Lake Garda Hotels: Named Hotels, Tax by Star and How to Arrive

Grand Hotel Terme, Sirmione

Grand Hotel Terme is listed on the Terme di Sirmione site as a 5-star hotel with a lake-front thermal pool that stays open all year round. The pool is filled with sulphurous salsobromoiodic water, the same mineral water that feeds the Terme di Sirmione baths, and the hotel looks across to the Scaliger castle. For travellers who want to swim in thermal water in January or February, this is the house to look at, because the pool does not close with the season.

The practical catch is Sirmione itself: the peninsula is pedestrian-heavy in summer and cars need authorisation to enter, so arriving means using the hotel-side parking arrangements described in the arrival section below. The town's hotels spread across the peninsula and the Lugana, Colombare and Rovizza districts, so a 'Sirmione' booking can be a lake-front thermal house or a room well back from the castle. Check which address you have before you book.

Grand Hotel Fasano, Gardone Riviera

Grand Hotel Fasano was built in 1888 as a hunting lodge for the Austrian imperial family and expanded in 1903. It is now a 5-star luxury hotel and a member of Leading Hotels of the World, with 86 rooms in total, 12 of them in the annexe Villa Principe, plus four suites with separate living room, balcony and lake view. The grounds are a 12,000 square metre park that runs down to the lake, with a jetty, lake access points and two swimming pools.

There are three restaurants: Il Fagiano, which the hotel says received a Michelin star in 2024, Osteria Il Pescatore and Magnolia. The Aqva Spa wellness centre opens 10:00 to 19:00 with pools from 9:00 to 19:00. Small dogs are welcome with a daily supplement.

The hotel's own pages refer to a low season but publish no opening or closing dates, so ask the house directly if you plan a stay at either end of the year. More five-star choices sit on our Lake Garda luxury hotels page.

Lido Palace, Riva del Garda

Lido Palace is a 5-star hotel on the north shore in Riva del Garda, set in a Belle Epoque villa built in 1899 and redesigned in 2011 by the architect Alberto Cecchetto. The address is Viale Giosue Carducci 10, and the house has 42 rooms and suites with a spa called Cento11. The north tip of the lake is the fjord-like end, under limestone walls, and Riva is the Trentino base for windsurfing and hiking.

If you are not a guest, the Day Spa sells entrance separately: Aperitif at Lido Palace at $100.55 (€90) per person, All Day Spa Weekend at $89.38 (€80), and a weekly All Day Spa entrance at $78.20 (€70). The hotel's site shows a MICHELIN Key 2025 distinction, which is a hotel award, not a restaurant star. It states no private beach and no adults-only policy, and publishes no opening dates, so confirm the season with the house before booking a shoulder-month stay.

Du Lac et Du Parc, Riva del Garda

Du Lac et Du Parc Grand Resort describes itself on its own site as a 4-star superior holiday resort in a park on the lake shore at Riva del Garda. It offers spa and fitness facilities and gourmet restaurants. Two things to note before booking.

First, it is 4-star superior, not a 5-star, which matters for the Trentino tourist tax band and for expectations. Second, the resort's pages state no room count and no season dates, so ask the resort directly about availability outside the main summer months. Riva has no railway station and the nearest station is Rovereto, with regular buses onward, so if you arrive by train you will finish the journey by bus or taxi.

The resort works well as a base for the north: Torbole and Arco are close, and if the resort is a Partner Premium host its guests receive the Garda Guest Card with free provincial transport, so ask before booking.

Locanda San Vigilio, Punta San Vigilio

Locanda San Vigilio on Punta San Vigilio has been documented as an inn since 1498, and it has 13 rooms and suites, a restaurant and a Taverna, and a private harbour. It is officially classified 3-star for a simple physical reason: the historic walls cannot be altered to take lifts, so the rating never rises however fine the house is. Book it expecting a period inn, not a modern resort, and expect stairs with your luggage.

It is a seasonal hotel, generally open April to October, so winter stays are not on offer. The peninsula itself stays accessible all year. The headland sits between Garda and Bardolino on the Veneto side, where the lake ferry connects the landing stages in season.

If you want history and seclusion rather than a spa floor, this is the named house that delivers it.

Bella Italia's Hotel, Peschiera

Camping Bella Italia in Peschiera del Garda is a 5-star campsite at Via Bella Italia 2, and alongside its pitches and mobile homes it runs a 57-room hotel. Reception is open 8:00 to 22:00 with check-in in those hours and check-out between 8:00 and 10:00. The pools open around Easter and close in mid-September, subject to weather, so if swimming is the reason for the trip, book inside that window.

The beach is a few metres from the pitches, and the site sits at the south-east corner of the lake in Peschiera del Garda, a station town on the Milan-Venice railway. The campsite also lists offers such as 7 nights for the price of 5 for next season's bookings. For families comparing a hotel room against Lake Garda camping, this is the middle option: hotel walls with campsite facilities, and things to do in Lake Garda like Gardaland nearby.

Every town on the lake charges its own tourist tax per person per night, and the star rating of your hotel sets the band. The table compares the hotel rates published by Sirmione, Desenzano del Garda, Bardolino and Gardone Riviera, converted at the rate used across this guide. Sirmione and Bardolino apply all year, Desenzano's schedule has been in force since 2023, and Gardone Riviera charges only from 1 April to 31 October.

The tax is capped per stay: seven nights in Sirmione and 20 nights in Bardolino.

