It's hard to believe this is only a 3 star hotel, we loved this place from the start of our holiday to the end. From arranging pick up at the hotel to delivery back to the airport on our last day the experience was seamless. We paid slightly extra for the new top floor rooms with larger balconies and views of the lake and castle and the view was extraordinary. Sitting on the deck in the evening watching the sun go down and seeing the lights of Lake Garda light up the lake was priceless. We loved that the hotel is ecological and the rooms reflect this, there is nothing lacking in the rooms and the shower has lovely pressure unusual for anywhere in italy. Our mattress was on the firmer side but if you like a firm mattress you'll love these as they are firm but not lumpy. We used the sauna 3 or 4 times and loved how it made you relax into your bed in the evening. Breakfast was a beautiful and relaxing affair, most of the food is organic, healthy and fresh. We enjoyed croissants, varieties of breads, eggs, meat, cheese, yoghurts, cereals, fruit etc and any type of hot drink you wanted. This was all positioned overlooking a gorgeous garden oasis created obviously with someone's loving hand and it was a beautiful setting to relax in in the afternoons or all day if you wanted to. From the front the hotel overlooks the lake and to the back it looks onto Monte Baldo which is just awesome, you must go up the Funivia (Gondola) just up the road and experience a day on the Monte, it's an awe inspiring view up there and if you fancy it you can jump off strapped to a Paraglider or like we did walk down the mountain.
If there is a negative (and there really isn't) we'd say it is noisy because you are right on the main road up the Monte BUT it's only noisy if you sleep with your door open which we did, you can always close your door.....
Lake Garda is a unique experience and wherever you choose to stay we highly recommend Malcesine and most definitely loved our stay at Hotel Ariston, you can tell this is a family run hotel which is treasured and valued. We would go back tomorrow.
- Ariston Hotel Malcesine
