Hotel Mon Repos

This hotel is charming. Slightly away from the crowds in an oasis of calm with outstanding lake views. There are a couple of roof terraces with panoramic views and a lovely pool with towels provided which is a nice touch as we came only with cabin baggage. We had a family room with huge bed and small room off with 2 singles for the kids with a balcony overlooking the lake. The hotel offers bed and breakfast which was good although there were a lot of cakes/pastries which, in my opinion, was a little over the top. There wasn’t the option for a cooked breakfast only having cold meats, cheeses, cereals, juices etc. but was perfect for us. The hotel had 3 bicycles for guests use which was great but we didn’t get to use them as everything is pretty much within walking distance anyway. Cal, the hotel’s black Labrador, was there to greet us which was lovely. Tea and coffee sachets were provided in the room but only 2 small crema for coffee so I asked daily for a small cup of milk for my tea which was gratefully received. There weren’t many plug sockets in the room and I ended up boiling the kettle in the plug by the door but this is a minor point. Overall, a perfect small hotel in an enviable location. Great value too.

Just back from a week in Sirmione. We last visited Sirmione about 14 years ago and stayed at the Du Parc Hotel a good way from the town centre, so this time we wanted something a lot closer to everything. The Mon Repos is ideally situated, it is a few minutes walk from the hustle and bustle of Sirmiones main areas including the Ferry departure point. The Hotel is a small family run concern, with it's bigger Sister Hotel the Catullo, situated in the main area a few hundred yards away. Sirmione is the most popular town at the southern end of the lake, and at times it was like walking through a football crowd in the main areas, so it was a relieve to get back to the Mon Repos with it's calm peace and quiet. It has a reasonable swimming pool with a bar area that serves drinks, snacks and ice creams throughout the day, which is attended to by a charming man. In the Hotel itself just inside the entrance and next to the check in desk is another Bar, but this is very small and does not serve lager or beer on tap, just in bottles. Next to the bar is the entrance to the breakfast dining room, and it is here as the name suggests you eat the only meal that Mon Repos caters its guests for, I mention this because we actually went half board, but the evening meal is taken at that sister Hotel Catullo in Sirmiones main area, more of which later. The Hotel Mon Repos is situated on two floors, I e-mailed ahead and requested a top floor (I had booked a none lake view room) and that is what we were given upon arrival. There are no lifts in this Hotel, so if you are a bit infirm or have mobility issues, I recommend you e-mail ahead and request a ground floor room, although to be fair there are only two flights of stairs totalling 23 steps in all to reach the first floor. The Hotel also offers access to a roof terrace with 360 degree views, which had some sun loungers on it. The Hotel is situated on a rising road out of Sirmione which isn't to hard a climb, but the last 40 or so yards from off of the main walking area and up to the Hotel are quite steep and can be a challenge if you have mobility issues. There is a small land train that goes from down near the main area and up to the end of the peninsular that you can take if you wish to avoid the walk, it costs a euro to go up or down I believe, but you still have to traverse those last 40 yards anyway. Back to info on the Hotel, the breakfast is a continental affair as has been pointed out in other reviews, and if you like cake for breakfast you will be in seventh heaven. I has toast every morning, and the first morning it was a puzzle as to how to turn the toaster on, I was told to press the big red button on the wall about a yard left of the toaster, and off it went, but it takes (from cold) about three or four passes through before your toast has browned, and sometimes you have to push that big red button again as it is on a timer. There are hot eggs on offer if you fancy them, and a whole host of different jams for your toast including two types of honey, the traditional little commercial pots plus a proper honeycomb that you scrap spoonfuls off if you want it straight from the hive, which was a first for me in any Hotel I have been in! The rooms are cleaned daily, and there is a free to use safe in the wardrobe. The bathroom is fully tiled, has a sink, shower over the bath, toilet and bidet, and there are a range of toiletries available. We found the staff in both this and it's sister Hotel to be very pleasant, cheerful and hard working and nothing was to much trouble.Now back to the evening meals, if your a sea food/fish lover you will really like the evening meals at the Catullo. Unfortunately for us we are not, but that's hardly the Catullo's fault, and we enjoyed their alternate choice of food anyway. The evening meals consist of four courses, a starter, a second course with three