Secret Lake Iseo

The Mirabella stay is an exceptional experience and a great start to any holiday.Having reasonable access to Clusane added to the experience as the village provides a pretty escape, should you want one. With places to eat, stroll and relax.

Du Rocolli is also an exceptional experience. Its remoteness means you are confined unless you are prepared to take another precarious walk.Unfortunately Taxi's are in short supply across the whole lake, so not really an option.

Rivalago- Great location. The hotels facilities were once again good. Our downside- and you should note this carefully- was a wedding on our last day/night rendered the hotels amenities out of bounds and a good nights sleep impossible. The rooms are located above the weddiing reception party and vibrate to the sound of the music until 1am. Clearly weddings are a profitable part of the hotels business, but not at the expense of other paying guests- or your contract with them. The issuse was raised at the time to no avail. What was telling was this hotel was the only hotel not to ask ": how was your stay?" on departure.

We enjoyed all of the walks, despite temperatures of 30+on some days. Our favourite was the high walk to Hotel Rivalgo, made easier because of the dry weather. All of the hotels had great views of the lake but our favourite was definitely I Due Roccoli. The food was lovely and friendliness and care of all the staff was first class.

Stunning scenery, interesting walks and the Relais I Due Riccoli was perfect - position, grounds, views, friendly and helpful staff, room, food and the enormous packed lunch - what more could you ask for.

This was a lovely holiday in an area that is not crammed with tourists. Beautiful views and some amazing accommodation. Monte Isola is very special. We had good weather, suitable both for walking and swimming in the hotel pools. The walks included easy paths but also some quite challenging parts; hiking poles are a must. In terms of restaurants, highlights included Due Roccoli, Borgo San Giulio and Cacciatore in Sulzano. The food quality was uneven at Mirabella, though this apparently is linked to post-pandemic staffing issues. We went to Verona afterwards, a very easy trip and perfect for a couple of nights. 

We followed the notes and found the walking varied, fairly challenging, and enjoyable. Hotels were all very good, even better than expected. The final stay at Hotel Rivalago and the day walking up, and the steep route down, Monte Isole worked very well for us. 

Lake Iseo and it's mountain backdrop is stunning. The hotels were very good, the food was great and the service and staff excellent. We enjoyed the holiday very much but it isn't an attractive walking route. Buy a proper map of the area before you go. The route is classed as Moderate it is more challenging than that suggests.

Overall a good holiday, thanks for your excellent organisation.

The whole holiday was excellent and enjoyable and embraced the Italian culture

We were totally blown away!!!!  We already had experience with InnTravel (Slovenia) and that was excellent.  We didn't know this corner of the Italian lakes at all so had absolutely no expectations.  The manner in which you go about your researching of the 'quiet, secret corners' of your itineraries is mind-blowing.  Pin-point accuracy of your notes (our fault if we got a bit lost high up on a mountain .... must've been the thin air!!!!);  the specific routes (trying to avoid busy roads as best as possible); restaurant suggestions; transfers; us three just loved each and every day and didn't want our week to end.  This delayed week was so worth waiting for .... thank you InnTravel ..... you will definitely be hearing from us again.  Your Portugal walks are calling!

To reiterate the point of 'secret Lake Iseo' ..... we went to Lake Como for a few days the following week and it is without a doubt a very popular tourist destination - the train from Milan  was heaving and it was the first time we heard foreign accents, other than Italian from the week before;  there are of course great hikes in this area but we were so happy to know that we spent a week in Lake Iseo.  (We took a ferry to Bellagio and as we expected, it was full of day-trippers, including ourselves .... one wonders what it's like in the middle of summer).

Thank you again ..... it was all wonderful!

Perhaps our expectations were too high with regards to the walks, there was not really enough to do.

