After staying in Riva 2 years ago, we travelled across the lake to Malcesine for a day trip and instantly fell in love with the medieval town and its natural charm. So much to see for those that wish to explore and equally some divine locations along the lake to bathe and soak up the sun alongside stunning views of the mountains. We were determined to return to this 'jewel of the lake' and were fortunate to be strongly recommended Villa Smeralda as a hotel to stay in by close friends who had honeymooned their themselves 5 years ago.

Our experience from the booking to our departure, was first class. We booked directly with the hotel and tied up our own airport flights via Brescia, Verona airport. Our contact was with Alessandro, the son of the proprietors, who we have since learnt have ran the hotel since 1972. His kind help ensured that we were able to book a taxi transfer from the airport to the hotel and back again for our journey home. His passion for ensuring that guests have a happy and memorable stay was obvious and we were made to feel so welcome and nothing was too much trouble for him or his staff. They were always looking to bend over backwards to accommodate any needs and suprisingly they often tried to anticipate our needs, most refreshing and unusual!

Our room, of a "Superior" standard, selected for our honeymoon was a high standard. It was very clean (cleaned every day with replacement towels), spacious and the views from the balcony were breathtaking and jaw dropping. Even on 1 day where there was torrential rain, we felt more than happy enough to spend the day in the room itself, such was the comfort and space.

As we prefer to eat in different restaurants in the evening, we stayed for breakfast only and found this to be more than satisfactory. Choice from a continental buffet was generous and you were free to help yourself to as much you wanted to set yourself up for the day.

As a wedding surprise, we were treated to a night at the Opera in Verona to see Carmen (well worth a visit to see any Opera in such an amazing arena) which friends had organised through the hotel via Alessandro. This was a night to remember, with all the travel and ticket arrangements easily handled by the hotel and we experienced a truly magnificent occasion.

The facilities of the hotel were strong too. A wonderful terraced bathing area that has mesmerising panoramic views of the lake and mountains as well as a separate, suitably sized pool and lounging area too. We even treated ourselves to a few jacuzzi sessions in the top terrace area!

I must admit, I am stunned by the comments made from the Polish guests that were posted on here, it doesn't bear any resembalance to what we have come across. We were the only English couple during our 10 day stay but never felt this an issue in the slightest and to be honest, it was very refreshing! In fact, I think it went in our favour as if anything the staff seemed even more considerate to ensure we didn't feel isolated in any way. All in all, so far as Villa Smeralda is concerned, we couldn't have hoped for a better hotel for our honeymoon and cannot speak highly enough of Alessandro, his family and staff for their service and the ambience of the place. We were so impressed that we have even booked our 2011 stay before we departed to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary.

Our very general views of Malcesine is that it is a perfect fit for so many holidaying purposes. Bathing in the sun, wondering around the many pretty streets that are packed full of high quality restaurants and bars, wonderful walking and cycling opportunities whilst there is easy access to other areas round the lake via a hopper boat service.

If you were ever thinking of an ideal place to mark a special occasion or perhaps just to enjoy a holiday that strikes way above those you might get in package holidays to say Greece, Turkey, Spain, etc. then you won't get much better than this - we loved it and are counting down the weeks to our return!

