Arnaboldi Palace

This place in on the second floor of a historical building. It has the atmosphere of an up market B&B, rather than a hotel. There is a lift to help with luggage. Room, bathroom and bed were all very comfortable and well maintained, with good functioning AC. Breakfast was good, but mainly sweet. A few things I wish I'd known: (i) there are a lot of mosquitos in Pavia. Before you venture out, invest in and apply a good repellent. I got multiple bites - even around the eyes! (ii) there is a lot of street noise until about 2am. The hotel tries to help out by offering ear plugs. We slept well, but if you're a light sleeper or sensitive to noise, this could be a real issue. (iii) If you use the concierge parking provided by the hotel, check that the concierge is in residence. We paid 30 euros per night and ended up having to collect and park the car ourselves 3 out of 4 times. I complained on check-out and just received the argument (literally) that in our information e-mail this service was marked as "suspended". Apparently it was still possible to charge for a suspended service. (iv) the hotel is close to a restricted access area. This makes it difficult to find and drive to, even using navigation. Ask the hotel for detailed instructions in advance - otherwise when you finally arrive exhausted, you might just be tempted to take up the concierge-without-the-concierge parking option (see above). The breakfast staff, room service and afternoon reception staff were all charming, kind and helpful. I wish I could say the same about one lady on reception (and her passing-by boss?) in the mornings of our stay.

I made a mistake and they capitalised on it. I thought I had cancelled this Monday night’s booking, having made a booking in September instead. When I received a reminder this morning, helpfully for them outside the cancellation period, I immediately contacted them and explained the error. They said they were small and had to be strict. The thing is that they have a few rooms available on Monday so it is not as if they have lost out. They preferred to pocket the €280 and lose my other booking in September instead. This could have been resolved differently. Not very nice.

La struttura è un palazzo fantastico ristrutturato molto bene, situato a pochi metri dalla sede storica dell’Università di Pavia e dal centro della città. La camera nella quale ho soggiornato era bellissima, pulitissima, con un soffitto intorno ai 4 m e con un magnifico dipinto ad olio della fine del settecento rappresentante un santo elemosiniere. Nonostante la bellezza che potete immaginare di una simile camera, la parte migliore è la gentilezza e la disponibilità dello staff, che va ben oltre quella che ci si può attendere. La colazione è molto buona, con Cappuccini veri e non fatti con le macchinette, con cornetti ottimi e non congelati e con una scelta di Dolci. Ogni mattina mi è stato chiesto se desideravo qualcosa di salato, come delle uova cotte al momento, ma io essendo a dieta non ho potuto Accettare. La stazione è a circa 10 minuti a piedi, un percorso in gran parte in zona pedonale. Se non avete bagagli troppo pesanti vi consiglio di fare una passeggiata, e molto piacevole.