We have been to Lake Garda many times and stayed at Garda and Bardolino before ...Last year we visited Limone and decided on the spot to book up for this year at the Holtel le Palme.

We had a lovely holiday with fantastic weather in the first two weeks of june this year ( 2007)

The Hotel has the most superb location and the staff ( as other people have said ) are very very good indeed.

BUT its supposed to be a four star hotel and it cant be .

The rooms mostly dont have balconies ... we knew this but thought 'so thats not the end of the world' but it is very boring not having anywhere private to sit and sip a drink or sunbathe and particularly so when you realize that the Holel Sun terrace only has about six sunbeds and room for under 10 people altogether .

The Hotel pool is really just for children only being about 20 ft long alltogether.

The food was average.

The rooms are really not up to standard ..small and pretty dingy with in some cases only a bath ( no shower)

The lounge is really just a small room with some chairs and the lighting is so low that you could'nt sit and read if the weather was bad anyway.

The lighting in the bedrooms is a joke ...all low energy ( and low light too )

My sister and I booked a week at Le Palme, Limone in May.
We had never visited Italy before but what a pleasant week we had.
Our outward flight was delayed so it meant we didn't arrive till 2am. but what a pleasant welcome it was.
Vittorio was at the coach park to pick us up as the coach couldn't get to the hotel.
In our beautiful room when we arrived was a selection of fruit and salad, bread, cheese etc.
The staff at this hotel are fabulous, there was evening entertainment in the form of a singer with keyboard, but the staff also entertained us with their magic tricks and their humour.
The food was different and I can understand why some people say the food is terrible, but when you visit a strange country you expect to find different things. We tried them and found them to be alright. We would certainly return to Le Palme anytime and cannot reccommend it highly enough.

READ THIS ONE - IT IS THE TRUTH.
We booked a last minute holiday through teletext to this hotel in May 2007. Got rather a bargain.
The tourist season only just starts now, so is a fairly quiet time. The hotel is central to the small town of Limone and is right on the lake. A useful ferry stop is right outside.
The building was a 17th century villa and has been converted over the years. A lot of the tourists are German, but also a few rooms from our Gatwick flight were staying. Room 316 is very small, but livable as a base for our holiday. We took a peek at some of the other rooms when the cleaners were in, and these are much more of a regular size. A couple of rooms have balconies onto the lake. Ours was on the top floor over the pedestrian street. New double glazing keeps any noise out. (There is a good roof terrace with sun loungers that was often empty to use, and a 'lounge' with magazines on the 1st floor.) Temperature controlled in rooms. Lovely elaborate decorations with gold drapes, headboard, bedspread and a painted wardrobe. Small television on wall but only one English Channel - Sky News.
Bathroom with strange tiling, small but usable with bidet and complimentary toiletries and fresh towels everyday. The shower cubicle corner entry and small though.
FOOD- people have complained in previous reports about the seating -at dinner there is a set table for each room. We didn't find this a problem. However, for breakfast you can sit wherever you like and have a lovely morning view of the lake.
3 course meal with choice of 3 or 4 dishes for each course. Big salad bar and bread rolls. A vegetarian option for each night, except the Gala Dinner - when they tried to give us prawn pasta then roast lamb, however we got a nice big tray of bruschetta in the end. Lovely Italian desserts. I recommend the Salmon Pasta and Lake Fish. DRINKS ARE FREE WITH DINNER! - BEER, WINE AND SOFT DRINKS until 8.30pm.
Mon-Fri outside from 8pm was a musician of some sort. Saxophone, piano, guitar, singing etc. At this time of year, it was the only music in the whole resort.
For breakfast there is a lot of choice- boiled/scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, different breads, jams, croissants, cheese, ham, fruits, yoghurt, cereal, cakes, juices, hot drinks.
At lunchtimes when we were in town, we ate at the Jacky Bar. Lovely pizzas. There are good small boutique shops, though pricey. We visited the Lemon House up a hill which had the history of lemon growing.
We recommend taking a couple of trips out of the resort, as it is so quiet. We hired a car - if you want to brave the roads - and went to Venice, Verona, Cremona, around the lake, mountain roads with other lakes, olive oil museum, malcesine. There are coach trips, though pricey. You can park at the sister hotel -Splendid up on the main road as Le Palme has only narrow access, and use their big swimming pool. Their bar does a great happy hour 6-7pm half price cocktails and fruit drinks.
Le Palme has a private pool and sunbathing area up the road with a code to get in. Great views over lake and free extra towels from hotel reception.
To conclude- it was a very enjoyable holiday, especially with half board and drinks included. Not sure if we would class our room as 4* as it was so small, but our booking was so last minute and cheap it was probably the last room. NO Tea making facilities in room so bring your own! We wouldn't have been impressed if we'd paid £400-£500 for it. You should try to stay at the Hotel Splendid if you want more of a 'chainstore' hotel experience. Friendly service from English speaking staff.

