Lo Scoiattolo e la Noce

This difficult to find place would be ideal If you want to be out of Stresa and away form noise. However not being able to access local amenities such as restaurants easily makes its location awkward. Being B&B only the nearest evening meals are back into Stresa. According to our host Stresa is 15 minutes walk from the hotel down the hill but a 1 hour slog back up. If you have a car and someone willing to sacrifice alcohol consumption for an evening then this is made easier, however parking in Stresa is not convenient or cheap during the high season. We were allocated the rooms in the basement that have no bedroom windows and felt dank and fusty. Breakfast was disappointing with no fresh juices or quality breads. Unfortunately despite being up a steep hill the views were obliterated by trees and hedges that surround the property.

Absolutely loved our stay, the problem arose more so when we returned home.. we booked through booking.com and did not realize that we had already paid through our credit card. We paid for our stay cash and because a friend was having issues with her credit card we paid for her stay on ours, now we are arguing with this bnb for our money back. too bad because we wanted to come back but because of this we won't be.

While the property is clean, we had a lot of problems starting with driving up and down the perilous mountain road for an hour and a half trying to find the property. There is no sign visible from the road and we finally had to ask at the Fire Deparment and they said that it wasn't even in Stresa but in the next village up the mountain. We were given the attic room in which you can't stand up in parts including the bathtub/shower. My husband hit his head 3 times on the beams causing nasty wounds. Moreover our toilet did not flush the first two days of our stay (very nasty) so we finally left two days early. Massimmo didn't seem particularly concerned and the maid said the pipe were not angled properly so this is not new. The room had a nice patio but the chair was broken. There were no fire alarms that we could see and with the very inconvenient location where you cannot really walk to town without risking your life, this place was not for us. In August it is very very difficult to find parking in Stresa so it would be better to find a place in town that has parking. The breakfast, croissants and rolls and good coffee was fine and there are nice lake and tree views from the property. The wifi was slow so the tv didn't work properly which was a shame because the Olympics were on. Finally it was my understanding of B&Bs that the owners need to live on the property. Massimo is a hired manager and needs to do a better job of paying attention to problems. He did make good restaurant recommendations though.