choices, a Main with three choices, and a sweet. On our first night the starter was perch with mayonnaise sandwich, which we politely declined, the waiter even offered us some parma ham instead, but we thought three courses would be enough and declined that as well much to the waiters consternation! Each second course had a soup option and usually a spaghetti option as well, while the main courses had a fish option a meat option and even a vegetarian option, the sweet was just the one option (like the starter) and mostly was a very nice cake r tart type desert, though you can ask for fresh fruit and even ice cream which I did a few times. Outside is a lakeside bar which made for a pleasant after or before meal drink (evening meals start at 19:30). Drinks in Sirmione are expensive, both in and out of the Hotels, if you like lager it was 6.50 to 7.00 euro's for half a litre, which in English money is £6 to £7, cocktails in the Hotel were 8 euro's across the board, and soft drinks 4 euro's, so Sirmione or Lake Garda come to that, is a pretty expensive place to visit.We used the Ferries to visit other places on the lake four times, the first and last times we had a discount for being over 65, the middle two times being the weekend, had no discounts. We paid 32 Euro's 80 cents for two return tickets to Garda and the same price again for two return tickets to Gardone on the Friday and Tuesday, and 39.20 for two return tickets to Bardolino and Salo on Saturday and Sunday. A word of warning though, we had no problem getting the discount on the friday and were not even asked for identification proof, however the same cannot be said for Tuesdays trip. We arrived at the ticket office in what we thought was plenty of time, and were at the back of a queue numbering about eight couples. Everyone was starting to get agitated with the couple at the front because they must have taken at least ten minutes to get their tickets, and the man had a face like thunder when he eventually left with is wife. By now I could see the ferry approaching in the distance and the next couple seemed to be taking a long time as well, eventually we got to the front and I asked for two senior return tickets to Gardone. Well the person in the office asked for proof of identification (different guy from the friday, this one was old and white haired and abrupt to the point of rudeness), I showed him our euro health cards with our dates of birth on them, he started raising his voice and saying they don't prove anything and show him our passports with a photo. I didn't have them of course and told him there was no problem last friday so why now? After another round of loud voiced opinion he begrudgingly gave us the discounted tickets. By this time the queue was twenty or more yards long, and we now knew why that first couple had taken so long and looked angry when they had finished, it was all down to this jobsworth. Anyway we made the ferry but lots did not, though one English woman ran up and asked the ferry people if they could buy tickets on the ferry and they said yes, so at least she and her husband got on. Their are no supermarkets in Sirmion, however there is a shuttle bus service up to Columbare where there is a supermarket and the shuttle costs one euro each way so four euros for a couple. The buses are nice and clean and run approx every 15 to 20 minutes. Should you use it buy your tickets at the kiosk next to the travel information place which is (as you leave the castle drawbridge) is on your left about 60 yards up the road, the lady in this ticket office speaks excellent English and sells you the tickets there, you get four single tickets if there are two of you for four euro's, on the bus itself they are a euro fifty each. Get off at stop eleven (they are clearly marked) called Via Roma, stay on that side of the road and walk up the road about 50 yards and the supermarket is on your left, the beer/lager, water, crisps in here are considerably cheaper and the savings are well worth the bus ticket costs. Well what was mean't to be a short description of the Hotel has turned into a mini travelogue so apologies for that, anyway I hope the information I have provided is useful, do visit Lake Garda as it really is a beautiful place. Oh, one final thing, in your Hotel room there is a mini fridge, we didn't buy anything from it (way to expensive) but did store our water and drinks in it.

This really is a charming hotel. It is only small so only provides bed and breakfast, but has it’s own pool and is perfectly situated. We had a lake view room with a small balcony. The room was small but perfectly clean and suited us perfectly. I have noticed some other comments about the hairdryers and would agree these are not powerful so if this may be an issue for you, you might want to consider brining your own. My only other comment would be that the room could benefit from a mirror as the only one was in the bathroom. Overall, I would have to say this hotel was excellent and in our view felt like more than its 3 star rating. Staff were amazing, and we would not hesitate to recommend this hotel.