We stayed in San Cassiano during our trip to the Dolomites, in large part because the book of…read morehiking trails that we had for the Dolomites seemed to place the town squarely in the middle of where the hikes were generally situated. Lagacio seemed like a newer spot that wasn't a 5-star spot, but it was small (we counted around 30 rooms total in the whole place) and better-priced than options such as Fanes or Rosa Alpina, and the finishes looked quite new - so we ended up booking a 6-night stay here. The first thing that I really liked was that the 2 levels of garage parking have assigned spots - so you will never be jammed for a place to park, as I noticed at many other hotels in the area. Everyone here is friendly as well, from the bellhop who shuttled all of our bags to our rooms, to the folks at the front desk who could answer all of our questions and (by the end) knew that I wanted a Dolomiti red ale whenever we came back from hikes. Because the hotel is built on a slope, the garages are at the ground level next to the main road - but the lobby (on the '4th' floor) was at the ground level for the small road that goes through town. Outside of the lobby - which is very cozy, with a few couches, outdoor bar stools and tables, and a small bar - the rest of the floors are filled with suites, with each floor having additional features (e.g. the breakfast dining room on the 3rd floor, fitness on the 2nd floor, spa on the 1st floor, and laundry on floor -1). The hallways, like the rooms themselves, have a lodge-y feel to them, with lots of clean-cut, light-colored wood lining the hallways, covered with thin carpets on top.
The rooms themselves are definitely more designed for folks staying together, as there is no door or divider separating the shower area from the bedroom - something to be aware of if you are traveling with a friend). Aside from that small design flaw, though, the rest of the room is excellent. You have an ample walk-in area next to the door to store your suitcases and hang clothing, followed by the kitchenette and the 'living room', which has a couple couches. The best feature is the filtered water faucet, which negates the need to load up on bottled water (and was extremely handy to fill up our water bladders in our backpacks each day). You can walk straight out onto the porch and simply relax under any weather (the rain didn't hit us on the sole rainy day we had here). The bed was perhaps the other negative as well, as I am not a big fan of firm mattresses, but the beds here are quite firm, which made it hard to get the kind of optimal sleep I had been hoping for. That said, the mattresses we had on our trip were more on the firm side, leading me to believe it's more of a European preference than anything.
Perhaps the best benefit of staying here was the food. Cake was served on the weekdays at 3:30 PM, and it was a tasty way of refreshing ourselves after our hikes. It varies day to day, with my favorite probably being the berry jelly-filled cake we had on one of our first days there. Breakfast, though, was the star. You have assigned tables to sit at every day (making it easy to know where to plop down and start your day), and the choice of food is absolutely fantastic. You can make your own juice with the 2 juicing machines available (I had fresh-squeezed OJ every day), sample many varieties of home-made bread (I really liked the ciabatta rolls), and indulge in pastries, toast, cured meats, yogurt, granola, and many other choices, along with choices of fresh eggs prepared to your liking. It certainly made it tempting to go overboard every day, but the variety was fantastic, and with such wholesome foods from local sources, it was hard to go wrong. I enjoyed everything I had here each morning, and it's such a simple way to start the day without having to figure out what you want to make (or, more difficult since this is a small resort town, where to eat in the morning).
While there are many choices of where to stay in this region, I was a big fan of Lagacio, and I would be very tempted to stay here again should I come back to these parts in the future. As a relatively new hotel / resort, everything has a fresh feel to it, and I can't say enough about how cozy and relaxing it was to spend time here during our week in the mountains. The only real downside was the firmness of the mattress, but everything else was par excellence.
