My stay at Ville d’Este came at the end of week-long trip to Europe and, before arriving, I had stayed at the Park Hyatt Paris and Grand Hotel Victoria, which is an SLH property about an hour north of Villa d’Este.
Although I had enjoyable stays at the other properties (aside from a few hiccups at Grand Hotel Victoria, which I’ll write about in a different article), I definitely saved the best for last. While I can be prone to hyperboble, my bottom-line review is this: Villa d’Este might be the most amazing hotel I’ve ever stayed at.
While Villa d’Este is certainly not cheap (it’s not part of any points program and when I visited in mid-May, base rooms started at around $1,300 per night), it’s worth the splurge if you can afford it.
When I arrived at Villa d’Este, I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans and immediately felt underdressed and grabbed a nice sweater and put it on before I got out of the car. The property definitely feels like old money and a lot of the guests are dressed very fashionably. There’s even a restaurant that you need a suit jacket to dine in.
But if you’re someone who doesn’t want to dress up while on vacation, don’t let the fanciness deter you (I’m someone who wears athleisure 99% of the time and I don’t even own a suit, if that puts it into perspective). Since I spent most of my day at the floating pool, I eventually was fine walking around the hotel in a bathing suit, flip flops, and a t-shirt — I would just say that for men, at night, you’d want to wear nice jeans, nice shoes, and maybe a shirt with a collar.
The property is sprawling and I went on a hike up through the gardens, past the tennis court (which had amazing views of Lake Como) and onto a jogging trail. I’m not sure where the jogging trail ended as after about 20 minutes, it was hot enough that we decided to head back to get some time in by the pool — but the fact that we could keep walking for 20 minutes and still be on the property should give you an idea of how huge it is.
Although we had a base room, it was large enough that it had a separate living area with a couch and added chairs. I was traveling with a friend of mine, and never felt like we had a lack of space in the room.
The bathroom was marble, which definitely fit the vibe of the hotel. One downside is that the shower was a little complicated to figure out and the bath tub was pretty narrow.
Something else that I loved about the hotel was that it didn’t feel like the hotel was trying to nickel-and-dime you for everything, which is pretty much how I felt about the Grand Hotel Victoria. Instead, not only did the room come with free breakfast but included in the free breakfast was that you could get your breakfast delivered via room service (you just had to pay a 15 Euro delivery fee). It’s very rare for a hotel to include complimentary room service breakfast as part of your stay, so I really appreciated that. Also, all non-alcoholic beverages in the room’s mini bar were free, so I definitely took advantage of that.
I only had breakfast each day at the property, as I walked to the local town — Cernobbio — for lunch and dinner. The breakfast was a buffet, with eggs, pancakes, and waffles made to order, and was delicious.
But the highlight of my stay was definitely the time that I spent laying poolside at the floating pool. Since the pool is on the lake, you could get a little seasick as the pool does sway from side-to-side; but luckily, I don’t get seasick easily and was able to enjoy catching rays with an amazing view of Lake Como in almost every direction.
Bottom line
If you’re planning a trip to Lake Como and are able to swing it, Villa d’Este is well worth the splurge. Try to plan your trip when it’s going to be sunny and warm enough so you can enjoy the floating pool and be sure to walk into town for a meal or two (although you’ll easily be tempted to spend all your time at the hotel itself).
1 comment
I stayed there a few years ago. Still one of the happiest hotel stays of my life. And the food, well dinner is special.