In my line of business, it’s rare that we travel to a one singular destination when traveling to Europe. Typically, I try to take advantage of the time in Europe and see as much as possible. However, two summers ago, I broke this rule.
We’ve been to Italy several times but never to Lake Como. I dreamt of lying alongside the lake whiling away the hours in the Italian sun and drinking Bellinis! So that’s exactly what we did. The plan was to feel like a local!
Since we were going to spend 7 nights in one place, we opted for a more reasonably priced hotel but also very authentic. We stayed at the small boutique Hotel Belvedere. Our room overlooked the lake and had a huge terrace which was great for early morning cups of tea and late day sunset viewing. We stayed in the town of Bellagio which I would highly recommend. We were able to walk from our hotel into town for meals, shopping and people watching.
We rented a car and each day after a delicious breakfast at the hotel, we ventured out in our small rental car (with a HUGE sign that said RENTAL on the side) to explore all the towns of this lake region. The sign on the side actually was a blessing as the Italians could easily recognize that we were not locals and politely gave way on their extremely narrow road ways.
We visited two of the most beautiful hotels I have ever seen while on this trip. Frist, we drove to Villa d’Este in Cernobbio. We were treated to a delicious lunch by my Virtuoso partner. We sat beside the lake under an umbrella and felt like we were in another time. We had the opportunity to look at many of the room categories and one was more beautiful than the next. The gardens at Villa d’Este are epic and make the resort feel like paradise.
Another day, we took a boat across the lake from Bellagio to meet with another Virtuoso partner at The Grand Hotel Tremezzo in Tremezzo. She too treated us to another lakeside lunch on the most beautiful terrace. The food and atmosphere were beyond my expectations. One of their three swimming pools literally sits over the lake and the hotel has a private beach.
If you are looking for a romantic getaway and have the luxury of time then I would highly recommend a week in Lake Como.