Hotel La Paul — Hotel in Sirmione

We have stayed in Sirmione for over 25 years and seen many changes. All at various 3 star hotels so we know the standard to expect.

For some inexplicable reason we booked into la Paul hotel by mistake and it was a mistake! Firstly there was the daily emails days before arrival telling you that parking was payable every day at 5 euros a day and that you must remove your car by 10.30am on departure. What a welcome 🙄 Friendly check in by reception staff. Rooms….hmm dated dark and poorly designed. Plug sockets floor level and under bedside cabinet - had to get on hands and knees to plug in phones for charging. Wardrobes were just not fit for purpose! When you open the huge doors you block off the corridor and light and cannot see a thing - you have to open the doors fully to access the drawers below. Suggest fitting battery LED tape inside? No luggage stand? No where to stack suitcases. Barely any room to put things down and only one chair inside. The Lake facing balcony had fantastic views shame the window boxes were full of dead plants and weeds and the sprinkler system came on every night and flooded the floor with muddy water. Shame the pool is not on the lake side and is situated in front of the road (blocked off with fencing but not very appealing) as it’s a great size.

What really says it all about this hotel and its Views on guests is this: The book cabinet is locked???? You have to ask at reception for them to open it and they stand there whilst you make your choice and wait for it…..they then take your room number!!! What the …. 60 years old and travelled the world - never have I experienced this before. Am I in a hotel or a prison?? Shameful, particularly because the majority, if not all of-those books will have been left by guests.

There is no real bar here - it’s open around dinner time and has a couple of bar stools, there is no where to really relax with a drink in this hotel - especially if the weather is bad (just go back to your dark room with one chair!). We often like to come back to the hotel for a nightcap - not possible here and it’s the first time we have experienced this.

Non of this is good enough for over €200 a night. We have stayed in much better places.

The one fabulous and the only one is that they seem to have acquired a great chef for a la carte (we were not half board) we had a an amazing and innovative meal here. Unfortunately the chef is only part time? For the following two evenings only pizza was available.

Breakfast was average for Sirmione - had better.

Lot of DIY going on in this hotel and not much in the way of real investment. It used to be beautifully lit up at the front with the La Paul fountain in marble lit up. Now not...

We booked two rooms for ourselves and our two older teenagers. |Room pros - rooms are simple but clean and comfortable enough. It was quiet so sleeping was no trouble (although we did adjust the air con because at full pelt it was a bit much, but we could have the room at a decent temperature whilst running it on low so it wasn’t disruptive)|Room cons - the listing we looked at suggested the rooms included a fridge and tea and coffee making facilities (easyJet) but the basic rooms we had did not include these. There was limited access to refreshments within the hotel and so this was a bit annoying. We did take a 30min walk to a Coop where we got some bottles of pop and biscuits but there are signs in the rooms that do discourage this as food can attract insects. Having seen huge numbers of pizza boxes being carried about town (presumably “doggy bags” of uneaten meals) I can understand their anxiety around that as a potential problem. We had no bugs though so our biscuits and drinks posed no issue.||Breakfast - magnificent, it really was. A stunning view over the lake whilst tucking in to the most delicious omelettes, pastries and cold meats and cheeses. It was a really lovely start to the day. Just watch the sparrows, they are bold and will come to the table to try and take the croissants from your plate. We quite enjoyed their antics as well as watching the staff chasing off the ducks. ||The lake - beautiful. I live close to the UKs most biodiverse nature reserve and honestly, I could have been there, the wildlife was stunning. I’ve never before swum in water watching egrets, coots, swans, cormorants (and ducks and sparrows!) around me (as well as fish below me). You can only really enter the water from the steps off the jetty where it is very cold and deep, so water confidence is a must. We loved sitting in the loungers in the evening watching the wildlife as the sun set.||The pool - clean, perfect for cooling off. Perfect size for playing with the kids or taking a dip, not for olympic training. Probably 10mx5m (ish). It was roomy enough, we never saw more than half a dozen or so using it at any one time. ||The staff - those on reception were warm and welcoming and spoke excellent English. The breakfast team had more limited English but had enough for us all to manage with a combination of the English they knew, the attempts we made at Italian, and smiles and gestures. ||We didn’t use the restaurant in the evening, we enjoyed drinks and snacks from the pool kiosk but we walked into town for dinner.||Overall, if you are looking for a simple no frills place to stay that has an excellent breakfast and lake access then Hotel La Paul could certainly...

Please do not use this hotel! We arrived at 10:30pm after a long taxi ride, there was only concierge service. We asked if we could have a drink of water, and got refused, although the bar should of been open. The town was closed by this time so no way of getting any refreshments. We were asked for a 100 Euro damage deposit, but honestly if I trashed the room I couldn't do 100 Euro's of damage, there wasn't even a kettle (remember no refreshments on arrival!). The restaurant staff were rude, bordering aggressive. On the first morning I asked for a knife, and a hand waved in my face at the same time being shouted at, "on the tables". There wasn't a knife to be seen! Every morning the coffee was cold. We noticed people being served fresh coffee and on the 4th morning requested fresh coffees, the table next to us got served coffee time and time again whilst we were ignored every time. This led to argument in reception between myself, the manageress and the serving staff. I was made out to be a lair, apparently if my partner requests coffee and then later I explain this and ask where is the coffee, this is not me asking for coffee! The room was very small and basic, but clean, some noise. If I got free stay offered I would refuse it, the service is so minimal, rude and aggressive. The rooms are so small and basic, it has to have a negative effect on...