Very well organised, with great service from hotel staff and the taxi transfers.  Wonderful food and delightful hotels

September 2022
Despite rather mixed weather, we had a splendid holiday on lake Iseo. The lake, surrounded by high mountains is both beautiful and spectacular viewed from the lakeside, the walks and the hotels. Because the weather forecast was bad for day 2, we chose to do the high walk to the Due Roccoli on day 1. We enjoyed it despite the usual frustration that the what should have been wonderful views over the lake were obscured by trees and that some of the ascents and decent were very rough under foot. On a wet day 2 we took the train to Iseo and then taxi to the Due Roccoli. Day 3 we went back to Monte Isola and had a delightful quiet walk with lovely views of the lake in all directions as we went round. Day 4 a very nice walk to Clusane, particularly the high level part and day 5 an unexpectedly nice country walk around the vineyards looking up at the mountains we had crossed.
All three hotels were very good indeed, all with spectacular views, from our rooms at the Rivalago and Mirabella and from the bar and breakfast room at the Due Roccoli, and excellent breakfasts. We had a very good dinner in the terrace restaurant at the Rivalago and two excellent ones at the Due Roccoli. At the Mirabella We tried all three dining options: The Trattoria Mulliner in the town was…… the hotel restaurant was very small and had a limited menu, but was very good. The Da Nadia, the on site fine dining restaurant was truly excellent. Both the latter are only open some evenings. 
Finally, perhaps because we were at the end of the season, getting around was very difficult. Taxis were only obtainable at all through the hotels and often not available at all and both ferry and bus services very limited. In particular, the ferries only run from Clusane on a Saturday, so the suggestion of a boat trip up the lake on day 5 is not viable.

Highlights of this holiday include the amazing a different views of Lake Iseo from each hotel room. Definitely worth paying extra for a lake view in each hotel. The al fresco dinner at the Hotel Rivalago was a truly magical experience- and the Ravioli was delicious washed down with the delicious local Franciacorta Chardonnay. The high level walk to Iseo had some amazing views over the lake and in dry conditions was not too demanding or tricky. The walk to the top of island was a lovely warm up with again fabulous views over the lake. We took a train from Iseo to Capo di Ponte to visit the ancient rock pictlures which was a lovely outing.

We loved the whole holiday, the excellent hotels, the wonderful food and the stunning views.  The holiday exceeded our expectations in every way.  The walking instructions were spot on.  The service received from Inntravel was brilliant given all the complications with Covid, thank you.

A couple of recommendations: at Hotel Rivalago, the ferries to Monte Isola are every 15mins so it's really easy to hop over there for dinner, which we did and had a great, good value, amazingly friendly meal at Hostario Milago, a few steps from the ferry stop in Peschiera Maraglio.  We also had a fabulous lunch on the island, in the same village, at Decio, this is highly recommende, superb food and friendly service.  

Great holiday thank you yet again Inntravel. Lovely hotels, walks and the routes and difficultly level suited us perfectly. I would recommend the area and was delighted that it wasn't overcrowded and also was very 'Italian' (food, hospitality and spoken word). Thoroughly recommended. 

The Italian lakes are busy and although Iseo is smaller, it is a secret that has got out. Beautiful scenery, and some attractive towns and villages to explore. Walking was not as expected, being almost entirely on hard surfaces, and an itinerant day that did for my old knees - though with some glorious views. For Iseo do take walking poles - I dont usually walk with poles but very glad I bought some to go on this holiday. Public transport is quite limited now in September 2022 so not all the options suggested in the walking notes were possible. If you are not a fish eater you may wish to state your preference in advance since menus are almost all 90% lake fish or seafood. We walked 8 miles one day to find salad! Dinner at I Due Roccoli by candlelight is a real treat with old-fashioned service - delightful.

