banks shops etc closing from 12:30 to 15:30 approx and as the ferries dont get into full swing until mid morning you could well end up traveling somewhere to arrive just in time for everything except cafes and tourist shops closing for 3 hours.

It's a beautiful resort and we would go again but it is nothing like southern Italy and if you went by the number plates of the cars on the road you would think that you were in Germany.

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Splendid Palace Hotel - Limone - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Crystal - July 2005

Opinion submitted in Aug 2005 by : Roy McCully  57, 55

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Very Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

I have just returned from a ten night stay at the  4* Splendid Palace Hotel at Limone on Lake Garda.
Although booked through Crystal, I managed to email ahead to the Hotel and pre-book a room number. Some friends of ours had just stayed there and we re advised to try to get a 4th floor room, as these were furthest from the pool, which could be noisy.

To my great surprise, we were accommodated by the charming reception staff, and given a great room, fantastic view over the lake with a balcony view facing the Lake and the  Monte Baldo ridge of Mountains.
The Hotel is very close to the village centre, reached by a short walk that may be a little steep in part, for some people. The picturesque streets of Limone are very narrow and generally steep. Limone  virtually grows out of a mountain side.

The hotel was superb with fantastic friendly staff and  good facilities. The restaurant was very spacious and the meals supplied would satisfy anyone, plenty of variety, well presented  and eat as much as you wanted. Free drinks !!  The restaurant was supposed to be air conditioned, but this was not in operation, so I guess having the windows open instead  was next best option.
However, the condition of our room was a bit jaded, and in need of refurbishment. The carpet and some fittings were a bit tatty or of low quality. The toilet had a lump out of it, the air-con did not work, we slept with the balcony doors open during a week of around 35 deg  temperatures. Having said this, the room was cleaned and maintained daily and all towels etc replaced. I could not fault the staff or service.
All other areas of the Hotel did not appear to have suffered the same need of decoration, maybe they are getting round to the rooms.
Overall, I have had, and would have expected better from a 4* Hotel.

We chose Limone as we had not been to Italy before and we love to walk. The area is as good as I have seen anywhere, with some very challenging walks. Lake Garda is huge and the scenery changes from mostly flat in the south to very mountainous in the north. The Lake is well served by ferries and boats to visit other towns, the buses are cheap and should be used.
Limone and the  general area is extremely popular with Germans, so the shops, restaurants and entertainment cater primarily for Germans. English is widely spoken, but German was dominant, as always, be respectful and try a little Italian, it is always appreciated.

I would definitely return, but mainly for the  scenery and walking.

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Splendid Palace Hotel - Limone - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Inghams......September 2004

Opinion submitted in Jan 2005 by : Mike & Hil - W. Mids.  (64, 61)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

LIMONE.
Perfect base for north of Lake Garda. Compact but plenty of shops etc.Very pretty.Picturesque location and views of lake and hills.
Bustling by day..peaceful in evening. Easy reach of upper lake resorts and Dolomites.
HOTEL SPLENDID PALACE.
Perfect base hotel.Great view across lake. Rooms and facilities more than adequate. ALL staff helpful,efficient and friendly. Food/dining unbeatable for a 'chill out'holiday.Excellent buffet style quality,choice,free drinks,flexibility.
INGHAMS.
Must be one of the better operators.Excellent reps.

Resort/Hotel/Operator ALL RECOMMENDED

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Splendid Palace Hotel - Limone - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: (Airtours Direct) Airtours - August 2004

Opinion submitted in Oct 2004 by : Karen Marriott (29,26)

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We booked this hotel because of the views from the hotel seen in the Airtours brochure and were not dissapointed.

This was out first summer holiday abraod and we were keen to have a relaxing break away from the traditonal 'sun, sea and sand' British abroad holiday. The hotel and resort were very relaxing - if you wanted to sunbathe by the pool every day, you would have possibly the most scenic view whilst doing so! However, a short (steep) stroll to the town centre (5 minutes walk) takes you to a small selection of good restaurants, shops and the ferry terminal.

