Hotel Sirmione by Daniel Scott

You can’t miss the Hotel Sirmione. As you approach Sirmione’s old town, its dusty yellow façade stands out on one flank of the gates, with the iconic castle occupying the other side. In the right sunlight it looks resplendent, its golden walls reflected in the harbour in the foreground and its windows glinting and hinting at inspiring views across Lake Garda.

Once inside, the Sirmione, 4 star sister to the more luxurious Grand Hotel Terme, doesn’t disappoint either. Most rooms and public spaces (particularly the restaurant, with its panoramic windows and terrace, framed stretching out into the lake) make the most of its waterside location. You open the shutters in your room to views of a quintessential Italian piazza below fronting onto Lake Garda, with its eastern shore and snow-capped mountains in the distance.

The hotel is divided into two sections. The most recently refurbished is the one overlooking the harbour and it includes a health centre with sauna, indoor jacuzzi and an outdoor thermal pool at the edge of the lake. Across the square is the second building which contains the reception, restaurant and bar. The overall feel of the hotel is spacious and welcoming. It is not an especially characterful property but with this location who cares?

If you have enjoyed a dip in the hotel’s small thermal pool, then you might want to make a visit to the larger complex of indoor and outdoor baths up the road, the Aquaria Spa. It is owned by the same company as the hotel so guests get a 10% discount on entrance. It is a lovely relaxing place to spend a few hours, wallowing in the thermal pools or having one of the many treatments on offer. The Aquaria doesn’t believe in interfering with nature’s gifts and so does nothing to the bubbling waters of the town’s thermal spring other than cool them to 32 degrees.

The rooms
Guest rooms are a good size, with comfortable furnishings in pastel or light colours and air conditioning, satellite TV and mini-bar. To make the most of the hotel’s position it is worth paying a little extra for a room with a terrace.