Hotel La Darsena - San Donato Passignano sul Trasimeno

8.8

La Darsena on Lake Trasimeno is a good base to explore the area, but you definitely need a car, it’s a good walk into Passignano. Also we went in the beginning of October and we were bit all over by the ‘zanzari’, take insect repellent/joss sticks, whatever you need to keep’em away! July and August must be horrendous. You get a view of the lake from the balcony, but only just………..it’s further than you think. Also, the railway runs in front of the hotel and the motorway to Perugia runs behind it so you are sandwhiched between the two. We flew to Pisa and did a tour around Tuscany and Umbria so La Darsena was a good base,further south to enable us to visit Montipulciano, Siena, San Gimignano, Perugia and the Termes (a must). The hotel staff were very friendly and the food was traditional……..would I stay again? Maybe…….. Our friends stayed in the new Hotel Park Montigeto just as you drive into Passignano which was slightly cheaper and almost brand new. Either hotel would be ok as a base for exploring the area for a couple of nights.

9.7

Very comfortable, clean accomodation, friendly owners and staff. Food was of a good choice and standard but, no potatoes only french fries and poor selection of vegetables. Only downside quite a distance from Passignano town, and there are no buses or taxis.

6.6

The first rooms we were shown in the property overlooked the road, we detected an odour of gas. We asked if we could be moved and we then were given rooms looking towards the lake, a train track runs very close to the property. These rooms did not suffer from the fumes. The booking clerk told us that the fumes were from a broken main in the street and that the repair could not be carried out immediately. The main problem we found in August was the mosquitoes that inhabit the lake swarm in the evenings.

8.2

This is situated in a quiet holiday resort. It is not walkable to the village and you do need a car. It is minutes from large main roads leading to Siena and other parts of Tuscany and Umbria. It is an excellent location if you have a car. The drive around the lake is worth doing. The nearby village is superb with restaurants, shops and a supermarket. We would definitely book here again.

4.9

The hotel was convenient for the surrounding area but the information on the web site did not specify that it was located between a railway line and two roads, one a motorway. Breakfasts were poor, with inferior quality coffee and juice from a machine. The restaurant was supposed to have a good reputation locally, but we found the quality not that high, and quite expensive.

6.4

Not the place to visit out of season. Fortunately we were there on business and not vacation. Undoubtedly a different place in summer.

7.0

Decent hotel with good facilities: air conditioning and mosquito net were a blessing on a very hot night when swarms of mosquitoes attacked the whole area! The owners are helpful (they pick up from the station customers who don't travel by car) but a bit too reserved... It takes 20-30 mins to walk to the village so be prepared!

9.3

I can still not quite believe the variety and exceptional quality of the dishes on the restaurant menu. This was our first experience of perch fresh from the lake, and combined with balsamic vinegar and rucola this turned dinner into an art form. Add to this the abundance of tartufi in the dishes and the vino della casa and we began to wonder if we'd died and gone to heaven in one of the mountain tunnels on route. Grazie mille to the staff of La Darsena: era una settimana bellissima!