Hotel Elisa

You get what the low price suggests: beautiful views and a cheap stay, but not much else. I wouldn’t choose Hotel Elisa again knowing what I know now. It sits in Tignale, about 500 metres above the lake. The old Italian center is nice, with restaurants, cafes, and other hotels, and it’s a ten-minute walk downhill. The parking spaces are small and were all taken in the evening. Reaching the nearest beach takes around 20 minutes by car on a narrow, winding road alongside a deep drop. Getting to Milano or Verona also takes a long time because of slow traffic around Garda Lake. Our room was clean and cleaned daily, with a nice lake view from the balcony. It was neither small nor large, but felt outdated and undecorated, without a cozy style. There’s no air conditioning, which could be a problem in hot summer weather. Staff were neutral and helped when asked. Owner Elisa was often around. At dinner, though, waiters repeatedly set cutlery at other tables while ignoring us, so we waited a long time and eventually had to ask for our meal or dessert. One time we ordered a drink, then waited while the waiter served other tables and prepared their cutlery. We ended up ordering again. Food was the main reason we picked this hotel, based on the reviews, but our half-board meals were terrible. Breakfast was the same and very limited each day: hard-boiled eggs, sometimes a day or two old, ham, salami, sliced cheese, warmed croissants, instant coffee, yogurt, cereal, tomato, butter, jam, honey, and bread. There were no mixed eggs or omelettes, no other ham or prosciutto, no bacon or sausage, vegetables, olives, pickled vegetables, Italian cheeses, or cake. The cook sat in the canteen drinking coffee every morning. It wouldn’t cost more to make eggs another way instead of only boiling them, or to add fried bacon or sausage. Dinner was either pizza or a two-course meal. The pizza was good, classic Italian style, though I’ve had much better at Italian pizzerias. The set meal was pasta or soup followed by a slice of meat with potatoes or vegetables, and both courses were poor. The pasta looked and tasted bad, like something from a low-quality canteen, and the second course was just as disappointing. The year before, we’d stayed at a similarly priced hotel in Tuscany and enjoyed every meal. If you want good Italian food, don’t eat at Elisa. The Appollo restaurant in Tignale is a much better choice.