Hotel 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

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 most unpar

There was a wedding on, so the staff were clearly overstretched. One of our rooms was not ready , we had to wait quite a while for it to be cleaned. They did give us a drink to apologise , but my main issue is room security. We were in bed, when another guest came into our room ! I don’t know who was more shocked , us or the gentleman!!. He quickly apologised and left . I am horrified that someone else was given a key to our room !!! I raised this with the manager in the morning, but he did not appear shocked or even apologise. The views are amazing, rooms mediocre, parking tight and limited. Would not return . There are better hotels

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 !