Hotel Augusta Garnì

The Hotel Augusta Garnì is in via Nova, the road that runs halfway up the slope along the lake a little north of the old centre of Limone sul Garda, on the stretch where the walls of the Alto Garda Bresciano drop almost sheer into the water and the village stretches out in a thin ribbon between the rock and the shore. It is a family-run house belonging to the Bertera family, a garnì: you sleep and have breakfast, there is no half board. From the rooms you look at the lake towards the Verona shore, and in a few minutes on foot, passing between arcades and lemon houses, you reach the village centre.

The rooms have private facilities, a balcony with a view over the lake, satellite television, a telephone, air conditioning and free wifi. Breakfast is a buffet and is taken in the indoor room or, in the warm season, in the open-air terrace garden overlooking the lake, among olive trees, lemon trees and bougainvillea: coffee, cappuccino, milk, tea, juices, croissants, bread, butter, jam, cereals, yoghurt, cold cuts, cheeses, eggs and fresh fruit. The property is run directly by the family, and that family management is the feature guests mention most often.

On the water it is worth being precise, because this is the point most easily misunderstood. The pool is there and there is one only, outdoors, but it is not inside the hotel building: the property's website writes that it is a few steps away, set in the green of the olive grove, surrounded by agaves, palms, lemon and orange trees and bougainvillea, equipped with sun loungers, parasols and a bar and pizzeria service, with an open view over the lake. The property does not state whether it is heated, and does not state an opening period for the pool: the hotel's rate list covers the dates between the end of March and the end of October, so that is the season. There is no indoor pool and the website describes no wellness centre: no saunas, no Turkish bath, no hydromassage tubs. Anyone looking for a spa should look elsewhere. There is instead a restaurant and pizzeria with a bar, under an agreement for the hotel's guests, with Italian cooking, pizza baked in a stone oven and a veranda overlooking the lake among the lemon trees.

On the age it is worth saying clearly where the information comes from. The property publishes no figure: neither the website, nor the rate pages, nor the booking conditions mention children or an age limit. The information therefore comes from the rules published on the booking portal, which for this hotel writes in so many words that children are not allowed. It is a blanket restriction, valid throughout the property, but without a number declared by the owners: anyone travelling with a young person close to the age of majority would do well to ask for direct confirmation before booking, because on this point the responsibility for the information lies with the portal. On pets too the property states nothing on its own website, and silence does not amount to a ban: it has to be asked about.

It suits anyone who wants Limone without families around, anyone looking for a small house instead of a chain hotel, and anyone who puts the view over the lake and the closeness of the old centre ahead of services. It suits anyone who spends the day out, on a bicycle or on a boat, and comes back for the sunset on the terrace. It suits less anyone looking for wellness, because there is none here, anyone who wants half board in the house, and anyone expecting the pool below the window: that one is a little further off, inside the olive grove.