Araba Fenice Hotel

We stayed here for 2 nights in October as a part of a tour for Northern Italy. We were in room 119, which appears to be an ‘add on’ as it was the only room that jutted out from the from of the building, with a view of the fire escape stairs on the front and a very narrow mountain view. Most rooms on this property have a lake view. This was a nice, big room with good hanging space and lots of shelf space. It has side tables with a plug by each bed side (no USB.) and the bed was comfortable. The biggest issues of this room were the noise from the busy streets and the very noisy trains passing the front of the hotel, and the cigarette smoke smell. When we opened the windows to cool off the room, the smoke from the employee smoking section below the room, and their loud conversations our room came into our room. The lights outside on the front of the building also kept the room lit up at night, despite the drapes being closed. They have a very good breakfast here, with the usual meats, cheeses, breads, yogurts and pastries, along with scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage and fruit. Evening drinks were pricey, and our group provided dinner was mediocre with very slow service. We sat with dirty plates for 15+ minutes. The hotel location is the biggest issue for me, as it is not near anything. There is a restaurant with a 10 minute walk north, and Iseo is a thirty minute walk to the south. There are sidewalks to get to each location. This is probably a nice place to stay as long as you are not in room 119, with the noise and smoke issues and the terrible view.

The setting is lovely, and breakfast buffet is pretty good. But they pipe perfume into the common areas of the hotel that is very strong and unpleasant. We had a group dinner the first night and the perfume was so strong it made me physically ill. I admit I am scent sensitive but this was horrible and others in our group also had issues with it. The staff either couldn’t (or wouldn’t) turn it off. It permeated into the rooms as well, and no screens on the windows to air out the room, and warnings that open windows make mosquitos come in. If you don’t like strong perfume, do not stay here!