This was a beautiful holiday with incredible views and stunning hotels. We particularly loved the Hotel due Roccoli though I recommend a lake view upgrade as the views are sensational. We ate at the Trattoria cacciatore on the first night which was fun and informal with lovely pasta and again wonderful views. The walking was tough at times but mostly because it was very hot and humid during our stay. We couldn't face another long walk on our last day so we walked into Sarnico which was next to the road some of the way but then along the lake shore. We really liked this town with its market and good places to eat. The only small negative was being taken down to a trattoria each evening from the last hotel. If not eating in the hotel we would have preferred to be B and B and choose where to eat. After so much rich food we just fancied a simple pizza. The trattoria was pretty good however.

Another great Inntravel holiday.  For the walking, the weather was hot at around 33 - 34 degrees and walking poles were useful in places.

All of the hotels were stunning and had lovely pools, which were very welcome. We ate at the Rivalago every evening, why would you go anywhere else when you have that view?

We found the ferries easy to use, and the Rivalago will give you discount vouchers for the fares.  We had a pleasant trip up the lake to Lovere and back.

The Relais Mirabella were happy to arrange a taxi and a wine tour around Barone Pizzini, which we enjoyed.

Many thanks to the Inntravel team.

It was lovely to find an undiscovered part of Italy. Beautiful scenery and fantastic welcoming and comfortable hotels. The Italians do "hospitality" well, and the service at all 3 hotels was great. We particularly enjoyed the breakfasts on offer at Hotel Rivalargo, where we were spoilt for choice, while the dinners served at I Due Roccoli were delicious. We enjoyed our day exploring Iseo Island and the view from the top at the sanctuary was worth the climb! It was helpful to have options on the length of walks and routes; especially on the day the temperature climbed to 30 degrees. While the walks are mainly on tracks be aware that some of the paths were pretty steep and could be treacherous and challenging underfoot in wet weather. The organisation by Inntravel was seemless and we would certainly use them again.

We enjoyed this holiday which took us to three excellent hotels, each with amazing views over beautiful Lake Iseo. Some of the walking was quite challenging, but this was flagged in the route instructions.  We particularly enjoyed the first day walking across Monte Isola, and on our final day we took a boat trip to Lovere at the far end of the lake which we would recommend to give a sense of the scale of Lake Iseo.  The Relais Mirabella was a particularly lovely hotel, its gardens planted with jasmine and rose bushes and a good size swimming pool. 

Excellent all round again, second time that I have used Inntravel and I am so impressed that I have booked again already, the quality of hotels and walking instructions is a cut above others that I have used and everyone very helpful and friendly 

We loved all of the Iseo trip, but the Rivelago was superb and we couldn't get enough of Monte Isola. Don't miss the Trattoria Cacciatore and their casoncelli!

On Lake Garda, one favorite was the hydrofoil to Riva del Garda. It was fabulous to be able to see so much of the lake and the limonaias from the boat. The other favorite was the Heller Botanical Garden in Maderno. One of the absolutely best gardens we've ever visited, for plants and sculpture.  

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined our Secret Lake Iseo walk with An Italian Lake Paradise

The walks along shaded pathways above the lake are beautiful, with outstanding views. The second and third hotels are outstanding, though the meal arrangements at Mirabella don't work well. I'd either insist on eating at the hotel or go B&B there and get free transfers down the hill and back so you could eat in a restaurant of your choice in Clusane. It's silly to stay at a hotel like this with a quality restaurant and not be able to eat dinner there, and the trattoria that the hotel have lined up isn't really good enough.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: A holiday combining our Secret Lake Iseo and The Cinque Terre holidays.

Our favourite walk was from Manarola to Corniglia, quiet and off the beaten track. We met people who had done a different walk from Monterosso to Venazza, on a lower route who said it was much busier than the one we did, and was a little lower so thank you for directing us to a less popular route.

The views were spectacular around Lake Iseo and it was lovely to progress along the lake and see it from different angles.

Inntravel chose wonderful hotels and routes for us. Do remember to take your hiking boots with you since we watched others on the paths with just sneakers and they were struggling. The dinner at the Rivalago Hotel was not included in the package but it was delicious and nice to not necessarily have to go out again after a long walk.