Palace Hotel San Pietro

This was my fourth stay, and the hotel has never let me down. It’s in a perfect spot in Bardolino, which I think is the prettiest place on earth. The staff are all friendly and helpful, especially Silvia on reception, and nothing seems too much trouble. I’d highly recommend staying here.

After more than 20 years of good stays and friendly service, it’s disappointing to have to write this. The staff seem to have changed, and this visit didn’t live up to the others. Our room, including the bathroom, wasn’t cleaned well and always smelled like a dirty mop. The toilet seat badly needed replacing, and the sheets weren’t changed until the day before we left. The hotel has a very qualified chef who is one of the nicest people you could meet, but there isn’t really a restaurant, just four small tables in the reception area. We also had trouble with the taxi booking back to the airport. It should have been straightforward, but reception didn’t follow up on it. At checkout, we were shown a mix of bar tabs for coffee and alcohol that weren’t ours, including one from a month before we arrived. The red-haired woman handling checkout was rude throughout and kept speaking to my wife in German. Her poor customer service does the hotel no favors.

The staff were friendly and very focused on looking after guests. Breakfast was fantastic, served on a rooftop terrace with a beautiful lake view. My husband and I really enjoyed our stay, and the location was great too, just a three-minute walk to the lake along the pedestrian path.

The location works really well: the bus station is a short walk east, the town and ferry pier are north, and a Spar supermarket is south of the hotel. The staff were very friendly, and our room was well looked after. It was compact, but had what we needed apart from tea-making facilities. We ordered room service twice and ate in once, and found the prices reasonable. The hotel isn’t cheap, though nothing in the Garda area is. Breakfast caters mostly to Continental tastes, so don’t expect a fry-up. I liked the coffee and croissants, and there are healthier choices too. The rooftop breakfast room has partial views over Bardolino.