As many other reviewers have said, it was very difficult to fault the Hotel Astor. This hotel really was ideally located, set into the hillside and overlooking the Lake with stunning views. The center of Limone is literally about five minutes from the hotel along a lovely pathway passing olive groves and old lemon houses (although you can't see the lemon houses as you walk since they had very high walls).

The decor of the hotel was perhaps a little dated, probably from around about the seventies (but not in a garish way!), but we felt this gave it charm and it did not bother us at all. Since there were three of us, we had a triple room which was of ample size, and we also had a larger balcony than any of the other rooms.

The room was furnished with beds, a small television, a reasonably large fitted wardrobe and set of drawers, bed-side tables, good sized en-suite bathroom with a good shower, and a sliding door onto the balcony terrace. We could not fault the room at all and the cleanliness was superb, with a very hard working and friendly member of the cleaning staff who cleaned the room very thoroughly every day.

The staff in general were lovely people and acted as if you were more than just hotel guests. The hotel also has a lovely terrace on the top floor with a bar. The views from here were amazing.

As we were staying bed and breakfast we only sampled the hotel restaurant once (the restaurants in Limone were so nice!). The only problem here was that we were unaware that dinner choices had to be made at breakfast, but the staff were extremely accomodating and were only too happy to fit us in even though we had not followed the correct procedure.

The restaurant was a little restrictive given that you had to be there between 7.00pm and 7.30pm, but dinner itself finished at around 8.30pm and was delicious. The menu for the night we ate there had three choices for each course, and an excellent salad buffet too. It was a very nice meal and the staff were wonderful.

The hotel pool was absolutely perfect, a good size with a shallow end and a suitably deep end too, and also a baby pool. There were plenty of sun loungers which were always easy to get hold of (having stayed in some hotels where you almost never get a lounger this was a real treat!). The pool also looked as if it was located on the site of an old lemon house, although I cannot be certain of this.

Downstairs from the pool was a delightful little pizzeria, where again, the staff were excellent. The food was fantastic, if a little restricted to the typical tourist range of food! The pizzeria was also very close to the Lake and the hotel has a harbour and beach area on the Lake. It has to be said that some form of swimming shoes are required in the Lake as the 'shingle' beaches were sometimes a little more rocky! But if you climbed down a short ladder from the harbour then you didn't notice this so much. The lake was very cold but also recommended!

It should be noted that while most of the staff spoke reasonable English, German was clearly their forte, and menus and signage was often geared towards those speaking German. However, this is true of many places in Limone and the Lake towns in general, although hardly surprising considering that parts of the Lake used to belong to Austria.

One other point to note is that when you arrive at the hotel, you arrive on the road running above the hotel and you have to enter it down a flight of stairs to reach the reception (not great if you are lugging suitcases, as we were since we arrived by coach!) There was also parking available, although we did not use this. The reception is on the top floor, and you have to hand in your key every time you leave the hotel, which was a bit inconvenient but not exactly a hardship!

The only thing that might put people off staying here is the long transfer time from Verona airport, which we endured on a coach doing numerous hotel drop-offs around the lake. It is also a long trip to Verona if you are doing a day-trip. But if you are thinking of staying here, please do not let that put you off staying in what is a really excellent hotel in a lovely little town on the lake. I really wish I had not had to leave and would go there again in a second.