Hotel du Parc Sirmione — Hotel in Sirmione

The Positives||The hotel is well placed in a quiet spot outside the centre of Sirmione. It is about 30 minutes to walk right into the centre with plenty of shade, and hotels/ bars/ restaurants on route. There is also what is described as a shuttle bus but do not be fooled: this is a public bus and you have to walk to a stop to get it.||We were part of a Titan tour group and therefore we had no choice on room allocation. Our 'classic room' overlooked a roof and green area which was OK. The room was an adequate size with a good shower and plenty of storage. The balconies provide very limited privacy from other guests given the geography of the hotel. We would have loved a better view to be honest and more privacy for sitting out.||The hotel was immaculately clean and the housekeeping and serving staff were really lovely, especially the evening servers and the chap who ran the bar. All efficient and friendly, working very hard to do a great job. We were generous with our tips to our Tour Leader for them, and directly to one particular chap who went above and beyond.||The Less Positives||The food. Firstly, we did not know in advance that there would be a very limited set menu to choose from. Furthermore, having to order food at breakfast for the evening was also very strange to us.||We do not eat meat and this fact was known at the point of booking, on the pre-discussion WhatsApp group for the tour, and on check in at reception. The first evening, there were no vegetarian dishes on the menu apart from a soup. The manager taking the order seemed a little confused by the request, and offered an omelette which we declined. (We had eaten an omelette on the aircraft on the way in!) The language barrier was such that his basic English and my Italian could not communicate that we understood there would be a separate veggie menu to read from, just as the meat/fish eaters were given, which was on the table. He told our tour group leader that we expected a la carte which was incorrect.||She approached us about this, we explained the requirement and this was sorted for the following days - a printed menu was provided on the table. Thank you. However the choices were limited and pedestrian: the veggie pasta was usually OK but the other main dishes were not. For example, dry lentil balls with no sauce; dry veggie burger (actually it was a soft patty), a veggie strudel thing which was stodgy and the risotto on the final evening had Speck ham in it. All of these appeared to have been microwaved given the consistency. The puddings were standard fare and OK and the soups were passable. The vegetables appeared to be tinned or poor quality. ||We therefore ate out in Sirmione and other locations more so than we had budgeted for, which was disappointing to be honest and added to the cost. For a four star hotel, and with Italian food being so good for vegetarians (risottos, innumerable pasta dishes, parmigiana etc) we expected better. Our advice to the hotel would be scrap the first course salad and focus on the option of two courses: soup and main or main and pudding. Quality rather than quantity.||The reception staff. Firstly on arrival, we asked about meals. Titan told us in advance that you can sit where you want during meals, not at large tables with everyone else if you do not want to. However on arrival, it was no - we have tables of 8. We explained and this was sorted. Again, an easy fix that should not have been questioned in our opinion. As it was, others felt the same and were also accommodated.||We stayed in Verona one day and rang the reception late in the evening for advice on getting a taxi back following a concert as the public ranks were empty and we couldn't get through to the rank by phone. No response from Hotel du Parc reception at all. In the end, a Verona hotel helped us and rang for a taxi for us.||We asked for a taxi to be arranged to take us to a wine tasting a short drive away on a very hot day. We were promised a call to confirm it was booked. This was never made. We had to chase. The one booked was 30 euros for an exceptionally short journey which seemed excessive.||Bar drinks. When you signed for drinks at the table or at the bar, the receipt you got never included the price so the bill at the end couldn't be totted up in advance. Again, this was...

