Hotel Giardino in Ascona

We took a little get-away down to Ticino (southern Switzerland) to visit with our friends and enjoy the Italian-influenced cooking the local restaurants offered. It had been almost nine months since were there last and we looked forward to staying at one of the fine hotels in Ascona, the Hotel Giardino Ascona.

We had attended a number of nice parties there over the years for Polo Club Ascona and always wanted to stay there. So this visit we splurged a bit and took a room for three nights.

You can probably tell from the rating we gave it that we had some issues with our stay there. Our expectations were pretty high as we thought we were going to a boutique, high-end and mostly adult resort. However, apparently, it’s the place where people bring their kids for a summer vacation. The hotel was packed with families with tons of kids running all over the place and monopolizing the pool area to the point were we avoided using any of the resort’s facilities aside from the restaurant.

Our room (a Junior Suite) was a bit weird as the bathtub was just plopped next to the bed and not even in the bathroom. The furnishings were dated but nice however the lack of in-room coffee or tea was a disappointment. Even the most minimal hotels in Switzerland always seem to have a Nespresso machine in the room but not Giardino.

As the resort is not located on the lakefront of Lago Maggiore but a number of blocks inland, we had looked forward to spending time relaxing by the pool and walking around the beautiful grounds. But the pool was out as we didn’t want to compete with the kids playing there. Likewise the lounge chairs around the property were filled with families and more kids so quiet time reading a book was a no-go too. On top of that, the resort seemed to have only two waitstaff patrolling the grounds getting drinks for the guests and getting their attention was next to impossible.

However not everything was subpar as the restaurant was superb for both breakfast and lunch (dinner each night was out with friends). The food was excellent and as good as we’d remembered from the many events we attended over the years. In addition they had regular bicycles and e-bikes available for guest use and there are lots of nice quiet places to ride around the countryside.

It’s a shame we had such a negative experience actually staying there however, it could be the we just chose a really bad three day period to visit. Regardless, our next visit to Ticino we’ll try another resort (perhaps the Costello Del Sole, Eden Roc or Park Hotel Delta).