For those who like hustle and bustle

I stayed at hotel Eden in August for 4 nights. The hotel is in the old part of Sirmione (inside the castle walls). This has the advantage that the setting is quaint and in the centre of everything. The disadvantage is that to drive a car into this area is ridiculous (and surely only a matter of time before it is banned completely). The streets are tiny and packed with hundreds of people.

Hotel Eden has a free overflow car park located about a 10 minute walk from the hotel (outside castle walls). This is in a great location, and solves all the hassle of driving into the old town (beware though it is very tricky to find first time!). In fact unless you have a very good reason to stay in the old part of Sirmione, I would not recommend it at all. Once there you are trapped; and forced to pay dearly for everything. For example, no supermarket or general store. Sirmione is beautiful, but trips in there in the evening are enough: no real need to be in the centre of it, with hundreds (and I mean hundreds) of tourists roaming round stuffing their faces with ice cream!!

Hotel Eden itself is pleasant, and does retain quite a deal of privacy, despite its central location. The sun deck area is very nice. The hotel is not particularly quiet at night (I don't know how a family with young children would fare here). The side of the hotel overlooks noisy restaurants and one Friday night a band played until 1AM! The front of the hotel would be quieter (overlooking lake).

Staff were very friendly and professional. There is free internet. However in the final analysis, I personally feel that this hotel is too expensive. You are paying for the location, which to my mind is more hassle than enjoyment.

My advice: rent a car and stay in hotels just outside the main thronged tourist traps. Visit the traps in the evening when it is quieter and cooler. Malcesine (in the mountains) is far nicer than flat Sirmione (this is just a personal choice).

Hope this helps. .

And one final note, for anyone unfamiliar with driving in Italy. There are tolls to use the A4 Autostrada. When you go onto the autostrada you reach a booth and MUST take a ticket. When you leave the autostrada you will reach a second booth and must produce the ticket and pay a fairly small charge 5-6 euro. Failure to take this ticket in the first place (i.e. by mistakenly driving thru an easypass gate) will result in a very annoyed booth guy and a 45 euro fine. You've been warned. .

Enjoy Lake Garda, it is spectacular!

Trully first class

The Eden Hotel has an excellent position immediately adjacent the main lake boarding pier for Sirmione. The staff couldn't be more helpful and the accomodation was well looked after.

Excellent hotel and location

When we booked the hotel in Sirmione, we really did not have a good idea what to expect. We wanted a location relatively near the Milan airport where we could relax for a few days, to recover from jetlag, and where our teenagers, who were on their first trip to Europe, could feel comfortable wandering around on their own. Both the hotel and Sirmione were just what we were looking for.

We had two rooms -- a quad for the teenagers and a double for us. Both rooms looked out over Lake Garda and were average to large. Very clean and well cared for. The breakfasts were excellent -- an individual pot of coffee and a buffet which included an assortment of cereals, pastries, cheeses, meats, fruits, etc. Of the variousl places we stayed on our vacation, Eden had the best breakfast by far.

Sirmione is packed with tourists during the day, but the crowds thin by the evening and we rarely waited for a dinner table for 6. Lots of good restaurants and some of the most incredible gelatti stands we saw in Italy! The area was great for the kids to wander on their own. The main public beach area has large flat stones you can sit on. The water had a lot of algae, but we walked down the beach and the water was clean and nice. The kids swam some at the hotel dock, but it is not really designed for swimming and they had a hard time pulling themselves up the ladder.

The hotel staff were friendly and helpful. Despite reading the reviews, once we arrived I was nonetheless surprised by the drive through the castle gate. Very narrow. Very crowded. We ended up stopping and unloading, then walking the remaining distance to the hotel. We parked in the free area which is about 10 minutes outside the castle walls but still convenient.

There are many other places to stay near Sirmione but outside the castle walls. By comparison, they would be not nearly as fun and interesting.

Lovely holiday

My husband and I stayed here mid-September 2004, and had a lovely holiday. Hotel Eden is just by the main town square and the ferry, but non the less is a peaceful and quiet hotel. So - lots of restaurants to choose within walking distance and the town is lovely, if rather full of tourists. The room we had did have a lake view, but this was a side view and the window was veiled in net curtain to provide some privacy from the square and surounding hotels. It was not quite the open lake view I had expected. Also breakfast was OK, but saw no-one eating dinner or using (or indeed serving in) the very small bar. Not such a problem as the town had lots and lots of bars and restaurants.

Great place to Relax

Hotel Eden

A lovely hotel in a quaint little town, on a peninsula jutting into Lake Garda.

There are few cars in the old town of Sirmione, which makes for a relaxing stay.

The hotel is right on the lakeside, only yards from the boat docking pier for trips around the towns on the lake.

The room was large overlooking the lake and hotels sun deck. It was very clean and had beds turned down every night.

The hotel is in a piazza full of shops, restauarants, & cafes at the start of the old town.

Sirmione is full of good restaurants and shops, meaning you can spend a fair few days around Sirmione itself. There is also a Thermal baths resort.

The staff were very friendly in the hotel and breakfast served in the breakfast room or on the decking. The choice again was substantial.

A great location, with plenty to do or just relax and the staff will serve you drinks whilst soaking up the sun on the deck.

Very impressed

Sure to visit again.

Lovely

My family of five stayed at the Eden for three nights in July of 2002, and enjoyed it very much. We had two modern, comfortable, adjoining rooms on the top floor overlooking the lake. The Eden is a small comfortable hotel, with a marvelous location in the center of Sirmione. Breakfast was about average for an Italian hotel, and we ate all of other meals in the little town. The staff was courteous and helpful. Sirmione is a jewel not to be missed, a gorgeous medieval town perched on a penninsula a few hundred yards wide which juts into Lake Garda. It is full of picturesque stores, restaurants and gelatto shops, and you have to drive across the castle causeway to get in (which they don't let you do unless you have a reservation for a hotel). Disney could not have done better. I'd certainly stay at the Eden again.