First of all some positive impressions: The quiet, uphill location with a great panoramic view over the lake, everything within a short walking distance from the very center of Malcesine. You might also like the nice swimming pool and the hotel interior in really good shape. These were "Pros" and now come "Cons": Our beds were extremely short as if the beds were tailor-made for Mr Danny De Vito (sorry for this comparison). Neither me nor my 18-years old son (187 and 182 cm) could put our feet on the bed while sleeping. And next - very poor breakfast's buffet matching no standards we found elsewhere in Italy (the same, repetitive buffet's choice for the 7 consecutive days, no croissants, no youghurts, no fresh fruits but fruit salad, no juices but something tasting like Fanta, one kind of cheese in slices which tasted rather cheap etc.). And the dinners (HB) was another awful experience. They probably tried to please their German guests and instead of some cooking success they offered the guests some food one could place in between the German and Italian way of cooking. The result was bad and hard to consume (I will always remember the "trout" you would not probably guess it was a fish because of it nasty taste and look). To be honest: once we found their pear"s dessert excellent and the last dinner was also amazingly acceptable.
The service it is a story itself. During our stay they accomodated perhaps 40-50 guests and had only 2 waiters for serving dinner. Absolutely insufficient number of personnel in terms of time we had to wait until they served us the complete dinner. The fellow guests were predominantly (over 90 percent) from Germany and we, as Poles, were every day the last to be served irrespective of whether we came sooner or later to the dining room. Personally I have nothing against the German people but the hotel management probably had something against us because of our nationality, I do not know. We should have been treated the same way like other guests were because the money we paid them were the same, not fake. But we were not. The last dinner ended with a very unpleasant incident - my wife wiped away herself empty dishes from our table while we had to look on it seating idle for about 40 minutes and the staff ignored us all the time passing by. But there was still no reaction from the staff and we left the dining room before we were offered some sweet. This extremely low, demonstrative service happened only to us and obviously to a very gentle couple from France (our personal greetings to Jean-Louis and Monique if they read us by chance). Monique was also irritated and said to us before we left that it was a remarkable lack of kindness. She was right but I would say that it was an unprecedented arrogance as well. We have never before met with such a rude treatment in any hotel elsewhere in any other country. We were very happy indeed leaving this hotel the next morning. Mr Sama did not feel apologetic for what has happened. He said to me that perhaps he made a mistake. But what kind of mistake? And why I should pay for his mistakes? He did understand nothing from the situation and did not took the lesson. I think the hotel management is much pro German and probably Sama family has some problem with their national identification. All the information you can find in their hotel is written in German. The safe instruction, the wheather forecast on the reception desk, all the labels in their bathrooms, everything in German only. It can be disturbing if you do not understand German like me. I can speak English, French and understand written Italian but not German. Malcesine is within the region of Veneto, rather Italian speaking part of Italy. But even in German speaking parts of Italy like Alto Adige we have never found hotel with German inscriptions only. Always Italian came first and then other languages, not only in German. I am almost sure what they do in Villa Smeralda is not in line with the Italian specific law.
And the last question I cannot comprehend. There are 14 hotel Smeralda reviews on the Tripadvisor. 9 out of 14 reviews (almost all very complimentary) are published by non German guests. How it can come with the fact that 90-95 percent of the guests are from Germany? Iwould like to see the authors of these compliments. Strange thing anyway.
My overall estimation of the Villa Smeralda is maximum 1 point only out of 5 scores because of the very, very disappointing service, very bad atmosphere and very poor non Italian cooking. This downscale my review. Otherwise Villa Smeralda would get an average note. Villa Smeralda was by far the worst place we popped in over the period of 2-3 years somewhere in Europe. This is a hotel you would not like to come back even if you paid nothing on your return trip over there.

fantastic hotel in a gorgeous location - made extremely welcome - bit of a walk to town but worth it for view from rooms and pool and roof terrace - aboslutely stunning -

I booked this hotel after reading some of the reviews on trip advisor, the purpose of the visit was a surprise birthday present for my wife and several of our friends came along and stayed at the hotel.
We had booked a lakeside view superior room and the view from the balcony was absolutely stunning. The rooms were modern and clean as was the rest of the hotel.
The hotel was quiet and only has about thirty rooms so there was never any problems with loungers etc. We were the the only english there although I am aware they are keen to have more.
There were no children at the hotel although this was probably due to the fact that it wasn't the school holidays.
As I have said the hotel is quiet and relaxing and a large majority of the people staying there tended to go out during the day, but that is no surprise because Malcesine has to be one of the most beautiful places in the world.
The hotel is managed by Alessandro who is brilliant, he can never do enough and just enhances the experience further.
I find it hard to believe that tfhe hotel is only three stars as I have stayed in several 4 star hotels that don't compare, in fact I think I would rather stay at the Smeralda than any of the local 5 star hotels, theres just something about it that struck a chord with all of us.
Some reviewers have mentioned the walk back from town , but its not that far and its a pretty gentle hill that lasts about 1/4 mile.
To conclude - Utterly Fantastic and I would recomend it to anyone that wants a relaxing holiday break in a sensational location.
Well done Alessandro!