Limone, Salò and Trentino

Limone sul Garda prices 5-star at $3.91 (€3.50) per person per night and every other class, from 4-star down to 1-star, at $2.23 (€2). Salò charges 5-star $3.69 (€3.30) and 4-star $2.23 (€2), with 3-star at $1.68 (€1.50) and 2-star and 1-star at $1.12 (€1). In Trentino, which covers Riva del Garda, Torbole and Arco, the provincial tax is set by classification with a maximum of $3.35 (€3) per adult per night, charged for at most 10 consecutive nights.

That cap matters for a long stay in the north. Do not assume one lake-wide rate: the same 4-star room carries a different nightly tax in Sirmione, Bardolino and Riva. If your town's rate page cannot be reached, ask the hotel to state the exact per-person tax on your booking confirmation, since it is collected by the host at checkout.

Who Pays Nothing

Children are exempt at different ages town by town, and the differences are wide enough to matter for a family of four. Sirmione exempts children up to the age of fourteen, as does Gardone Riviera for minors up to completion of the 14th year. Bardolino exempts children up to and including 14, and the tax there is due for at most 20 consecutive nights.

Peschiera del Garda cuts off earlier, exempting children up to and including 12 years. Limone sul Garda exempts children up to the tenth year of age. In Trentino, children up to 14 years are exempt from the provincial tax.

The towns also waive the tax for disabled people and their escorts, and several waive it for coach drivers and tour leaders of organised groups. Tell the hotel the children's ages at booking, not at checkout, so the exemption is applied to your confirmation.

Sirmione's Traffic Gate

Sirmione's historic centre is a limited-traffic zone, and in the summer regime vehicles need prior authorisation to enter, with number plates registered at a single electronic checkpoint. The summer regime runs from 23 March to 13 October. Driving in without authorisation means a fine of $92.73 (€83) to $372.03 (€333), so do not simply follow the satnav to the hotel door.

Hotel guests staying in the centre have a workable route: use the private hotel-guest parking service at Grifo Parking in Piazzale Europa, from which an electric shuttle carries you and your luggage to the house. There is also paid parking at Piazzale Monte Baldo near the old town, and a summer shuttle bus runs from the Colombare car parks to the castle entrance. On some high-season weekends and holidays the peninsula is pedestrianised in the afternoon, with free Grifo Parking until 21:00 and an expanded electric golf-cart service for hotel guests.

Arrange authorisation and parking with the hotel before you drive.

By Train to the South Shore

The Milan-Venice line runs behind the south shore, and all its trains stop at Desenzano-Sirmione station. From there a regional train to Verona Porta Nuova takes 28 minutes, and a high-speed train takes 20 minutes at a dynamic fare of $16.76 (€15). If you stay in Peschiera del Garda, the regional train to Verona Porta Nuova takes 19 minutes on most runs, with high-speed options at 14 to 15 minutes and dynamic fares from $12.29 (€11) to $16.76 (€15).

All trains on the line call at Desenzano, so it is the safest station for a Sirmione or Desenzano hotel, and the town has its own A4 motorway exit. For the north, note that Riva del Garda has no station at all. The nearest is Rovereto, served by Trenitalia and international operators, with regular Trentino Trasporti buses onward to Torbole, Riva and Arco.

Bus tickets cannot be bought on board those buses, so buy before boarding.

Trentino Hotels and the Guest Card

Book a hotel in Riva, Torbole or Arco that belongs to the Garda Trentino Partner Premium scheme and you receive the Garda Guest Card free. The accommodation emails you the code and activation instructions after booking or hands them over at reception, and the card cannot be bought anywhere. It works from the day of arrival, even for a one-night stay, which means you can ride public transport free to reach the hotel from Rovereto station.

In practice it gives unlimited travel on all public transport in the province of Trento, urban and intercity buses and local railway lines, used through the Mio Trentino app or a paper card with a magnetic transport pass from the accommodation. On top of the provincial card's free transport and free provincial museums and castles, the Garda card adds one free return trip on the Bastione lift in Riva and the Navigarda daily Lago Nord boat ticket at $13.41 (€12) with a bike included, instead of the standard $22.90 (€20.50).

Seasonal Houses

Not every named house trades all year. Locanda San Vigilio on Punta San Vigilio is a seasonal hotel, generally open April to October, so a shoulder-season booking there needs a date check first. The bigger change concerns a name many hotel lists still carry: Grand Hotel Gardone in Gardone Riviera, built in the late 19th century and protected by the Italian Ministry of Culture, has begun a full renovation and plans to reopen in 2027 as a 160-room LXR Hotels and Resorts property under Hilton.

Treat it as closed for stays until that reopening, and ignore older rankings that include it. Several other luxury houses publish no opening or closing dates at all on their own sites, including Grand Hotel Fasano and Lido Palace, so email the house about your exact dates rather than assuming a season. If a lakeside season is what you want, our page on the best time to visit Lake Garda sets out how the months differ.

Winter Stays

From 2 November to 12 March there are no passenger boats on the lake. The only service in that window is the Torri-Maderno car ferry, so a winter hotel choice should be matched to what you plan to do on foot, by bus or by car. Passenger services run again in the spring and autumn timetables, from 13 to 25 March and from 5 October to 1 November in the current schedules, with the full lake ferry season across the summer.

Winter is not without reward: Grand Hotel Terme in Sirmione keeps its lake-front thermal pool open all year round, so you can swim in thermal water with a castle view while the summer crowds are gone. See what the cold months look like on our Lake Garda in winter page, and pair the stay with indoor plans from the rainy day guide.