Empire Resort

The garden is beautiful, full of trees, cactuses, flowers, and statues. The hotel sits up on a hill for those gorgeous views, so walking down to the harbour restaurants takes about 20 minutes. Coming back uphill in the heat is a bit hard, though it’s manageable if you’re normally fit. We could have driven down, of course. One thing I found a little unfair is the 3 EUR charge for pool towels, though I suppose you could use your shower towels. The small pool was great for a dip in the hot weather, but there were only around 10 loungers, and they could all be taken by the time you got back in the afternoon. There’s a terrace with sofas as another place to sit, and we enjoyed ordering drinks by the pool. It’s a small, family run hotel. The family didn’t seem to speak much English, but they were kind and helpful. Our room had a gorgeous panoramic lake view and a very big balcony, though it only had one small plastic table and two small plastic chairs. There was room for sun loungers or similar. The room itself was simple, clean, and comfortable enough. I liked the very good, firm bed, and the bathroom had a modern massage shower. The air conditioning worked okay, though finding the right temperature was a little tricky. Breakfast was the standard Italian spread, with lots of sweet things like cakes, sugary muesli, croissants, and sweet yogurt. As a Swede, I wasn’t thrilled by that. There was some cheese, meat, and fruit, but the eggs were much too hard boiled. The coffee, as always in Italy, was great.

You really need a car to get here. The lake view is gorgeous, but the place is hardly a resort, more like a cheap motel. The room felt old fashioned, the toiletries were cheap, the 20-inch TV was small and had poor reception, the air conditioner barely cooled the room, and parking was limited. It’s worth no more than 40 Euro, yet the price was close to four times that. Avoid this place.

We paid for the night we stayed and a 70 € “fine” for another night, even though we never spent that second night there. We’d booked three nights, but on arrival realized the place was too far from the village for us since we didn’t want to use our car during the trip. We asked to cancel the remaining two nights, but the owner said that wasn’t possible. The whole situation was embarrassing and felt like a rip off, especially as it was high season and we were sure the room could easily have been rented for those other nights. We were disappointed by how inflexible the owners were and their complete lack of reaction.

I was there for two days on a business trip, but the beautiful setting and very kind staff made it feel like a vacation. The view from the balcony was amazing.