Relais du Lac by Wonderful Italy, Desenzano del Garda

We paid €2500 for 10 days, and having stayed in the area several times, I found this apartment complex shabby and poorly located. At around €1700 it might have been fair value. It was quiet during our visit, for obvious reasons, and the WiFi didn't work. There was also building work in the hotel. A few days after we arrived, my wife explained to Booking.com that the accommodation description didn't match what we found, and they promptly refunded us 380€ without any trouble. We still enjoyed the stay, but I wouldn't book it again.

We spent a week in one of the apartments managed by Apt24. I went back and forth between a 2 and a 3, so here's what we found. The pool was good for kids, fairly shallow, and sloped down from all sides. It got busy but never too crowded, and there were always chairs available. The only drawback was the loud road next to it. The apartment was clean but sparsely furnished, with a bed, couch, kitchenette, table and chairs, plus a balcony set. The main bed was comfortable; the pullout couch was poor and really only suitable for young backs. The WiFi connected but was so slow I couldn't read emails, let alone stream anything. It seemed to be shared across the building instead of provided for each apartment. Luckily we had mobile data, since getting by without it would've been impossible. Parking was underground, which was handy, but the spaces were tiny and hard to get into if another car was beside you. Once someone had taken our space, and another time a car over the line stopped us from parking. There was air conditioning, but smoke from neighbors on nearby balconies kept filling the flat. I guess they were smoking, and the AC intake was on our balcony. With our young child, that was a major problem. The stay was okay, but we didn't think the price matched the value and won't return.

There was no staff around, the internet was very slow, and the pool wasn't working. The apartment itself was quite nice, with a full kitchen, comfortable beds, a large terrace, a bathroom, air conditioning, and other basics.

The room we had was huge, with a separate room where our kids could sleep, and a large private terrace outside. Staff were pleasant and helpful, and the hotel's garage had enough space for all the guests. The pool looked lovely, though it was too cold for us to try it. The hotel is a large Italian-style place and could use some refurbishing, but we enjoyed it. It's close to Gardaland, about a 15 minute drive, and the picturesque old town of Sirmione, about 5 minutes away. One downside was seeing some guests pile up food at breakfast and leave it uneaten. It's a real waste. If you arrived late, you sometimes had to wait for staff to bring out more croissants or salami.