Best Hotels Lake Como: Twelve Names From The Lake Shores

Cernobbio and Moltrasio

The south-west shore closest to Como holds two of the biggest names here. Villa d'Este sits at Via Regina 40 in Cernobbio with its own dock and a five-minute walk to the Cernobbio pier. Passalacqua sits at Via Besana 59 in Moltrasio on a seven-acre estate.

Neither comune's tourist tax has ever been properly researched, so we cannot quote a figure. Cernobbio is an easy first evening from the city and the start of many boat itineraries, as our Cernobbio page explains. The town choice is covered in where to stay.

Torno and Blevio

The opposite shore, east of Como, is quieter and steeper. Il Sereno is at Via Torrazza 10 in Torno with a private beach, a dock and hotel boats, less than 6 km from Como's centre by the hotel's own account. Mandarin Oriental is at Via Enrico Caronti 69 in Blevio with its floating pool and a five-minute drive to Como.

Neither hotel states a walk to a public pier, and Torno and Blevio are not on the main mid-lake ferry triangle, so a car or a private boat tour makes sense here. Both comunes' tourist tax is unstated in our research.

Tremezzina

The mid-lake west shore is the classic postcard stretch. Grand Hotel Tremezzo fronts the water between Como and Bellagio with its own beach, hotel boats and two named pools. Its tourist tax is €5 a night per person for 5-star stays.

The town's spring and autumn dates are disputed even on the comune's own page. The shore road here is busy in summer, so many guests arrive and leave by water. See Tremezzo for what the village itself offers.

Bellagio

The point of the peninsula hosts the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni at via T. Olivelli 1, a 5★ L property with a Beach Club and pools, and Belvedere Bellagio at Via Valassina 31 uphill from the ferry dock with rooms, suites and apartments. Bellagio charges 5-star guests €5 a night and 4-star guests €4, for up to seven nights between 1 March and 30 November. Being on the ferry triangle means easy hops to Varenna and Menaggio.

Details in our Bellagio guide.

Menaggio

The west shore town has two entries. Grand Hotel Victoria Concept & Spa at Viale Benedetto Castelli 9/13 is the 5-star spa option with Two Michelin Keys and paid access to Victoria Beach. Grand Hotel Menaggio at Via IV Novembre 77 is the 4-star with its own private pier and a lakeside pool.

Both are a short walk from the ferry stop that links to Varenna and Bellagio. More in our Menaggio page.

Varenna

The east shore's postcard village has one hotel in this list: Casa Du Lac with 13 lake-view rooms, run by R Collection Hotels. It publishes no pier or pool of its own, but guests get discounts on the group's boat tours. Varenna's tourist tax is €4 a night for 4-star stays, year-round, with under-7s free and at most four family members charged.

The village is one ferry hop from Bellagio and Menaggio, as our Varenna guide sets out.

Como

The city at the southern end suits travellers who want trains, restaurants and an easy arrival. Hotel Barchetta Excelsior faces Piazza Cavour where the boats depart, 400 metres from Como Lago station per its own site, and sits in the ZTL so driving needs care. Palace Hotel is 4-star on Lungo Lario Trieste with a lakeside entrance.

Como's tax is €5 a night for 4 and 5-star hotels, €4 for 3-star, for up to four nights, year-round. Read our Como page before booking a car-friendly base. For the villas, boats and towns around each hotel, start from the guide to Lake Como.

Water access

This is the sharpest dividing line. Villa d'Este states a private dock available on request through the Concierge. Grand Hotel Menaggio states its own private pier outright.

Il Sereno states a private beach and a dock for arrival by its own boats. Grand Hotel Tremezzo states its own beach and hotel boats, with a jetty mentioned only for its separate exclusive-use villa. Grand Hotel Victoria points you to Victoria Beach, a paid club nearby with a guest discount.

Passalacqua, Mandarin Oriental, Belvedere and Casa Du Lac state no pier or beach of their own, so verify directly with the hotel before you plan a holiday around swimming. Our swimming and beaches page covers the public alternatives.

Pools

Most of the twelve publish a pool. Il Sereno claims the most dramatic, a heated 60-foot freshwater infinity pool suspended over the lake. Mandarin Oriental has a 40-metre floating pool designed by Herzog & de Meuron.

Grand Hotel Tremezzo names two pools. Grand Hotel Victoria has an outdoor pool plus a 20 sqm indoor heated one. Belvedere Bellagio has an outdoor pool with a jacuzzi.

For Hotel Barchetta Excelsior and Casa Du Lac the pool status is not stated, and Palace Hotel lists only a gym. If a pool is essential, ask the hotel to confirm it is open during your dates, because no hotel on this page publishes season dates.

