LAGO ISEA IS A HIDDEN GEM.  I write that in all caps because it is such a huge surprise.  Such a complete unexpected wonderful surprise.  I knew about it because of its location near Bergamo and we wanted a stop after our day in Bergamo.  So I searched and read and found this wonderful hotel on this lesser-known Italian lake called Iseo. Sister Patty and friend Judy said OK let’s go.  So we had all booked a night at the Hotel Rivalago on Lake Iseo.  But we did not know much.  We knew it was one of the smallest of the lakes.  And we knew it had a very famous island in the middle with the highest mountain on an island in Europe.  But that was about it.  

Here is a map. You can see that it runs mostly morth-south.  And the sweet little town of Iseo is at the bottom of the lake(Green mark).  Our hotel, Hotel Rivalago, was up the east lake coast about one-third of a way up, just opposite the island of Monte Isola.  So the little town of Sulzano where we stayed, flourishes because it is a natural overnight location for someone who plans to visit the island.  And everyone wants to visit the island.  It is a pedestrian paradise with no cars and an endless choice of sweet shops to buy things and charming restaurants in which to eat things: especially things from the lake.  The one big treat at the Rivalago is to settle in to your air-conditioned room and then head down to the lake for a ferry over to the island where you enjoy a great dinner with the sun going down and then you ferry back to the Rivalago, all without ever steooing into a car.

Here is a view of Monte Isola.
The Rivalago Hotel sits right on the lakeshore with the pool and garden running right along the water of the lake. Here is my view from my window of my room

Here is the pool at Rivalago overlooking the lake.

We all agreed that the Rivalago is almost a perfect small hotel. It is gorgeous iside, it is immaculate, the staff and manager Antonella are charming and helpful, and the breakfast that is included was spectacular. The dining room is large and comfortable with most people breakfasting out on the terrace, the food was unbelievable. Coffee great. Everything perfect. It is a small hotel (30+ rooms) so it is not offering all of the services of a great big urban hotel. But for a small resort hotel it was just really I have to say it: perfect. Here is one detail that shows you their approach. They had a restaurant. And they have an excellent location. But they found that the restaurant created too much late night noise out o the terrace so they closed it down. How about that for putting guest comfort ahead of profit. We loved it.

BUT…in addition to Rivalago, we also discovered Iseo itself. The town of Iseo is a total delight and total surprise to me. It is charming and up to date and full of activities but NOT full of tourists. They are all over at Como or Garda and they seem not to know that there is the wonderful lakeside town right here in the Lake district of Italy.

One thing they have every morning is a wonderful market that runs along a loggia-sided piazza with no cars and running down to the water. Full of everything: cheese, fresh fish, clothes, shoes, scarves, everything at great street sale prices. Here are some market shots and you may spot an occasional Instituter shopper in the picture.

We loved Iseo. We just loved it. Put it on your list for a trip among the Italian lakes.