Luxury Hotels on Lake Garda: Five-Star Houses Shore by Shore

Villa Feltrinelli, Gargnano

Villa Feltrinelli sits on Via Rimembranza at the edge of Gargnano, a lakeside villa turned hotel that the Michelin Guide calls one of the most spectacular hotels on Lake Garda, with the lake in front and the mountains behind. Its restaurant is the only one on the lake with two Michelin stars, creative cooking in the Guide's spare-no-expense band, and that dining room is the reason many guests choose the house. Gargnano itself is where Franciscan monks first brought citrus to the lake in the 13th century, and a second starred table, La Tortuga, is also in Gargnano.

The hotel publishes its room list on its own site, but no room count or opening season could be confirmed there, so ask the house for both before you plan dates. The village lies on the summer boat timetable, so in season you can reach Gardone Riviera and Salò by water.

Lefay Resort & SPA Lago di Garda, Gargnano

Lefay sits above Gargnano in 11 hectares of natural park, a modern resort rather than a historic house, and it rates itself 5-star superior. Every room is a suite, from 50 sqm up to the Royal Pool & SPA Suite of 350 to 600 sqm. The spa is the point of the place at 4,300 sqm, and the resort's factsheet names a Michelin-starred executive chef, Matteo Maenza, at its Gramen restaurant.

The rules matter for families. The adults-only spa area, the saunas and the gym are for guests aged 16 and over, the resort takes a limited number of children up to 11 in dedicated rooms, and dogs are accepted only up to 12 kg. The heated 25 m outdoor pool opens April to October.

No opening and closing dates for the hotel season are printed on the pages the resort publishes, so confirm a shoulder-month stay before you book flights.

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, and it is now a 5-star member of Leading Hotels of the World. It has 86 rooms, 12 of them in the annexe Villa Principe, and 4 suites with a separate living room, a balcony and a lake view. The 12,000 sqm park runs down to the water with a jetty, lake access points and two swimming pools.

There are three restaurants: Il Fagiano for dinner from 19:30 to 21:30, which the hotel says was awarded a Michelin star in 2024 with chef Maurizio Bufi, Osteria Il Pescatore from 19:00 to 21:00, and Magnolia for lunch from 12:30 to 14:30. Small dogs are welcome for a daily supplement. The hotel refers to a low season but prints no closing dates, so ask before a winter booking. Il Vittoriale degli Italiani is in the same town.

Grand Hotel Gardone: Closed Until 2027

Grand Hotel Gardone on Via Zanardelli is the name many lists of Lake Garda luxury hotels still carry, and it is the one you cannot book. The hotel was built in the late 19th century and is protected by the Italian Ministry of Culture. Its own site announces a full renovation starting in 2026, with a planned reopening in 2027 as an LXR Hotels & Resorts property under Hilton with 160 guest rooms.

Until that date, treat it as closed for stays, whatever an older ranking or a cached booking page says. For a five-star bed in Gardone Riviera in the meantime, Grand Hotel Fasano is in the same town. The town's tourist tax for a 5-star hotel is $3.91 (€3.50) per person per night, charged only from 1 April to 31 October.

Grand Hotel Terme, Sirmione

Grand Hotel Terme is one of the hotels of Terme di Sirmione, the spa company that uses the town's thermal water, and the company lists it as 5-star. Its lake-front thermal pool stays open all year round, filled with sulphurous salsobromoiodic water, and it looks across to the Scaligero Castle. That makes it a thermal pool you can swim in during a January visit.

Arrival follows Sirmione's rules: the old town is a ZTL from 23 March to 13 October, and hotel guests use Grifo Parking in Piazzale Europa with an electric luggage shuttle. Sirmione charges the highest 5-star tax of the towns on this page, $4.69 (€4.20) per person per night, for at most 7 nights. The spa itself is covered on Terme di Sirmione.

Lido Palace, Riva del Garda

Lido Palace stands at Viale Giosue Carducci 10 in Riva del Garda, a Belle Epoque villa built in 1899 and redesigned in 2011 by the architect Alberto Cecchetto. It is a 5-star house with 42 rooms and suites and the Cento11 Spa. The hotel's site carries a MICHELIN Key 2025 logo, which is the Guide's distinction for hotels and not a restaurant star.