Michelin mentions

Only Grand Hotel Victoria cites Michelin explicitly: Two Michelin Keys, shown with a 2024 banner on its own site, though no Star for any restaurant. Il Sereno cites a 'Michelin Starred Getaway' and guide.michelin.com lists Il Sereno Al Lago at its address, without a star count in the readable text. Villa d'Este, Grand Hotel Tremezzo, Villa Serbelloni, Passalacqua, Mandarin Oriental and Belvedere appear on the Michelin guide's Lake Como hotel selection with no readable Key count.

Grand Hotel Menaggio, Barchetta, Palace Hotel and Casa Du Lac state no Michelin mention at all. For restaurants in town rather than in hotels, see where to eat.

Room counts and size

Published counts run from 13 rooms at Casa Du Lac to 151 at Villa d'Este. In between are Passalacqua at 24, Grand Hotel Tremezzo at 77, Mandarin Oriental at 75, Il Sereno at 40 suites and Barchetta at 84. For Villa Serbelloni, Grand Hotel Victoria, Grand Hotel Menaggio, Belvedere and Palace Hotel, the room count is not stated on their sites.

A small count usually means a personal style of service and a fast dinner booking. A large count means more availability in July. Note that Passalacqua's total of 24 is our sum of the three buildings, not a figure the hotel prints.

Star class and what it changes

Star class is not just vanity. It sets your tourist tax in every comune that has one. The hotels with a stated class here are Villa d'Este, Grand Hotel Tremezzo, Villa Serbelloni, Passalacqua, Mandarin Oriental and Grand Hotel Victoria at 5-star, Grand Hotel Menaggio, Palace Hotel and Casa Du Lac at 4-star, plus Villa Serbelloni's 5★ L badge.

For Belvedere Bellagio, Barchetta Excelsior, and Il Sereno, the hotel does not state a class, so your tax depends on how the comune classifies them. The table below shows every figure we hold. The fuller town table is on where to stay.

Tourist tax per night, per person, from our comune research. Where the hotel's own star class is unstated, we show the possible figures.

Getting on the water from your hotel town

Whichever hotel you pick, you will want a boat day. From Como, Barchetta Excelsior and Palace Hotel put you minutes from departure docks. From Bellagio, Varenna and Tremezzo, the shared cruise operators leave from piers you can walk to, though the Tremezzo cruise boards in front of Villa Carlotta rather than at the town pier.

Our boat tours round-up and ferry guide cover timetables and private boat tours if your hotel has no pier of its own.

Season dates

Not one of the twelve hotels publishes opening or closing dates on the pages we read. Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni has an 'Opening Times' heading with no dates parsed. Villa d'Este's restaurant page says open for the entire season without defining the season.

Only guide.michelin.com, which is not the hotel, says Mandarin Oriental is open seasonally from March through January. What to do: email the hotel before booking flights in April, October or November, because a closed pool or restaurant changes the value of a 5-star stay more than any other single factor.

Walking times to piers

Only Villa d'Este publishes a walk to a pier, five minutes to Cernobbio. Everyone else leaves you guessing, and for a hotel like Casa Du Lac in Varenna the distance to the ferry dock matters a lot if you plan to hop to Bellagio daily. What to do: assume nothing, check a map yourself, and remember that ferry frequency varies by season.

Where a hotel like Belvedere Bellagio gives a road distance of about 300 metres past the Ferry Dock, that is a driving figure uphill, not a flat walk.

Missing star classes and room counts

Il Sereno, Belvedere Bellagio and Hotel Barchetta Excelsior state no star class, and five of the twelve print no room count. Since star class drives tourist tax, this costs money. What to do: ask the hotel for its official classificazione, or budget using the possible figures in the tax table above.

Address conflicts

Grand Hotel Tremezzo's own site prints two addresses: Via Regina 8 on the legal-info page and Via Statale 5401 on the contacts page. Casa Du Lac's group site prints Via Del Prestinio 11 on one page and Contrada del Prestino 11 on another. What to do: for a taxi or a satnav, use the legal-entity address and confirm by phone.

Also note that Grand Hotel Victoria's street address appears only on the owning group's site, rcollectionhotels.it, not on the hotel's own pages, and the ERRE Spa size is inconsistent within the site itself, 1,200 sqm on one page and 1,500 sqm on another.

Claims that come from other sites

Several details in this guide, such as Michelin Key listings and one hotel's seasonal opening note, come from guide.michelin.com rather than the hotels. We label them wherever they appear. What to do: treat third-party claims as leads, not guarantees, and the same caution applies to any list that ranks hotels without naming its sources.

The rest of the trip, from boat fares to garden seasons, is on the Lake Como guide homepage.