As the resort is so small, you may decide to take one of the regular ferries across to Malchesine (with a rotating cable-car) or to Riva del Garda at the north end of the lake. If you're into watersports, head to Torbole for sailing and windsurfing.

Evenings in the hotel are quiet and relaxing. There is a ban on boats on the lake in the evening, so you can sit and have a glass or two of wine on the hotel terrace after dinner. The food at the hotek was very good - several options for each course, so even the most fussy eater would find soemthing to eat. Vegetarians might find the choice more limited, though soup, pasta and good salad were always available.

The only downside to this hotel is that the resort itself is the furthest away from the airport,and hence you get the earliest pickups and last dropoffs for airport transfers and tours. Make the most of a week here by avoiding organised tours and be happy to plan your activities on a day to day basis - don't miss the cable car at Malchesine on a clear sunny day.

If you're looking for a relaxing break, with fabulous views, then don;tlook any further1

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Splendid Palace Hotel - Limone - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Inghams - 2004

Opinion submitted in Jan 2005 by : Mandy & Steve 35

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

First time to Italy and not disapointed with the beautiful lake Garda and the very friendly people.
The staff at our hotel were excellent, courteous and helpful. The hotel was lovely and our room had the most beautiful view of the Lake and Mount Balde.
I would go back there in an instant but must try the rest of the world too.
Food at hotel was very good although the free wine a little cheap and cheerful tasting.
Prices were fine at the bars in the village and in the hotel too.
Plenty to see and do and although maybe avoid the rep led tours as they are a little expensive for what you get, you can do it on your own!!!

All in all one of the best holidays I have ever had!!

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Hotel Sport Olimpo - Garda

Operator and Date: Crystal - June 2005

Opinion submitted in July 2005 by : Jack Leitch - Gourock, Scotland (61,59)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Poor

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Once more the town of Garda was at its beautiful best, but the Hotel Sport Olympo was far below the standard of any of the 3* hotels we have previously stay in.

On the positive side, the rooms are a reasonable size, balcony was fine and staff were most pleasant.  However -
 
(a) The swimming pool has no "shallow end" so it is unsuitable for children or anyone requiring to stay within "their own depth".
 
(b) The hotel does not provide pool towels.
  
(c) Breakfast - There is plenty of cold continental fare (cheese, ham, salami, etc.) but only one cereal and no hot option (scrambled eggs, bacon, etc.).

(d) Dinner - Food is plentiful was pretty basic at best. 

In summary, my wife and I love Garda and will be returning but not to this hotel. 

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Hotel Terminus and Garda - Garda

Operator and Date: May 2004

Opinion submitted in May 2005 by : James Feest   Worthing  (74 &75)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

The hotel Terminus & Garda is situated at the far eastern end of the vey long lakeside promenade in Garda Town.
What can I say? it is a well run family owned hotel with excellent Italian food and good sensible and cheerful staff
Garda is a pleasant town with good shopping and bar/restuarants lining the lakeside. What is really good is that there is an excellent steamewr service to all parts of Lake Garda. Mind you you must study the time-tables to make sure there is a boat that will bring you back from some of the further towns in the North of the lake

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Hotel Vega - Malcesine - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: (Thomson Direct) Thomson JULY2005

Opinion submitted in Sept 2005 by : TERESA ,  HUGH(57 63)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Fabulous Hotel,right on lakefront and close to ferries.We booked late half board,we had no idea the food would be so wonderful.Paid our drinks bill at the end of the week and have to say it was far higher than we thought it would be and a lot of our drinks were mineral water!made a misteke but will learn from it.

Would we return?most definitely.

