Villa d’Este Lake Como – 150 years of being the best hotel in Italy

Some hotels are expensive because they’re new and have a good PR agency. Villa d’Este is expensive because it has been one of the finest hotels on earth since 1873, Forbes called it the best hotel in the world in 2009, and the waiting list for its most sought-after rooms in summer involves the kind of lead times that require advance planning most people only apply to buying a house. This is a Renaissance palazzo on the shores of Lake Como that was once the private residence of a Cardinal and later the home of Caroline of Brunswick – the estranged wife of a future King of England – who wrote in her diary that the gardens seemed “almost suspended in the air.” She was not wrong. The gardens are still there. All 25 acres of them.

152 rooms split between the Cardinal Building and the Queen’s Pavilion. A floating pool moored in the lake. Restaurant Veranda where dinner requires a jacket. A sports club that puts most dedicated fitness resorts to shame. A December 2023 stay in a Junior Suite Lake View. Pricing confirmed at checkout. Here’s everything worth knowing.

What Villa d’Este actually is

Before getting into rooms and restaurants, some context matters here because Villa d’Este is genuinely not like other luxury hotels and the history is part of what you’re paying for – not in a dusty, preserved-in-amber way, but in the sense that this place has been accumulating layers of significance for five centuries and it shows in the fabric of the building, the grounds, and the way it operates.

The original structure dates to 1568, built as a Renaissance residence for Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio of Como. In the early 19th century it became the Lake Como home of Caroline of Brunswick, who landscaped the park in the English style and renamed it Villa d’Este. Since 1873 it has been a hotel, and in that time it has hosted effectively every significant figure from European royalty, Hollywood’s golden age, and international business and politics that you’d care to name. The Ambrosetti Forum – one of Europe’s most serious annual gatherings of political and business leaders – has been held here every September since 1975. The Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, the historic concours d’elegance for vintage and concept cars, has taken place here every May since its first edition in 1928. This is not a hotel that holds events. This is an institution that has been at the center of things for a very long time.

• 🏛️ Built 1568, operating as a luxury hotel since 1873 – over 150 consecutive seasons
• 🛏️ 152 rooms and suites across the Cardinal Building (125 rooms) and Queen’s Pavilion (27 rooms)
• 🌿 25 acres of historic gardens – one of Italy’s best-preserved, with fountains, waterfalls and centuries-old specimens
• 🏊 Floating pool moored directly in Lake Como – unique in the world
• 🍽️ Three restaurants – La Veranda (formal), the Grill (casual), and Il Platano (summer terrace)
• 🏆 Forbes #1 hotel in the world 2009, consistently ranked among Europe’s finest
• 📅 Seasonal hotel – closes for winter each year for full refurbishment, reopens in spring

That last point matters more than it might seem. The annual winter closure for thorough cleaning and refurbishment means every room is maintained at a standard that hotels which never close simply cannot match. The December 2023 stay catches the property just before or during its off-season period, which gives a different perspective on the place – quieter, more intimate, fewer guests.

The two buildings – Cardinal and Queen’s Pavilion

Understanding the layout of Villa d’Este is the first thing to get right when booking, because the Cardinal Building and the Queen’s Pavilion are meaningfully different experiences even though they share all the same facilities.

🏰 The Cardinal Building

The main building. 125 rooms. This is the original palazzo – the historic core of the property, with the grand entrance, the monumental staircase, the frescoed ceilings, the full weight of the Renaissance architecture pressing down on you in the best possible way. Rooms here vary considerably in size and outlook – lake view, garden view, courtyard – and the best ones are genuinely among the most beautiful hotel rooms in Italy. No two rooms are identical. Each is furnished with antique pieces, period furniture, silk drapes, and custom linens. The design philosophy is “accumulated over centuries” rather than “recently decorated to look old,” which is a distinction you feel immediately when you walk in.

👑 The Queen’s Pavilion

Separate building, 27 rooms, more private. Named after Caroline of Brunswick. Positioned with its own character – somewhat removed from the main building activity, quieter, with a slightly different atmosphere. Guests here use all the same facilities but experience a bit more separation from the main building’s social energy. For people who want the full Villa d’Este without being in the center of it, the Queen’s Pavilion is the answer.

