Hotel Rio Muralto

I rate this hotel 5 stars, but only for certain circumstances such as short stays eg. you are breaking up a long journey and need somewhere to stopover for a night. The location is great - it is five minutes or less walk from the train station. The service by Giacomo was excellent. Nowadays, unless you ask, you rarely get to experience 'old school' service from hotels where the manager/receptionist bothers to give you a map and point out where you can go. But Giacomo did that for us on his own initiative. He was also exceedingly friendly and polite in all our interactions, and when we were at breakfast he came over to ask if we wanted eggs. I noticed he checked in on all the guests as well. But on to the not so good parts. I would hesitate to recommend this hotel for longer stays. The hotel building looks to be quite old, and it really shows in the rooms. There is a general feeling of everything being quite dated and old. The floors are not even, and seem quite thin. The bathrooms are equipped with 'old school' soap rather than liquid soap for handwashing. On the plus side there was no problem with the wifi. The breakfast buffet was very average.

The hotel is directly next to the train station, which is convenient. It is a charming building, nicely renovated and modernized, very clean. The personnel is friendly and professional. The front desk closes at 8:00pm, so you need to check in before that. The breakfast is nice, and they cook eggs for you. You can use the automated coffee machine in the breakfast room all day at no cost. Good value.

Recently we spent 4 nights at the Hotel Garni Rio. The hotel is located next to the main train station in Locarno. There is also bus service in front of the station which makes it very easy to get around both Locarno and Ascona. The Piazza Grande is only a short walk from the hotel. Boat service to the Isole de Brissago is also only minutes away from the hotel on foot. The hotel is very clean and well kept. Reception was alway very friendly and helpful. We enjoyed our stay at the hotel and would not hesitate to recommend the hotel to friends.

Clean, comfortable and well located hotel with very friendly and helpful staff. Parking available and convenient. Decent breakfast and coffee. Only|let down was the bathroom in the economy room…. It has frosted glass walls (you can see quite a bit through these walls) that do not run floor to ceiling, making it very awkward given I stayed here with a friend. We did our best with it, but it would stop me from booking the room again.

The staff receptionist is helpful and kind 😊 hotel located closed to train!

The hotel was excellent for our overnight stop in Locarno although we would have happily stayed longer. Travelling by train, the hotel is conveniently close to train station (but not so that you get bothered by any noise). The rooms are very modern, clean, well equipped, quiet and with comfortable beds. The staff are really friendly, very welcoming and helpful and the breakfast is ideal. Really enjoyed the fabulous stained glass windows and it made using the stairs (although there is a lift!) a real pleasure too.

Very friendly and helpful staff, very clean, good selection for breakfast. The aircon in the first room did not work and we were upgraded for free to bigger room with a terrace and working air con, thank you, Giacomo! Location is good but not great. You do not see much from you room but train station or side streets. Hotel parking is promised for free, but it was full. I had to use public parking instead. Not big problem though.

The hotel is next to the main train station and therefore perfect located. Lake at walking distance, as also town and kabel to Cardada mountain. Room was complete and space enough. Small bathroom, but clean and what it need. Since next to train station a little bit noisy. Breakfast simple but enough. Staff very friendly and helpful. ||Nice place and I'll book it again.