Hotel La Palma

3 couples stayed 3 nights in the La Palma recently. There are good and not so good elements which should be considered when booking this hotel. The good: the location is right on the lake, the hotel is modern and clean, the sky bar is a must and the lake side pool is nice. The not so good: the hotel has an annex, one of our couples ended up out back, the staff is a little on the surly side, the hotel is popular with conferences and package tours, it can be crowded, one night we were relegated to the back of the sky bar by a conference and the next night the pool was reserved for a special occaision. Our room was warm and stuffy. When we called the front desk about air conditioning, we were told it had been tuned off. To be fair, it was in the 70's at night but opening the doors meant letting in the bugs and street noise.We had to move down the street to the Grand Hotel des Iles Borromees because the La Palma was fully booked our last night. We would give that hotel priority over the La Palma if we visit Stresa again.

We stayed for 4 nights and thoroughly enjoyed it. Our room overlooked Lake Maggiore with a view of Isola Bella. All facilities are of a top standard from gym, pool, rooftop spa, Sky Bar; staff friendly & helpful; breakfast sensational and the location perfect. Would definitely stay again. Only minor inconveniences (and this is very minor), no tea & coffee facilities or iron in the room which appears to be an Italian thing, and also no guest laundry which is needed if you use the gym daily. As I said, only minor, and everything else was perfect.