Villa d’Este  (below) has long been the Grande Dame of Lake Como.  Located at the bottom of the lake in Cernobbio, it sits in a lovely  semi-cove at the water’s edge and is backed by wonderful gardens and bits of fortifications on the mountainside behind.  Grand it is and redolent of another era, although renovations (the hotel’s soft furnishings down to the carpeting are completely redone each year) have kept it fresh and timely and they have even installed an inside passage from the main building to the sports center.  The Queen’s Pavilion, located to the side, is the quieter building with more rustic – yet no less lovely rooms (and just as pricey) – as well as its own concierge.

An equally fine hotel option is the newly refurbished Grand Hotel Tremezzo (above), a marvelous Art Nouveau building that has recently added seven new suites to its fifth floor, all of which have the most wonderful views of the pretty village of Bellagio across the lake and the precipitous, snow-capped mountains that beckon one on to Switzerland.  I had a corner room, flooded with sunlight, a balcony and a terrace complete with jacuzzi, table and chairs, and a bathroom with double sinks and a lake view as fine as any in the world.   The staff  is charming, available and helpful, and none is more so than Salvatore, the irrepressibly enthusiastic doorman charged with welcoming guests and helping to guide them safely across the ancient Via Regina, a busy road that winds its way up the western arm of Lake Como and passes between the Tremezzo and its lakeside beach and floating swimming pool.

There is much discussion about ones position on Lake Como.  With two arms and four coastlines (the eastern arm is considered “industrial” and has little infrastructure), the pros and cons are carefully weighed by all when suggesting where the best hotel or house position is.  Villa d’Este is closer to Milan by about 40 minutes (on a normal traffic day), but Grand Hotel Tremezzo is on a particularly beautiful part of Lake that feels to me less trafficked and more authentic.  It also sits next to Villa Carlotta whose fantastic Italian and English gardens abut its own lovely grounds, and is a stone’s throw from the superb Villa Balbianello, the charming village of Varenna, and more.

Whichever one chooses, my advice is to move about on water rather than on land, be it in a private water taxi, Riva, or ferry.  After all, life on the water is what lake living is all about, and the feeling of freedom you get zipping from one waterside village to the next is incomparable.

http://www.grandhoteltremezzo.com/

http://www.villadeste.com/