Hotel Ghiffa

Location

Having to get the ferry to the hotel

Magical sunrise!

We booked a room that was completely different from the pictures. Our friends who booked the same room received a much bigger and newer room than we did. We spoke with the front desk, but they said that there are mistakes in the photos that in "Booking"

the room

Waterfront location, pool, restaurant

Distance from main attraction and most restaurants

The location of the hotel is amazing and our room was excellent having (we believe) been recently refurbished. The reception staff were very helpful and provided good advice.

Breakfast was OK without being brilliant. My wife only drinks tea and asked for a pot of hot water. In response she was told to use the hot water button on the coffee machine.... Not so good. Similarly and given the Ghiffa is a 4 star hotel I was disappointed that my morning coffee came out of the machine too. Surely it's not asking too much to be provided with a jug of coffee on the table at breakfast. The first night we stayed in the hotel and ate from the a la carte menu - the food was good, but the choice not huge. The second night we also ate in the hotel. The a la carte menu was unchanged and so with some difficulty we chose from the half board menu. After that we ate out We did not have a car so were reliant on local buses (infrequent) and the boat service that runs up and down the lake. Please note that there is only one boat a day that stops in Ghiffa - this is an excellent service down to Stresa in the morning and back in the afternoon (6 days a week not Wednesdays when the boat goes up to Luino where there is a large market). But whatever day of the week, there is only one boat from Ghiffa. We took the bus to Intra (10 minutes) to take more frequent boats. Due to the nature of the road, walking to Intra is not a safe option, so it's bus or taxi if you don't have a car. We had a great time and visited Intra, Laveno, Stresa, Luino, the gardens in Villa Taranto (amazing) and the three islands - Bella, Superiore and Madre

Location close to the lake

Hospitality overall was incredible poor. Not interested in the guest at all. Too basic and self service for a 4 star hotel. Also the quality of the food did not meet our expectation..

Lovely beach on the lake - comfy house and very nice staff. All right location to explore the coast by car, as Ghiffa itself is tiny and not ideal for an evening walk (or a quick coffee).

The big things (location, facilities, pool, the room - junior suite) were very good.

The little things (choice of food, cost of food, breakfast service, one very slow drinks machine) not so good. Easy to improve the little things - the management needs to read the feedback - not just this one.