I have posted on here before, but this is just a follow up
Just two days prior to our departure to the carefully chosen and much looked forward to Holiday At The Hotel Splendid in Limone, Newmarket rang us and informed us that the hotel had been ovberlooked and NO newmarket customers were staying at that hotel. (later we found this not to be true as there were 14 other Newmarket guests dropped off there!)

We were very upset and had read with dismay the reports on this site of the hotel Le Palme which they had decided to put us in. However, we were told by NM that we had no choice but to go or loose 60% of our monies paid!
So we went and hoped for the best.

It was just awful. The hotel had NOTHING at all by way of amenities, contrasting immensly with the fantastic lounges, bars and restaurant of the Splendid, and the food was foul, cold and innedible. Breakfast was put out the night before, and was crawling with flies (I have many photos to prove this). The yogurt was bad and fermenting! The rolls were stale and dry, the fruit juice watered down, and all staff (with the exception of Vittorio and Rosanna) were extremely rude and unhelpful ie: on the 1st morning, there were no cleared tables for breakfast despite 3 members of staff hovering around. After ten minutes of waiting, it became apparent that they were not going to clear one, so my husband and I cleared our own table with the head waiter watching on smiling!! NOT 4 Star treatment!

Also, the menu was very limited and just not pleasant - we didn't eat in the hotel as it was totally unacceptable so had to pay to eat and drink out every night. We certainly didn't class a cheese omelette as fayre for a 4 star Italian Hotel dinner! Also, as hotel guests paying for 1/2 board, we were not allowed to eat in the only decent dining area which was a lakeside terrace (that was reserved for the non existent outside diners!) but had to put up with the dark dreary inside didning room. In addition to this, all the lovely refrigerated sweets on display in the cabinet were also NOT for guests - we had a very small choice of deserts which often ran out too early.
As 1/2 board guests we were REALLY treated as 2nd class citizens.

If we had we paid 1/2 of what we had paid, the Hotel Le Palme would have ben an adequate base for a holiday, as it is right in the centre of Limone, but was not worth well over £1,000 for what we got from it!

Newmarket changed our hotel from The Splendid Palace, (which was absolutely fantastic!) to the Hotel Le Palme at just 3 days notice, and they don't care whose long saved for holidays they ruin in the process.

The Newmarket rep whilst in Limone was incredibly rude and offhand, insisting that our problem had "nothing to do with her" and that we muct take it up with Newmarket on return to the UK.

We are aware that Newmarket claim that Le Palm is 4 star hotel but in no way can it be compared to The Splendid which IS truly a 4 star. Also, reputable companies such as Fist Choice Holidays only grade Le Palme as a 2 star plus.

The hotel Splendid in which we spent the majority of our time, in great comparison to Le Palme, just had EVRYTHING you could wish from a hotel, and the staff felt like olf frinds by the time we left!

We would definitely NOT book to stay at Le Palme, but would try to go to the Hotel Splendid, but with a different tour operator!!

BEWARE OF NEWMARKET HOLIDAYS! and book wisely!
Happy holidays....