On our first visit to Lake Garda and after reading former reviews about the Hotel Du Parc we decided to book and we were not disappointed, on arrival the reception staff informed us our room wasn't ready but pointed in the direction of the pool area to sit and have a drink, the first drink was complimentary. Check in was straight forward and the staff were lovely and friendly they advised us to leave our cases and when the room was ready about 30 minutes later our cases had already been put in the room.||The room was large and on the ground floor, there were two rooms, one contained a double bed whilst the other had a Sofer bed, If you wanted it the televisions x 2 both had SKY but you don't go on holiday to watch TV, tea and coffee in the room and 4 free drinks in the fridge, every day the cleaners tried to clean our room so no issues there.||I will say the rooms were very quiet with a comfortable bed so no issues sleeping, the hotel to the front is situated within a small housing estate but there was never any noise so no concerns there.||We stayed Half board and the breakfast was fine, both hot and cold food available with plenty of options regarding drinks, breakfast is self service, the evening meal is 4 courses and there is plenty of choice, the only issue I had was ordering my evening meal at breakfast, i understand why this is done to assist the chefs but for me I am not in the mood to make my evening meal choice, on occasions we didn't order and left it until later in the day. I am a fussy eater but have to say I enjoyed 90% of the meals and the service from the staff was brilliant.||The selection of drinks from the bar is also very good with all branded spirits etc, Michele was brilliant with service and always smiling, you can order at the bar, and if it's not too busy the staff offer table service and also around the pool.||What I enjoyed most about the Du Park was how quiet it was and relaxing, in fact the whole of Sirimione is like this, not a bar in sight or rowdy people, please note I would not class the Du Park as a hotel to take children as there is no entertainment at all so look elsewhere as they would be very bored. The old town is lovely, with lots of restaurants, castles, and nice walks||During our stay we booked a trip to Limone and Venice, we booked via Tui and both trips were very good, naturally not the cheapest but in doing so they took all the hassle away. Note the Venice trip is around a 14hr day, the Tui guide, Fredrico was brilliant, his knowledge of the area and the history lessons given during the tour made it worthwhile - Ps if you do the Venice trip and want to go on the gondola as a pair do not book this via the Tui trip as you end up with 4 in one gondola so not very nice.||To sum up, Hotel Du Park, thanks for a great week, great hotel...

We booked half board. Arrived late after being re-directed in plane to Venice before returning to Verona. On arrival around midnight with two little ones aged 5 & 7, the receptionist was excellent. They had put aside a cold meal for us all, having left Birmingham at 4pm this was very welcome. Very good choice for breakfast both hot or cold. Ample supply of drinks hot & cold. Lovely friendly waiting staff. Evening meals were outstanding. 4 courses with four choices for each. Different menu every day. They prefer you to order evening meal after breakfast, to help chefs, although late orders are accepted. Our youngest played up on a couple of occasions and was made to remain in the bedroom with her Daddy, but the staff were wonderful and understanding, delivering all courses to the room. Swimming pool is a reasonable size with sun beds around. No need for a swim cap. The pool area is cleaned daily and in use between 9am and 7pm. There is a second small pool with water jets. Rooms were very ample. Cleaned daily by very hard working friendly staff. Bathroom had a shower, toilet, bidet and hand basin. Small balcony for every room although the views vary. Our ground floor room looked onto bushes and apartments beyond and were very close to neighbours. We went with Jet-2. Our rep was very knowledgeable but no pre-arranged trips were available. He suggested pre-booking for the Garda land Aquarium. After a local bus trip followed by a walk and a train where we had to sit on the floor, then a one hour wait for a shuttle bus where we again sat on the floor, we arrived. We had to queue with everyone else even though we had pre-booked. You just save a little on the entrance. Local buses are near to the hotel but may be full up resulting in a wait of up to 30 mins, plus some drivers may ‘rip you off’. A trip to Sermione town should cost 2/3 euros each adult. Worth a short walk to the lakeside to swim for free in the lake. The reception staff are really superb. It would be wise to walk to a local co-op supermarket, about 15-20 mins walk in 35degC heat, to stock up on drinks and snacks. A can if Fanta etc costs just 60cents but hotel charges 3 or 4 euros. You can pick up 3/4 days supplies for around 20-30 euros. The ONLY downside is that all poolside food and drinks plus all drinks with evening meals are charged to your room. For 6 of us for 7 days this amounted to a hefty £390. Not a lot to do after 9pm although there was live music on the...