Piccolo Hotel Olina - Orta San Giulio

7.5

Beautiful location and an excellent unit. Lots of space and clean daily. Fabulous breakfast.

6.4

First of all, we really have to insist on the fact that the piccolo hotel is not an hotel, but some rooms scattered in different buildings around the litte town of Orta San Giulio. There are no public areas and the front desk is a little office on a street corner. So it should really be qualified as a "bed and breakfast" or "pension", whatever, but it's not hotel and should not be priced as an hotel. The welcoming was ok, but the room was not ready when we arrived (at 3 pm), and we had to wait for one hour to get our room, thanks to the constant pressure on the maid by the desk clerk, which was a weird moment. The room was very large, with two double beds, but the decoration is really too personal (there was a big scare-crow puppet on the room desk, not that nice) and beds are not very confortable. The breakfast is in a nearby hotel with a lot of choice, and overall quite good, but the waiter- maybe new- did not know how to work the coffee machine and only managed to make a horribly-tasting almost transparent juice ; he also made awful omelets. Overall, it was okay, but too expensive for the confort, cleanliness and standard we got. However, the restaurant of the "hotel" (albergo olina) was exceptional ; inventive Italian food, with fresh products, and good service ; even the deserts are good!

8.5

Room was great and Orta San Giulio is a wonderful, scenic and well maintained little town. The breakfast, served at the Hotel Araceli during our stay, was spectacular - the best brekky buffet during our entire month in Italy. The only problem was we got to Orta a few hours earlier than expected and the restaurant and nearby booking office were closed and I couldn't read the (Italian)note on the office door. Eventually we were rescued and everyone was very helpful after that. The hotel rooms are not above or attached to the restaurant...they are in a nearby street behind a security door...so you'll need to collect your keys at the little office across the lane from the restaurant if the restaurant is closed, or you may have to head down to the town square and enquire at the Hotel Araceli.

6.5

Nice room even if it was not as we could imagine whith the photo... It was not an hotel but a room in a house... It was a little noisy, late in the night. Main problem : the breakfast, excellent, but served in an other place at about 150m far. A problem when it's raining !... and the employees not always very sympatics !