Centro Vacanze La Limonaia Limone sul Garda

Most of the staff were friendly and pleasant, and the pool and snack bar were really lovely. The rooms, though, were very outdated, and the walls were so thin we could hear guests partying late. In 31° heat, the air conditioning only runs in July and August, so we slept terribly. The buffet dinner was very poor and had nothing for kids. They charge €15 per towel per stay and €15 to use the room kitchen, so it feels like they try to charge for everything. The man in the shop seemed miserable whenever we went in, like working there was a chore. When we tried calling reception at 2am to ask the next-door guests to quiet down, the 1950s phone wouldn’t work, so we had to go ask them ourselves. Wouldn’t return.

The view deserves a score of 100 out of 5. There are little waterfalls around the hotel, and it felt like living in a postcard. It’s on a hill, so expect a hike, which is nice after all the lovely food you get to try in Italy. The receptionists were amazingly helpful, and there were lots of food choices. It’s a 3 star hotel, so the rooms are functional and have what you need. For the area, they’re more spacious and far superior to many others. There’s also a little shop near reception for things like water. If you have mobility issues, though, this might not be the right choice.

The only real positives were the hilltop location, the stunning view from the room, and the pool. I stayed at La Limonaia with my man for a week, and we wouldn’t recommend it to anyone expecting a middle class 3* hotel. The place felt more like a campsite than a hotel. The facility was old, outdated, and dirty. Our apartment was filthy, and we had to buy wet wipes to disinfect the surfaces, especially the toilet, despite being charged 40€ for cleaning. I doubt it had been cleaned before we arrived. The apartment looked nothing like the new, modern photos online. It was so old that we even found a handwritten letter from Napoleon in a drawer. Our air conditioning stopped working, and when we called the front desk, the receptionist told us to use a fan and collect it from the reception lobby. That meant walking down about 3 floors of the hill from our building, with no elevator. The toilet ventilation barely worked and smelled like there was a dead rat in the pipes. The staff were very unfriendly and passive aggressive, as if any question was too much trouble. The gym and wellness area were outdated, and the gym equipment was nearly falling apart. The wellness area also costs extra to enter, which wasn’t mentioned online.

The apartment itself was actually nice, but in catastrophic condition. We had a standard flat with a baby, and it was very cold, especially in the evening, because the heating didn’t work. The toilet kept flushing and leaking even after a serviceman came. The window glass was taped.