The Junior Suite Lake View

The room hierarchy runs from Deluxe through Superior, Junior Suite, Suite, and Grand Suite. The Junior Suite Lake View sits at a meaningful step above the standard room categories – you’re getting proper suite proportions, a lake-facing aspect, and in a building of this age and this level of individual furnishing, the specific room matters more than the category label. Every room is different.

What the Junior Suite Lake View delivers: space that reads as genuinely generous rather than hotel-generous, lake views that the word “stunning” doesn’t adequately cover, antique furniture that is actually antique rather than antique-adjacent, custom linens and drapery, a bathroom that’s been updated for modern function while keeping the aesthetic intact. The walk-in wardrobe area is substantial. The lake view from the balcony or window is the thing you come back to. Lake Como from an elevated room in a historic palazzo on a winter morning is not something you forget.

Because no two rooms are identical, it is genuinely worth requesting a specific type of view and aspect when booking and confirming the room assignment in advance. Lake-facing rooms command higher rates and the difference from a garden or courtyard view is significant enough to be worth specifying clearly.

The floating pool – legitimately one of a kind

There are many things Villa d’Este does that other luxury hotels do well. The floating pool is the thing nothing else anywhere does at all. It’s a swimming pool built on a floating platform moored directly in Lake Como – you swim in a pool that is simultaneously in a lake, surrounded by the Alps, with one of the most famous shorelines in the world around you. It sounds almost absurd described like that, and in person it confirms the absurdity while being entirely real and entirely extraordinary.

The floating pool operates May through September. A December stay means it’s not in the water, but seeing it out of season has its own interest – the mechanism, the structure, the way it sits on the property becomes visible in a way that summer guests never quite see. In peak season, this is the defining image of the hotel and the reason the property photographs the way it does.

Adjacent to the floating pool is the sundeck – the social hub of the property during warmer months, with lake views in every direction and the kind of afternoon energy that makes you understand why this place has been pulling in the same crowd for over a century.

The 25-acre garden

Caroline of Brunswick wrote that the garden “seems almost suspended in the air.” That line has been quoted about these gardens for two centuries because there is no more accurate way to describe them. The park at Villa d’Este spans 25 acres along the lake shore and up the hillside behind the property – one of Italy’s best-preserved historic gardens, with hundreds of fountains, cascades, pools, and centuries-old trees organized around the interplay between the Renaissance formal elements and the English landscaping Caroline added.

A full garden walk covers tennis courts – eight clay courts, which is a serious tennis facility – a helipad (this crowd arrives various ways), a putting green, a jogging track with exercise stations, and the kind of natural beauty that makes structured activities feel beside the point. In December the garden is dormant but the bones of it – the terracing, the stone, the ancient specimens, the lake framing everything – are if anything more visible than in the full green of summer. Worth the full circuit regardless of season.

The Sports Club

The sports and wellness facilities at Villa d’Este are serious enough to function as a destination in themselves. For a hotel of this age and architectural character, the range of activity is genuinely surprising:

• 🏊 Three swimming pools – two outdoor (May through September) and one indoor heated pool open all season. The indoor pool is the relevant one for a December stay
• 💪 Fitness center – properly equipped, open 7am to 8pm
• 🧖 Spa with treatments, sauna, and Turkish bath
• 🎾 Eight clay tennis courts plus squash courts
• ⛳ Putting green and indoor golf simulator
• 🚣 Watersports on the lake during the season
• 🏃 Jogging track with 15 exercise stations through the grounds

The indoor pool in December is what actually matters for a winter stay, and the combination of a heated indoor pool in a historic property on a cold Lake Como morning is its own kind of perfect. The spa and sauna complement this in exactly the way you’d want.

Restaurant Veranda – dinner and breakfast

La Veranda is the main formal restaurant at Villa d’Este and it requires a jacket for gentlemen at dinner. This is not an anachronism they’ve retained for character – it’s a reflection of how the restaurant positions itself and what kind of dinner it provides. Contemporary Italian haute cuisine, serious wine list, service at a level that matches the dining room’s architectural grandeur, and views over the lake when you’re seated by the window. Book a window table. Ask specifically when you make the reservation.