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Hotel Vel a'Dora - Cisano by BardilinoLake Grda

Operator and Date: Booked myself

Opinion submitted in March 2007 by : Sue Mills-Southend on Sea (44,45)

Resort Rating: Excellent

Accommodation Rating: Excellent

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

Hotel very clean, lovely helpful staff,perfect position on lake shore.The balcony was good,taking 2 relaxer chairs and a small table, with beautiful views over the lake.Cisano is a 5min walk from Bardolino, it has several resturants of its own on the lake shore.All meals we had anywhere around the Lake were lovely and good value along with 'house red wine'.Its a pleasant walk to Bardilino, (north, or Lazize, south)Breakfast was  buffet,very good choices.Staff were very efficiant clearing used tables.Cannot fault hotel at all. It does not have a swimming pool on site, but the use of a very clean pool at a sister hotel a few doors away was fine. As in ALL Italian pools you must wear a swimming hat (about 1 euro sold everywhere on lake garda).

I am disabled and so some places were a no go for me in a wheelchair, like Limone (cobled streets are terrible for anyone in a chair)people were always curtious and helpful to me and my husband, never a problem.We loved lake garda and will return one day maybe to Lazize, the cable car in Malcesine was wounderful, worth every penny.This was a special holiday for our 25th wedding anniversary and the whole holiday certainly was special. A VERY beautiful place.

The weather, Sept 4th-13th was in the top 30's. Hot but the breeze you sometimes get from the lake made it all the more pleasant.We had a traveling 'Festival, fun fair market stalls,entertainment',that visits most of the villiages around the shore, and it was brilliant.Free evening entertainment!The different singers were so good. The fun fair was not noisy or a disturbance at all, at the end of the week a HUGE firework display over the lake was breath taking.

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Hotel Villa Dirce - Limone, Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Thomson - June 2007

Opinion submitted in July 2007 by : Jim Jackie - Cheltenham  (51, 47) 

Resort Rating: Very Good

Accommodation Rating: Good

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

We have just returned from Limone,It is a lovely resort.The walk to the harbour from our hotel, was a good brisk 20 mins walk and although very scenic,was a bit further than we would have wanted. The walk back is quite steep, and there is a short area where you have to walk on the road which is the main road and very busy.It is narrow and around a bend from a tunnel, it is a bit scarey, and the car drivers are not particularly considerate of pedestrians. Villa Dirce is a nice hotel, the restaurant is beautiful with panoramic views,as has the rooftop sun terrace. Our room was large, although it was obviously meant as a family room as it also had a sofabed. 

Food is not exciting, and certainly not italian cuisine, but we felt it was reasonable value for money, considering that we also received unlimited wine/beer with our evening meal.We would recommend this hotel,all rooms have a very pretty lake view.However if you like to go for a gentle stroll and stop for a beer/coffee/icecream in the evenings then maybe his hotel would not suit. 

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Hotel Villa Dirche - Lake Garda

Operator and Date: Crystal - September 2006

Opinion submitted in March 2007 by : Sandra & Bob Eyre - Alton Staffs (55, 56)

Resort Rating: No rating

Accommodation Rating: Below Average

My/Our Holiday Opinion: 

This hotel looked lovely from the brochure, but on arrival we found it left a lot to be desired. 

Situated on a bend on the main road, right after a tunnel it's a nightmare to get on and off the very small car park. The pool is directly by the car park and the main road with very little sun loungers and space,although there is an upstairs sun area located at the top of a spiral staircase. Our room was very small and cramped, on asking if a larger room was available we were told they didn't have any.View from hotel is very nice, steep drops to the lakeside. Food was reasonable, very strange staff though, receptionist was very miserable and she also served in the restaurant in the evening. Pool man seemed to be the chef as well!

Do not go to this hotel if you have any kind of walking difficulties, it is a 25 min plus walk downhill into Limone and a steep 50 minute walk uphill back to the hotel. A couple arrived at same time as us with a mobility scooter - there was no way he could use it.There is supposed to be a mini bus but we never saw it at all. They complained to the Crystal rep, along with myself, but we really were offered no alternatives for either of us! In the end on t