Giardinetto - Desenzano del Garda, Italy 

From our recent holiday around Northern Italy, I have reviewed one Piedmont hotel already that I felt was the best that I have ever stayed in, and was therefore reluctant to award another hotel an overall excellent rating. However, I believe that the Hotel Giardinetto rated as a way above average choice of hotel for us and therefore, merits an excellent rating. The proprietors are lovely people, very helpful and very attentive. The breakfast provided was excellent and certainly way above average for Italy. The hotel is located on a fairly busy main road around 200 meters from the lakefront. Being a busy road was not really an issue given that there were pedestrian lights right next to the hotel and there was no real sound of traffic from our room. The room, with a balcony facing east, was really nice. I wouldn't say that it was hugely spacious but it had more than enough room to lay our suitcases flat down by each side of the bed and still move freely around the room. Parking for our car was provided free of charge by the side of the hotel. The standard room price (?88) is excellent for what's provided by this hotel. For reference, Venere charged us nearly ?20 for the room. I don't know if if you'd get the cheaper price by ringing the hotel directly but it's certainly worthwhile trying. Desenzano is a very lively resort town on weekends, particularly with Italian couples and families, enjoying the 'evening passegiata". We tend to follow guidebook recommendations for restaurants. On our first night in Desenzano (a Saturday), we went to a restaurant/wine bar, recommend by the "Rough Guide" called Otium. At 8pm, we were the 1st people to sit down at the restaurant, situated right across the street (Via Roma) from another restaurant which was very busy. We were a little nervous what to expect given that there were so few people there when we were ordering. We needn't have worried as the food provided by Otium at very reasonable prices was excellent. We were so impressed with it that we ended up going back to Otium for all 3 nights that we were in Desenzano. While we were staying in Desenzano, we drove to Mantova (a lovely Medieval town) and Riva/Malcesine on different days. Riva is a gorgeously scenic place, but having stayed there in previous years, I'd say that it's becoming even more touristy if that was possible. One thing that I would definitely advise against is driving down the Western side of the lake. Rather than take the motorway on the eastern side of the lake from Riva to Desenzano, (much longer but faster), we decided to take the scenic Western Gardensa road. Big Mistake!. We ended up getting in a traffic jam around Gardone Riviera and Salo that stopped us for nearly 2 hours.

Hotel Giardinetto is ideally situated. The road directly opposite the Raiway station. A 5 min walk on your right. Carry on 5 mins downhill to the centre of Desenzano. There is a small harbour at Desanzano wher you can get the boat to other destinations around Garda. All the boats run exact to time. I cannot praise the hotel enough. A modern bathroom, spotlessly clean. We had a side room with balcony. The breakfast was lovely. ( much better than a 4* we stayed at). Sara on Reception was so helpful, trying to locate our lost bag for us. A really lovely quiet hotel. Carmel, Lancashire, England