The food is refined Italian – built around local ingredients, seasonally composed, technically precise without being show-offy. Classic options including risotto appear alongside more composed plates. The atmosphere is formal in the proper sense: unhurried, attentive, correct without being stiff. A dinner here in December – low season, quieter room, more intimate – is a specific and unrepeatable experience.

Breakfast at La Veranda is included in the room rate and it runs until late morning. Continental and full breakfast options, the same lake-facing dining room, and the particular pleasure of a proper hotel breakfast in a space this beautiful. The room service menu is an alternative and available around the clock – reviewed as a legitimate option rather than a fallback, which tells you something about the kitchen.

The other restaurants: the Grill for informal dinners with views over the gardens, and Il Platano, the summer terrace restaurant open during the warmer months. The Bar Canova operates as the main social bar with live music in the evenings – the place for a drink before dinner and a digestivo after. The Sundeck bar serves the pool crowd in season with light lunches, salads, and the kind of lakeside afternoon grazing that belongs exclusively to summer.

Getting to Villa d’Este

Cernobbio is on the western shore of Lake Como, roughly 5km north of Como city center. The nearest major cities for international arrivals:

• Milan Malpensa (MXP) – the main long-haul hub. About 60-75 minutes by car or private transfer to Cernobbio. Follow the A9 motorway direction Como-Chiasso, exit at Como Nord (the last exit before the Swiss border), then follow signs toward Cernobbio
• Milan Linate (LIN) – more convenient for European routes. About 60 minutes by car
• Milan city center – about 50 minutes by car, accessible by train to Como San Giovanni station followed by taxi to Cernobbio
• Lugano (Switzerland) – under 30 minutes by car for guests coming from Swiss connections

The hotel has free on-site parking, which in a property of this size and exclusivity functions as expected – no scramble, no structures, just a proper private parking area. Helicopter arrival is possible (there’s a helipad in the grounds) for those arranging that kind of transfer. Private boat transfers from Como are also available and make a strong case for themselves as an arrival experience.

Best time to visit: Late May through September is when Villa d’Este is fully operational – floating pool in the lake, all outdoor restaurants and bars open, the gardens at full bloom, the lake warm enough for watersports. July and August are peak season with the highest rates and maximum activity on the property and the lake. June is the sweet spot – everything is open, the weather is reliably excellent, and the crowds haven’t hit full summer density yet. September is spectacular and often overlooked. For a dramatically different experience, the shoulder months of May and late September offer the full property at lower rates with excellent weather. The hotel closes for winter refurbishment typically from late November, which makes December access dependent on exact closure dates – verify directly before booking a winter stay.

Pricing and the points situation

Average room rates at Villa d’Este run around €1,000 / $1,200 per night, with top suites averaging around €3,500 / $4,200 per night. The Junior Suite Lake View sits in the middle of this range – exact December 2023 pricing confirmed at checkout in the source stay. Historical rate data shows Junior Suite lake view categories ranging from roughly €1,180 in low season to €2,030+ in high season, with peak summer months at the top of that range.

Importantly: breakfast is included in the room rate. At a property where breakfast at La Veranda runs well over €100 per person at market rates, this is a meaningful inclusion that changes the net cost calculation. Sports Club facilities are also included. Factor both when comparing against other luxury properties in the region that price food and activities separately.

The loyalty program situation: Villa d’Este is a member of The Leading Hotels of the World and bookable through various luxury consortia programs. It is not affiliated with Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, or any major hotel chain points program. Points bookings are not an option here.

How people actually access the best value:

• American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR) – Amex Platinum cardholders can access FHR benefits including daily breakfast for two (on top of the included breakfast), a $100 property credit, room upgrades, and flexible checkout. On a property at this price point, these stack meaningfully
• Five Star Alliance – their Signature Package includes breakfast, a food and beverage credit, a welcome cocktail on the lake terrace, and upgrade subject to availability
• Book directly for specific room requests – the variation between rooms in a building of this age means direct communication about what you want matters more here than almost anywhere else
• Low season (October, early May) for significantly better rates while the main building and indoor pool remain operational
• Longer stays – the property rewards multi-night stays and packages are available that change the per-night math

Frequently asked questions

📹 Video by ST Travel