Hotel Giardinetto

The room was exceptionally clean and modern and was serviced every day to a high standard. The hotel is situated in a great location, right on the lake in the heart of Garda. All the staff were extremely friendly and went above and beyond to help us with anything we needed. As it was our 25th wedding anniversary we were welcomed with a bottle of champagne which was a lovely touch. The breakfast was delicious and plentiful with a great choice of continental plus bacon, sausage and egg. The roof terrace is an added bonus with the hot tub and lounge area with beautiful views. We have had such a lovely time here and would definitely come back. I can not fault anything!

I think I would describe this hotel as basic, quaint and comfortable. Quaint as in its rooms and safes are locked with an actual key, which is unusual in my experience. Basic as in the rooms are plainly decorated, however, there are essentials like a very large mirror in the room over the 'dressing table', and an even larger one in the bathroom. I found the bed comfortable, but the pillows were quite hard. If you are on the large side, or have mobility issues, I don't think the shower would be suitable for you. It was very small, and when trying to bend down to wash my feet, I needed to be a contortianist! I also had to hang on for dear life as the bottom of the shower was extremely slippery. One minor criticism I would make is that they left the top sheet folded on top of the bed. I know it was hot, but the last thing I felt like doing, at the age of 77, and with a bad back, was bending down to tuck a sheet in when I arrived. I would have thought it much better for the bed to be made, then it would be easy enough to pull the sheet back if it wasn't needed. The breakfast was fairly basic - don't expect a full English. The only cooked food there was was something that resembled scrambled egg, and some hard boiled eggs. However, all the usual ham, cheese, yoghurts were in good supply, along with a few pastries. Also melon, pineapple and apples were in abundance. Sadly, there were no bananas until the day I left, which was disappointing for me. I couldn't fault the staff. Most of the waiters/waitresses were cheerful and friendly. A couple who weren't very smiley I put down to being tired as they work so hard. I must give a special mention to Emmanuel, who always served me with my cappucino in the morning at breakfast, and Alex, who was always bright and cheery in the evenings. Susana in Reception was extremely helpful. The two lovely cleaning ladies were always friendly and smiling. The hotel is very convenient, both for the ferries, and for the little supermarket just round the corner, and I enjoyed my stay there. As for gratuities, which another reviewer complained about - I didn't hear them mentioned once in ten days!

This hotel is spotless but there is very little comfort there. The room we had was very small and trying to get clothes in and out of the sliding door wardrobe was not a great success. There was no full length mirror and no mirror on the dressing table which would have been handy for putting on makeup. The shower was tiny and dangerously slippery it would benefit from a non slip mat The breakfast was nice enough and again everything was spotless. The waiters were friendly but quite clickish and without exception they mentioned gratuities each time we paid for something and it was quite off putting. We stopped going to the restaurant even for a drink because of this. The location is great but the hotel needs upgraded and modernised. There are better hotels in Garda for the same price - I would be looking at those for a future visit.