Upon arrival at the hotel, La Limonaia, we were extremely surprised by its general appearance which was quite scruffy and dated. The foyer and reception area resembled a bed and breakfast from the 1970’s. There was a very unpleasant smell of gas and a poor level of cleanliness; one example of this was a dried flower arrangement we noticed on the stairway that was thick with dust.

When we went to check in we were greeted with an extremely hostile reception. We were frostily told that our room would not be ready for an hour and when we asked where we should wait, the lady on reception tutted, rolled her eyes and pointed rudely to a seating area. I was very surprised at this. We had been up since 3.30am in order to catch our flight and were tired and in need freshening up. I think it should have been pointed out by the Inghams representative that we would be unable to get into our rooms until later in the day. I holiday 3-4 times a year and have never encountered this with any other company.
It was at this point that we realised that we didn’t know where our luggage was; when we were dropped off by the minibus that transported us from the coach to the hotel the driver said that they would be brought inside for us. We asked reception where our cases might be- once again we were answered extremely rudely and told they did not know. We then went back downstairs to investigate and found them dumped at the side of the path on the drive to the hotel and mine had a huge crack in it! (See attached photo). Some fellow tourists sitting on a nearby bench informed us that they had witnessed the driver basically throw them from his vehicle with no regard for what may be inside at all.

When we were finally granted access to our room, my worst fears were realised..it was as poor quality as the rest of the hotel. The main issues were:

Twin beds-we booked a double room.
The same musty smell
Severe mould in the bathroom, both in the shower cubicle and on the curtains, (see attached photo).
No proper towels in the bathroom. Only cotton, cloth type towels.
The balcony was shared with the room next door; the only thing separating the two was a piece of string (see attached photo). This granted no privacy whatsoever. It also raised security issues, as it would have been possible for whoever was in the next room to access our room via the balcony.
The “Sky TV” advertised in the brochure did not include any English speaking channels-surely this ought not to be used to advertise the hotel to British tourists?

Lastly, when we were already extremely upset by what we were faced with, we went outside to get some fresh air and the door handle of the room CAME OFF IN MY HAND!!! That was the last straw. I t was at this point that we contacted our Inghams rep, and expressed our wish to be moved.
To her credit, the Inghams rep was extremely helpful and had arranged for us to be moved by 7pm that evening to the hotel Europa. This was much better, mainly due to the very friendly owners and staff and a better level of cleanliness, however it was still not the type of place we had in mind when we booked our holiday.

I must admit we were a bit wary about this hotel having read some of the reviews but we had a fantastic stay here. The rooms were spotlessly clean and spacious with fantastic veranda views over Lake Garda. The towels were a bit odd - more like tea towels-so take a cuddly beach towel for comfort - but they were changed every day and the sheets were also spotless and changed regularly. Yes, there are steps and a bit of a steep hill - but you can always get the minibus in and out of Limone - although the walk into town is mostly downhill and it's lovely. The hotel staff were a mix of German, Italian and Romanian - but all very pleasant and helpful. Restaurant food was good and plentiful - if a little biased towards German tastes-but Limone was Austrian until after 1918 and English is the 3rd language after Italian and German - don't go if you're xenophobic!! We had no problems at all with fellow guests. There's always pasta, soup, great salad bar and a choice of hot meals. The pool bar was also excellent and served fantastic pizza!! Good wine, great coffee and liquers and scrummy hot chocolate added to the fun!!
The entertainment was a bit eccentric at times - but always amusing. It's very easy to get around Lake Garda and there are plenty of opportunities to visit places like Venice and Verona. We would definitely go back to La Limonaia. It represents honest value-for-money. If you want bland luxury hotels with arrogant staff, stay in England!!

Out transfer to our hotel from Brescia was good, and on arriving at La Limonaia we was impressed with the look of it, that was untill we stepped inside. Reception was up a flight of stairs and it took some time for the receptionist to get through all the arrivals and give them the keys to their rooms. The rooms are clean but not anything special, the views are fantastic from the veranda. We was told to use the top restaurant, obviously you are segregated to the package that you have with your agent, the lower restaurant was obviously better with smart waiters whilst we had staff that didn't really have anyone in overall charge and tables are left uncleared and on the first night we had to make up our own table. The dinner was abysmall, a lump of lamb with mashed patato and boiled cabbage, breakfast next morning confirmed that we wasn't going to get anything better, bacon rashers that curled up at the edges and scrambled eggs that had a crust to it, this was on offer every morning for the week, although we paid for half board we decided that we would eat out and have a decent meal. This hotel has the best position in Limone and with a good makeover and some sort of good management this hotel could be the best. Come on Chincherini, don't waste this hotel!!

As a small tour operater I put together a holiday through an agency with an office in Italy, they came up with this hotel at a very good price including flights. I led a party of 41 people this month fearing the worse after reading past reviews. I must ask which planet some of these people are from? Yes it is a steep climb upto the hotel but there is a minibus service, some of my clients are in there 80's and managed very well. The views are magnificent, the rooms are clean and quite spacious and the facilities are as good as I have experienced in higher rated hotels. The food was plentiful with a large range of dishes including pasta, soups, a superb salad bar, fish and meat dishes daily, excellent potato dishes and an extensive dessert buffet. All my clients returned saying it was a great holiday and commented that the hotel was very good value for money. Don't let the proffesional moaners put you off!