Hotel Giardino Ascona

Hotel Giardino Ascona

The garden at Hotel Giardino Ascona is planted with lavender, broom, mimosa, lemon and olive trees, and pools, bars and daybeds sit inside that greenery rather than beside it, two kilometres from Ascona's Piazza della Riforma and the shore of Lago Maggiore. Built in 1986 and kept to 71 rooms across two floors, the hotel stays smaller than its grounds suggest, which keeps the heated outdoor pool, indoor pool and spa tub from ever feeling crowded. The one thing here that other lakeside hotels in Ticino don't have is Ecco Ascona, the in-house restaurant holding two Michelin stars under executive chef Rolf Fliegauf; Hide & Seek Ascona covers easier Mediterranean plates for nights when two stars feels like too much. The dipiù spa adds massage, sauna, solarium and steam room, and a gym, yoga space, mini-golf course and bike rental fill the hours between meals. Families are taken seriously rather than tolerated: there's a kids' club, a playroom, a children's pool, babysitting on request, and a Luxury Double Suite with Sofa built for up to eight adults and five children. Pets are welcome for a flat 40 CHF per stay, extra beds run 170 CHF a night, and staff move between English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Turkish without a pause. None of this suits a traveller who wants to be in the middle of town: Piazza della Riforma and San Lorenzo Cathedral sit two kilometres away, close enough for an evening walk but not a doorstep. Check-in runs from 3pm, checkout by 11am, and Switzerland's habit of adding gala dinner fees at hotels like this one is worth asking about before booking. Hotel Giardino Ascona sits in a Mediterranean garden two kilometres from town, built around pools, a dipiù spa and the two-Michelin-star restaurant Ecco Ascona under chef Rolf Fliegauf. Families get a kids' club and a suite that sleeps eight adults and five children, and pets stay for a flat fee.