Hotel Garni Elena — Hotel in Circolo dell'Isole

This is not the run of the mill accommation, I have in fact never stayed anywhere quite like it. Tucked away in a quiet residential area, this garni (B&B) feels more like staying at a absent friends house, than a hotel. Everyone from the very efficient receptionist to the tireless housekeeping staff seemed genuinely pleased to welcome us. The room itself was plain, but spacious even though we had a fourth bed put in. There was a useful minibar, our own deck chairs and clothes horse for the pool towels. Some very nice touches too, such as the daily replaced tea light candle on the patio, or the homemade sharon fruit jam at breakfast. There is no room service as there is no restaurant at the hotel and catering is limited to a varied continental breakfast buffet. Local wine is gladly served to the rooms though, before 8pm, when the guests are left to themselves, a key and the request not to let any strangers in. Ours was a south facing room (really worth the extra) with small alcove patio looking out onto the circular, but chilly unheated pool. (But then it was end of September). Ascona is only a short drive away (approx. 5min) but there are a few nice places to eat in Losone. If like us you happen to travel with children, then picnic in alcove patio which supplies from local small supermarket is also an option. ||||I feel I must mention again the quiet nature of the Elena, considerate families will notice that the other guests are enjoying it as a little retreat and therefore more boisterous children and their parents might be happier elsewhere. I however will definitely be visiting this special little hideaway again, and just pretend I am dropping in on that...

This is a very hotel that is in a quite residential type area. Our room was modest sized, clean and seem like it had been recently redone so everything was rather new, or at least it looked that way. The rooms on one side of the hotel all have a small, enclosed patio area that opens onto a large green lawn where the pool is. This can be a mixed blessing as your neighbors have the patio as well and smoking is allowed on the patios so you might get some smoke from a neighboring room's patio.||||Most importantly for us, they were dog friendly so we could bring our dog and at least one other guest had a dog there as well.. Dogs are not allowed on the large grass common area, which makes good sense. But, you can walk your dog along the road to the hotel and let them relieve themselves on the wooded side of the street.||||Also, just about 1km from the hotel is one of the few large, off-leash areas where you can let your dog run and play for few kilometers, which is great. There are signs that designate it an off leash area and parallel to it is a long paved walkway for on leash walking.||||Overall it is a nice little hotel in a nice area that we will stay at again when we...

I stayed there over the Pentecost/Whitmonday/Pfingsten week-end (two nights), travelling by train/bus. This is tucked away in a corner of Losone perfectly calm and with easy access to both the lake front (for us, by frequent and convenient bus - 600m to the stop though - driving to and from Locarno/Losone would be easy too) and the trails by the Maggia river (down to the lake or up towards the backcountry). We took a more expensive garden room (all rooms at ground floor) opening up to well maintained lawn and decent-sized recreational round swimming pool. The family room had a double, a single and an extra-bed. Comfort as can be expected from a 3-star. Good breakfast. Attentive and multilingual staff. Top notch golf nearby (I don't play but there was some kind of intl tournament on).||||Super quiet, perfect for families. A very good...