Ristorante San Carlo

Found this hotel for our last night in Italy - wanted a place close to Malpensa Airport for our flight the next day - location was perfect took 30 minutes to airport Booked the last 2 rooms for my husband and myself the other for daughter and niece We were in room 12 with balcony which had a spectacular view - hotel very clean - comfy bed - staff very pleasant - breakfast was typical with meats and cheeses - pastries - yogurt - granola - cereals - fruits - cakes we all found something This was a perfect choice for us for our last day/night in Italy

My husband and I stayed here for six days in June and we’d booked a suite designed for three people to give us a bit more space but were very disappointed. Pros: Good view over the lake. Staff helpful. Comfortable bed. Breakfast adequate. Cons: Car parking - available for approximately 8 cars and a nightmare to use during restaurant hours as more often than not on returning from a trip out (nothing to keep you at hotel) the car park was full of cars from people using the restaurant. The seating area in room - the put-you-up bed was used as the settee and was extremely uncomfortable to sit on as you had to be in a semi prone position to use and was hard to sit on, also, its positioning within the room was such that the lake views couldn't be seen. The balcony - was smaller than expected and certainly would not have been able to accommodate more than two people. It had stylish looking furniture but once again extremely uncomfortable to sit on for more than five minutes. The Bedroom- Had a large mirror running the width of the room over the bedhead. It was impressive and stylish to look at but totally impractical, for anything other than checking your hair, if you were wanting to get a full-length view of yourself, you’d have to climb on the bed and bounce. The Bathroom – Shower over bath with no curtain, so constantly worrying that you’d flood the bathroom. Bath had jacuzzi outlets that didn't work. Just one small shelf for toiletries etc. Sink riser plug stuck in open position so unable to run a bowl of water for shaving etc so lots of small bits and pieces that do not represent the price tag of this room. Tv only available to watch in the bedroom so if there were three of you and you fancied catching up on the news, you’d all have to sit on the bed. All style and no comfort.

The only good thing about this hotel is the view of you can get it! The service is limited (2 people) to run a fully booked hotel The restaurant is so over rated and pricey The staff is what you expect to find in Paris (short and rude) They allow dogs into everything (I don’t hate dogs, just their owners who expect the world to make allowances eg peeing everywhere) The place has a great view and parking if you get there early The standard of the room is mediocre Do yourself a favour try other places across the lake !

San Carlo Hotel & Restaurant, Arona - I have been visiting lake maggiore and in particular Arona for quite a few years as we are fortunate enough to live 2&1/2 hours away. Firstly, when you only know Maggiore as a (completely and utterly stunning!) lake, you will go to small towns around the lake which are all beautiful in their own way, but to me don’t have much real heart, variety (ALOT are very small for what to do or eat and many are very poorly served for things to do or eat in off season, aren’t served by the ferry in off season, so anytime other than mid spring or autumn there isn’t much going on in almost all the smaller towns) Also traditional shopping or the traditional promenades and cobbled streets etc are lacking in other places. Aroma surpasses all towns in my opinion around Maggiore (I haven’t investigated the North still yet!) I suspect due to the fact it is on the main train line to Milan making it commutable. Then, steep inclines around the lake = THE BEST VIEWS! no trees houses in front of you partially blocking many a fabulous view, but also when being in front of you so detracting from the views. HOTEL SAN CARLO has not one property in front of it, just trees and forest down to the shoreline; it’s views are PANORAMIC through floor to ceiling and wall to wall glass french doors, very unusual in italy as most are small openings with patio doors. It offers its own parking, and, to date, consistently the best restaurant I have still ever eaten at worldwide can you believe with the simply out of this world class of food, and to date, some of the nicest tasting wines which are superbly selected (I’m not usually a big wine drinker) There is an unbroken feeling of welcome, intimacy & care with this secret kept gem on the mountain as well which as a lady on my own makes me feel so at home really in some way when I pop here; unusually I also feel very at home popping down to the restaurant on my own too which takes a certain atmosphere and intimacy of feel for me to ever feel this is ok for me :-) Only thing I can think of is that if you don’t have a car then it’s probably not the hotel for you if it’s not just a lovely overnight stay (you could easily get a taxi from Arona station up here I suspect as must be 5 minutes only) as the very quick little pop into arona by car is what makes this hotel so fabulous being near to arona as opposed to other hotels anywhere else around the lake; you wouldn’t want to walk down to Arona from here, too far, too steep, and it’s a well used road; IF you want an historic old over 100 year old hotel (which will have small window openings to the lake bear in mind..!) this isn’t the hotel for you; what you get here it wall to wall floor to ceiling glass unparalleled views from dining and bedroom, with quirky (I’m a designer..) fabulously successful warm coloured hand finished decor with Gustav klimt artfully placed around; it has a charm and character all uniquely of its own, nestled in the mos

Siamo stati accolti in un modo fantastico, bellissima vista sul lago, stanze molto spaziose e pulite, ottima cena e colazione. Staff molto simpatico con i nostri bambini. Consigliato. Ci ritorneremo sicuramente

In giro per lavoro ritorno in questo albergo dopo 8 mesi. È rimasto tutto invariato, purtroppo il box doccia è sempre lo stesso non va per niente bene e andrebbe cambiato. Per quanto riguarda il resto confermo quello già detto nella recensione precedente. Ambienti puliti, buona colazione, personale gentile.