Riva is the Trentino end of the lake, so the provincial tourist tax applies, at most $3.35 (€3) per adult per night for up to 10 nights, and children up to 14 are exempt. The site states no private beach, no adults-only policy and no opening dates. Riva has no railway station, the nearest being Rovereto with Trentino Trasporti buses onward.

More on the town is on Riva del Garda.

Du Lac et Du Parc, Riva del Garda

Du Lac et Du Parc Grand Resort sits in a park on the lake shore at Riva del Garda, with spa, fitness and its own restaurants. Lists of five-star hotels often include it, but the resort describes itself as 4-star superior, and that is the classification to expect. It prints no room count and no season dates on its home page, so ask before a spring or autumn stay.

The town and its sights are on Riva del Garda, and the windsurf base of Torbole is next door.

Locanda San Vigilio, Punta San Vigilio

Locanda San Vigilio has been documented as an inn since 1498 and sits on Punta San Vigilio, the headland between Garda and Bardolino on the Veronese shore. It has 13 rooms and suites, a restaurant, a taverna and a private harbour. Officially it is only a 3-star, because the historic walls cannot be altered to take lifts, and that is the clearest case on the lake of a star rating that says nothing about the house.

It is a seasonal hotel, generally open April to October, while the point itself stays accessible all year. Next door, the private Parco San Vigilio has a saltwater panoramic pool, open April to October from 10:00 to 19:00 weather permitting, with day tickets sold only through its booking system. The headland belongs to Garda, whose tax schedule is not on this page, so ask the inn.

The spas of the lake's luxury hotels compared on size, hours and access rules, with the day-pass prices where the hotel prints them, all from the hotels' own sites.

Children and Dogs

The age rules split the spa hotels. Lefay keeps its spa area, saunas and gym for guests aged 16 and over and takes only a limited number of children up to 11, in dedicated rooms, so a family with teenagers should read the conditions before booking. Grand Hotel Fasano lists no such limit on its FAQ page and welcomes small dogs for a daily supplement, while Lefay caps dogs at 12 kg.

Lido Palace states no adults-only policy. At the thermal spa in Sirmione, the town's day spa admits children aged 2.5 to 16 only with an adult, which is the line to check if the hotel pool is the plan.

Starred Hotel Restaurants

Villa Feltrinelli's restaurant in Gargnano holds the lake's only two Michelin stars. In Limone sul Garda, the Michelin Guide places Senso Lake Garda Alfio Ghezzi, one star, inside the EALA My Lakeside Dream hotel, and suggests arriving early to see the lake through its floor-to-ceiling windows. Inland at Cavaion Veronese, Oseleta holds one star at Villa Cordevigo, approached between two rows of cypresses.

In Sirmione, La Speranzina Restaurant & Relais has one star in the old town. Grand Hotel Fasano says its Il Fagiano won a star in 2024, and Lefay's factsheet names a Michelin-starred executive chef at Gramen. The starred rooms the Guide places in hotels all sit in its top price band.

The full list by shore is on Lake Garda restaurants.

Listed Without a Star

Two more hotel dining rooms are in the Michelin Guide without a star. Regio Patio is the gourmet restaurant of the Regina Adelaide hotel in Garda, a short walk from the lakefront, with an English-style garden and an outdoor patio, in the special-occasion band. La Veranda del Color serves Mediterranean cooking on a glass-enclosed veranda facing the pool of the Color Hotel in Bardolino, also special occasion.

Both suit a guest staying on the east shore who wants a formal dinner without crossing the lake, which matters from 2 November to 12 March, when no passenger boats run. The towns are covered on Garda and Bardolino.

The per-person nightly tax on a 5-star hotel in each lake town that publishes its schedule, with the nights charged and the child exemption, from the official town and provincial tax sheets.

What It Means for a Week

For two adults in a Sirmione five-star, a seven-night stay adds $65.69 (€58.80) in tax, our sum, and the eighth night is free of tax because Sirmione stops at seven. The same week in Bardolino adds $39.10 (€35), our sum. In Gardone Riviera the tax disappears from 1 November to 31 March.

The tax is paid at the hotel, not with the room booking, so expect it on the final bill. Full rates for every star rating are on Lake Garda hotels.